First feminine victory in the RC 44 Championship Tour
Luisa Bambozzi, helmswoman onboard Team Omega, got three bullets and a second place on day one of the Malcesine Cup. Team Omega leads the fifth stage of the RC 44 Championship Tour ahead of Team Aqua and Cro-A-Sail.
Malcesine (ITA), 12 July 2007 – The Malcesine Cup started today with four fleet races held in moderate wind conditions (10-15 knots). The five one-design RC 44’s were fully powered, and offered a great show to the public.
Sailing on an RC 44 for the first time, Luisa Bambozzi, a young (25 y.o.) talent from Parma, left absolutely no chance to her opponents, taking excellent starts and sailing precisely under Russell Coutts’ supervision. Luisa Bambozzi and Team Omega won the first three races, before finishing second of the last race behind Chris Bake’s Team Aqua. All four races were extremely close and Intense, all boats crossing the arrival line within seconds. Despite the close action, there were clearly two groups within the fleet, with Team Omega, Team Aqua and Cro-A-Sail (with Jesper Radish at the tactics) finishing all races in the top three whilst the newcomers onboard Magia Carbon Affairs and Antigua Ekipa 44 finished a few boat lengths behind.
Aged 25, Luisa Bambozzi found out that she was going to steer Team Omega the day before the event started. A member of the Fraglia Vela di Malcesine, she travelled to lake Garda in order to give a hand to the Organising Committee. Gianni Testa, the President of the club, was supposed to steer Team Omega but he realised that organising the event and sailing was too much. So he offered the job to Luisa. “I thought it was a joke”, she said. “But then I realised that they were serious. For me, this is just a once in a lifetime opportunity and I feel extremely lucky.”
A match racing round-robin is scheduled tomorrow, whilst the teams will sail a coastal race on Saturday. The event will finish on Sunday with more fleet races.
They said:
Luisa Bambozzi, helmswoman, Team Omega:
“Russell told me to concentrate on boat speed and not to look at the other boats, so that’s what I did. I was quite nervous before the start, but I relaxed as soon as the racing started. This was an amazing experience for me.”
Andrej Justin, RC 44 co-designer:
“It is very important for me to sail on the RC 44’s whilst racing. This is the best way for me to understand what goes well and what can be improved. It’s the best way top progress as a designer. I’m very lucky, because Russell always brings me a great feed back. His input is really fabulous. We want this class to be alive, so we need to permanently question ourselves.”
Carlo Falcone, Antigua Ekipa 44:
“I think that the boats are great. But what will make the difference with the other classes is the container concept. These boats are so easy to transport, it is just great. It reduces the costs tremendously, without compromising the performance. It is a very clever concept. Next winter, we want to organise an event in Antigua and it will be very easy to ship the boats there. I think that this Class will boom.”
Fleet racing: Provisional results after four races:
1) Team Omega (1, 1, 1, 2) 5 points
2) Team Aqua (3, 2, 2, 1) 8 points
3) Cro-A-Sail (2, 3, 3, 3) 11 points
4) Magia Carbon Affairs (5, 4, 4, 4) 17 points
5) Antigua Ekipa 44 (4, 5, 5, DNF) 20 points