Index

- Russell Coutts Introduction .........................

- Events .........................................................

- Teams ..........................................................

- Staff .............................................................

- Acknowledegements ...................................

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Congratulations to Chris and the Team Aqua crew. Another well-ear-ned Championship Tour title under your belt. You had to work rea-lly hard for it this year! John and Peninsula Petroleum certainly shook up the leaderboard and no doubt they will be up there again in 2015. Ed Baird and Synergy Russian Sailing Team once again proved a formidable force in the match racing. There was plenty of close racing at the final event of the season but to finish the day with a completely clean slate and to take home the 2014 Match Racing Tour title was well deserved. It has been fantastic to see new teams like Nico’s Charisma joining the fleet and hitting the podium positions within their first year. With that said, I must also mention it was great to see Vladimir and Bro-nenosec Sailing Team walk away with the RC44 World Champions-hip title, exactly one year after joining the class! Great achievement. Racing this year in Virgin Gorda and Sotogrande has been an unforgettable experience. Thank you all for raising the bar and helping us develop a class that is not only built on friendships but also offers a phenomenal level of quality racing. My final note is simply to add a word of thanks to Bertrand, Hubert and all of the race officials that do such a superb job of organizing the Class. It’s fantastic to be taking the Tour to two new venues in 2015 and I am looking forward to joining the Class for a few of those events.

Russell.

The opening event of the 2014 RC44 Championship Tour saw nine teams out of the 13 strong fleet compete in the stunning turquoise waters of Virgin Gorda.

Serving up a perfect 11-14 knot easterly breeze on flat water, nine match race flights were raced inside Virgin Gorda’s beautiful North Sound. Penalties flew and a few collisions meant it was an exciting day for the sailors. Defending match race champions Team Aqua made sure they stayed at the top of the leaderboard, losing just one of their eight matches to Synergy Russian Sailing Team.

Peninsula Petroleum had led the RC44 Virgin Gorda Cup fleet racing since day one. After two days of racing around the cans and a 28nm long distance race around Guana Island, the team were still on top going in to the final day. But a black flag disqualification and a three-point penalty after a collision Gazprom Youth Sailing Challenge allowed Team Aqua to snatch the victory by just two points, leaving Peninsula Petroleum in second and Synergy Russian Sailing Team in third.

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Round two of the Championship Tour saw the teams do battle in Portugal’s interna-tionally renowned sailing mecca. Cascais lived up to expectation with a week of solid breeze, combined with a long rolling Atlantic swell.

Synergy Russian Sailing Team took the driving seat in the match racing winning all six of their matches, taking the lead from defending champions Team Aqua, who dropped one of their six matches to Aleph Racing.

After a consistent performance from Team Nika and Peninsula Petroleum throughout the week, the pair went in to the final day of fleet racing with a slender three-point ad-vantage over the chasing boats. At the end of the day, it was Peninsula Petroleum who were able to pull out a come from behind victory. Team Aqua sneaked in to second place and Team Nika dropped to third after a slow start in the final race which they were unable to recover from.

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New to the Tour in 2014, the RC44 Puerto Sotogrande Cup took place close to Gibraltar on Spain’s Andalucian coast. Home team Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team entered the regatta with the overall lead and the coveted ‘golden wheels’.

Defending match race champions, Team Aqua regained their overall lead in Sotogrande, win-ning five out of six matches in idyllic conditions with flat water and a breeze gusting at times to 20+ knots.

With consistency the name of the game in the shifty breeze blowing off the Andalucian coast, fleet racing came to a close conclusion with Bronenosec Sailing Team never finishing lower than sixth and ultimately taking the event win closely followed by Synergy Russian Sailing Team and Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team on joint points in second and third.

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Returning to the Swedish island of Marstrand for the fourth consecutive year, the RC44 World Championship saw twelve teams take to the picturesque waters in front of the iconic Carlsten Fortress.

Lively conditions welcomed the teams with the wind at times gusting to 20+ knots and lumpy seas that placed a premium on boat handling. With six flights raced in the match racing, Team Nika were the star performers winning all five of their matches.

After two action packed days of fleet racing, nine teams were in contention for the World Championship title going into the final days. Home team Artemis Racing made a heroic come-back midweek winning two races in one day. However it was Bronenosec Sailing Team who were finally crowned World Champions, with RC44 new comers Charisma reaching second place in their third event with the class. Near gale force winds and substantial breaking waves on the race course caused the concluding races to be cancelled.

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The closing event of the 2014 Championship Tour played out at the RC44 Oman Cup, Muscat. Hosted by Oman Sail, the season finale promised to be a close one with the Match Racing and Fleet Racing titles up for grabs and the top three teams all within touching distance.

In a light 5-7 knot north-easterly breeze, the 10 teams took to the water for the match racing decider. Defending champions Team Aqua held a slim one-point lead over Synergy Russian Sai-ling Team. Flat water made for easy boat handling conditions but the 30-degree shifts made the tactician’s life difficult. It was Synergy who mastered the conditions, finishing the day unbeaten and crowned 2014 RC44 Match Race Champions.

With no team able to discard the last fleet racing event of the season, the podium positions were by no means secure as the final day of racing got underway in a sedate seven-knot bre-eze. An unmatched level of consistency throughout the four days of fleet racing saw Team Nika secured the RC44 Oman Cup with a race to spare. Defending Champions Team Aqua did just about enough to stay ahead of Peninsula Petroleum, defending their RC44 Championship title for another year - the fourth time the team have lifted the trophy since joining the class in 2007.

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RC44 Match Racing Tour Champions

Synergy Russian Sailing Team

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RC44 World Champions

Bronenosec Sailing Team

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RC44 Fleet Racing Tour Champions

Team Aqua

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CHARISMA

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