Young Azzurra lead the way as elimination claims Xela Racing
Looking at today’s scoreboard, you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing much happened today. For the first two races, the podium was the same… ITA, EUR, USA with the Italians going on to win 3 out of the 4 races they completed. But the scoreboard hid the true drama out on the water.
In the first two races, Young Azzura and Kingdom Team were the reference boats, sailing high and fast from the off. Their hulls occasionally kissed the grey crests and they soared effortlessly above the troughs while the rest of the pack struggled to get going in the waves. The choppy sea state forced the crews to readjust their finely tuned trimming habits in order to fly above the slop.
Adding yesterday’s last race with the first two races from today completed the first round of the knockout series and the verdict was clear. Norway’s Xela Racing languished at the bottom of the ranking and were eliminated.
With round one of the knockouts completed, the scores reset and RHKYC Team Agiplast were again in play. They wasted no time in stamping their authority on the remaining races, scoring a first out of the box, followed by a second place. Next to the Italians, the team that was the most reliable all day was the European Kingdom Team who never left the podium, scoring two second places and two thirds.
Knockout Round 1
15.5 ITA Young Azzura
12.0 EUR Kingdom Team
10.0 USA Southern Challenge
8.0 ESP Youth Brava España
6.0 SUI One Switzerland
2.5 NOR Xela Racing (Eliminated)
NB. Team DutchSail Janssen de Jong goes straight to the finals and does not compete in the knockout rounds because they were the best-ranked team in the qualifiers. RHKYC Team Agiplast did not complete in the first knockout round because they were the second best-ranked team in the qualifiers.
Knockout Round 2 (2 races of 3 completed)
11.0 HKG RHKYC Team Agiplast
9.0 ITA Young Azzura
8.0 EUR Kingdom Team
5.0 USA Southern Challenge
4.0 SUI One Switzerland
3.0 Youth Brava España
Click here for the results.
