Team Argo signed podium posts in the ten contested sleeves (Photo Jesus Renedo)

The GC32 Villaimius Cup fired with a magnificent final day that served Jason Carroll's Team Argo to confirm its excellent form and sign a strong victory on the second date of the GC32 Racing Tour 2017. The Movistar - Window Group of Iker Martínez closed its participation by achieving victory in the last manga and the fourth final position, tied to points with the third classified.

The Villasimius regatta field fired from its first international race, presenting magnificent conditions for the show of the GC32 flying catamarans. The fourth and last day of competition of the GC32 Villaimius Cup was resolved with four tests in which the wind began blowing with 10 knots of intensity and ended with 18, an ideal scenario that launched the participants at speeds close to 30 knots.

Team Argo's magnificent performance fulfilled the victory aspirations of his six rivals. The interest in the last day focused on the battle for the second position, fought three between the Swiss Realteam, the Japanese Mamma Aiuto! and the Spanish Movistar - Ventana Group. The team of Iker Martínez said goodbye to the championship by signing the best card of the three (7-4-1), but it was hardly worth it to end up tied to points (38) with the Mamma Aiuto! (1-7-7 today). The unbound benefited the team of Naofumi Kamei, who finished third behind the Realteam (4-6-4).

Despite the insanity of ending off the podium, Movistar - Ventana Group would not leave Villaimius empty-handed. The Spanish squadron was the best in the Anonymous Speed Challenge, the sprint race that chooses the fastest team of each event. All participants made 90-second sleeves, and Movistar - Window Group managed to establish the best brand: 28.17 knots.

30 / 06 / 2017: GC32 Tour: Team Argo consolidates his leadership in a dramatic day

The Villasimius race field continues to surprise the GC32 Racing Tour fleet. After a blank and a literally perfect day, today it has presented very complicated conditions for both the Regata Committee and the participants. The fleet was able to fight only two sleeves, and four of the seven teams were disqualified from the second. Team Argo signed an almost perfect card (2-1) and is the strong leader for the last day of competition. The Spanish Movistar - Ventana Group starred in an irregular day and is fourth. The third day of competition of the GC32 Villaimius Cup has been a challenge for the Regata Committee, which had to deal with an unstable wind that complicated its intention to establish fair race fields.

Team Engie was one of the only three teams that could score in the second manga (Photo Jesús Renedo)

The first test of the day (fifth of the championship) was performed with an output configuration in line with seven knots of wind. The Mamma Aiuto! of Naofumi Kamei (which has on board the Manu Weiller mallorcan) was soon to stand in front, demonstrating once again that the shipowning-timonel formula wins integers in front of the professional timonels. Realteam was riding fifth in barlovento, but he was riding on the stern side thanks to a tactic opposite that of his rivals, as his crew member Lucien Cujean would recognize: "The others opted for maximum speed and maximum foliage, even if they were supposed to navigate more distance. We prefer to sail a little lower, and we go from fifths to seconds on that stretch."Jérôme Clerc chose the left door almost as Mamma Aiuto! mounted the right door. A sudden 30-degree roll and an increase in wind intensity to 13 knots catapulate the Swiss ship and filled the Japanese, which in a matter of minutes went from first to last without being able to do anything to prevent it. The victory was the Realteam, followed by Team Argo and the Spanish Movistar - Ventana Group.

The increase in wind intensity forced the relocation of the race field for a configuration with a fenced output. Two general calls would be necessary before it could start the sixth championship test, although even in the third attempt four ships made off-line, receiving both BFD (black flag). They were disqualified, and added eight points to their lockers, Realteam, Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco, ARMIN STROM Sailing Team and the Spanish Movistar - Ventana Group. The victory would be the American Team Argo, with much of the best ship of the day (2-1). Only Jason Carroll's team, Team Engie and Mamma Aiuto!, who crossed the ultimate goal without knowing that the four disqualifications meant signing a satisfactory third. According to his crew member Hervé Cunningham, "after losing the previous sleeve, we learned that we finished third parties was the best surprise of the day."

The third exit of the day left the ARMIN STROM Sailing Team in the tail of the platoon after committing off-line, shortly before falling into a wind well that seemed to kill the bad fortune of the Swiss team. At the front of the load was the Movistar - Ventana Group of Iker Martínez, ready to repair the painful BFD of the previous test. But the wind fell into the race field, and the Committee chose to abandon the test and send the fleet back to the Marina di Villaimius.

Completed the first three days of competition, the Villasimius race field has made clear its ambiguity: a blank day on Wednesday for overwind and wave, ideal conditions on Thursday and frustrating instability on Friday. The forecast indicates an increase in wind intensity for tomorrow Saturday, the last day of competition of the GC32 Villaimius Cup.

29 / 06 / 2017: GC32 Racing Tour: Movistar-Window Group of Iker Martínez wins a victory

The GC32 Racing Tour fleet was able to start today the GC32 Villaimius Cup. After yesterday's blank day for the excesses of meteorology, the southern end of Sardinia today showed excellent conditions for the show of the flying catamarans. The fleet played four sleeves with winds of 10 to 20 knots and a flat sea with victories for four different teams. The Movistar - Window Group of Iker Martínez won the inaugural test, but the first interim leader is Jason Carroll's Team Argo as a prize for its regularity.

The GC32 Racing Tour fleet today premiered the unpublished Villasimius regatta field in the southeast end of Sardinia (Italy). The weather that prevented the opening of the lockers yesterday was more friendly to the flying catamarans, presenting them with an excellent scenario with winds of 10-20 knots and no wave, ideal conditions for the competition of the GC32.

Movistar - Window Group won the first of the day and is second of the provisional (Photo Jesus Renedo)

The day ended with many smiling faces. Stuart Chierley, Chief Regata Officer, advanced the first departure of the day at 10: 00 for fear that the wind and waves would rise too much and cause a situation similar to that which forced the previous day to be cancelled. While heading for the race field, the British checked the power of the waves entering the bay, but decided to continue with his plan to surround Capo Carbonara in search of better conditions. What was found on the eastern side of the peninsula reassured him. The circuit was ready to welcome the runners.

The second sleeve was for Team Argo. The American team was the most regular of the day (2-1-2-3), and returned to the ground as the first leader of the GC32 Villaimius Cup. "We look for the side of the Committee on the starting line," would confess at the end of the day the master and shipowner Jason Carroll. "As always, the exit is a key moment because that's where you have access to the best options in the field for the rest of the race." Carroll's ship also leads the Owner- Driver trophy.

The third partial victory of the day was for the Realteam of Jérôme Clerc, the winner of the GC32 Riva Cup, the first test of the season. The last sleeve was for the Japanese Mamma Aiuto! by Naofumi Kamei. Hervé Cunningham, a crew member of the Nipon ship, highlights the conditions that lived today in Villaimius: "Today we have enjoyed a beautiful navigation: the water is so blue that you can see the fish, and we are surrounded by beaches, mountains,... It was just magic." Mamma Aiuto! signed an excellent card (3-3-4-1) and occupies the third position of the provisional, tied to points with the Movistar - Window Group.

The competition comes back tomorrow with great doubts about how the wind will behave in the area of Villaimius. The forecast indicates the entry of a strong north from 16: 00, but in any case it seems that the fleet will have to manage a very different situation than the stable south-west that provided such favourable conditions today.

14 / 06 / 2017: GC32 Tour: the great meeting of the flying ships in Sardinia from 28 June to 1 July

The town of Villaimius, in the southeast of Sardinia, will host the second punctuable date for the GC32 Racing Tour on the next 28 June to 1 July. The intensity in the class is maximum after the exciting season premiere at Lake Garda. The Spanish Movistar - Ventana Group of Iker Martínez has confirmed its participation... will be the debut of the class GC32 in waters of Sardinia, Italy... a regatta field that is an unknowable for all crews, and will be the second notable date of the 2017 season of the GC32 Racing Tour. Among the seven teams that have confirmed their participation, it is part of the favorite vitola the Realteam, winner of the GC32 Riva Cup last May. The team led by Jérôme Clerc led an exclusively Swiss podium on Lake Garda ahead of the Sebastien Schneider Tilt Team, absent from competing at the Red Bull Youth America's Cup held these days in Bermuda.

Realteam and Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco will be at the GC32 Villaimius Cup (Photo Jesús Renedo)

GC32 Villasius Cup participants
- Armin Strom Sailing Team (SUI) - Flavio Marazzi
- Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco (MON) - Pierre Casiraghi
- Mamma Aiuto! (JPN) - Naofumi Kamei
- Movistar - Window Group (ESP) - Iker Martínez
- Realteam (SUI) - Jérôme Clerc
Team Argo (USA) Jason Carroll
- Team Engie (FRA) - Sebastien Rogues