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The Official
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The fleet faced the second race with Orlanda leading on 44 points, Lexus just one point away on 43, and Leche Pascual on 41, with Cristabella in fourth place. There was much excitement, given the fact that in these races anyone can win.
The wind had picked up to ten knots, and Lexus delivered a great start, racing forward into first place. Only a few seconds behind, Caixa Galicia were moving in, with the rest of the fleet following. At the first windward buoy, BARKER's team was in first place, followed by Caixa Galicia, Orlanda-Olympus, Bribon, Bambakou, Leche Pascual, Cristabella, Siemens, Atalanti XV and Aifos. The excitement did not subside in the heart stopping downwind course where Bribon managed to get ahead into third place, in front of the Italian Orlanda-Olympus team.
The level of the Transpac 52 racing is so high that even simple errors can be very costly during a regatta. As such, Lexus took the decision to move slightly more to the right than their rivals in the second upwind course, which cost them a win, against Caixa Galicia who were really fighting for a place on the podium. Bribon also got ahead of Lexus and the three boats sailed the last downward course with only a few bowlines between them. At the leeward buoy, it was HM King Juan Carlos of Spain's boat that turned first, thanks to a well made tactical decision to gybe more leeward than their rivals.
Caixa Galicia, who had started the last upwind course in second place, pushed forward to pass Bribon and cross the finish line first, followed by the Bribon, and Lexus, who had achieved victory in the general rankings in this regatta. Bambakou owned and driven by John COUMANTAROUS came in fourth in the race, and seventh in the event. Fifth place went to Vasco VASCOTTO's (ITA) Leche Pascual. VASCOTTO commented, 'It's been a very hard regatta and the conditions have been extremely hard. Today [yesterday] we have sailed very bad and we deserve the position we have achieved. We remain leaders at the overall ranking of the Breitling MEDCUP Tp52, although the margin with our rivals have been reduced.'
Leche Pascual were not able to keep up the winning streak they experienced in Valencia, and as such came fourth in the general classifications, drawing on points with Orlanda-Olympus who are on third place on points, thanks to their better performance in the individual races. Orlanda, who were winning at the start of the day, finished seventh.