Bribón on course to retain the City of Alicante Trophy

The second day of the 2008 Audi MedCup Circuit in Alicante belonged to Peter de Ridder’s new Mean Machine, scoring back to back wins in Race 4 and Race 5 of the regatta. But it is the current holders of the City of Alicante Trophy, Bribón, whose consistency across three good quality races today earns them an overall lead of eight points.

José Cusi’s Bribón, with double Olympic medallist Ross Macdonald (CAN) calling tactics for helm Dean Barker (NZL), won the first race and then posted a pair of fourth places to lead Doug De Vos (USA) and Fred Howe’s (USA) Quantum Racing, while the 2005 MedCup Champions, Mutua Madrileña skippered by Vasco Vascotto (ITA) sit third overall.

With the sun breaking through later in the afternoon the breeze increased across the races to provide a great blend of tactical racing in 5-7 knots in the first contest, giving way to a more physically demanding 15-16 knots in the third.

Mean Machine's winning tactics from Ray Davies (NZL) and Tom Dodson (NZL) were a facsimile from Race 4 to Race 5, flipping early to the right side of the course and extending to hook into a favourable shift, they proved they have speed when they built a comfortable margin in the final race today. In contrast Macdonald was more measured and less extreme with Bribón.

Macdonald, the analytical, calm Canadian, admirably dealt with the high wire act required in this white hot 16 boat fleet, sailing consistently. As he put it on Monday ‘there is no need to try and hit it out of the park. Just try and not make mistakes.' Their strategy worked today: good first windward beats to build a platform to work from and the Spanish boat showed they lack nothing in speed.

At the theoretical half-way point of the ten planned races of this City of Alicante Trophy Regatta, leading into tomorrow’s critical Coastal Race which carries a double points bounty, the 2007-built Bribón heads a healthy mix of six new 2008 boats in the top 10.

Although not a new boat, Bribón underwent surgery during the winter to reconfigure the aft sections to improve their speeds in fresher conditions, such as prevailed in the third race of the day.

Ross Macdonald (CAN) Bribon's tactician:
"It was a good day with perfect conditions, just typical of the Mediterranean.The boat was moving well, and we were just trying to be consistent. The key today was there were a few windshifts around and differerences in wind strength across the course, and it was really a case of just trying to link those up. When it gets light then the angles between the boats really open up, and so you really need to keep the boat in the best (wind) pressure. That was much more important in the first race, which we won."

"It is interesting against the new boats because I think it is very even on speed."

Ignasi Triay, Project Manager of Bribón, on their leadership in the overall standings:“I think the boat showed today that even though she is a year old, she can still give the fleet a hard time, and is working really well. The crew did a fabulous job although we are convinced that as the teams with new boats start to get to know them better, they are going to make things a lot tougher. Our strong point has been that we are being very consistent and although it’s early days maybe to prove it too much, I really think that the key to getting a good result, is not making any big blunders.”

Peter de Ridder, Skipper and Helmsman of Mean Machine“Yesterday we were pretty disappointed and we had a good chat about our strategy and tactics, and tried to do better today. We were already very happy with the 5th and it got better with two firsts. We had a good start and we liked the right; that gave us an edge on the other boats. Most of the time in that situation you just stretch ahead, and we were clear, so were comfortable. I think picking the right, the tactical decision was important; it wasn’t boat speed, but a better strategy plan executed. Nothing changed boat handling-wise it all came together that’s all.”

Morgan Larson (USA), Quantum Racing's tactician:
"In the first race of the day I was not happy with the decisions I took, but overall I am happy with the day. Our goal was to average better than fifth for the day and we achieved that. I think our boat is a little stronger up the wind range. The boat is certainly good which is a reward because I think the designers and the build team and everyone has put all that they could into it, so we are pretty happy."

Provisional Standings after five races
(Position, Boat, Country, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, Total Points)

1st Bribon ESP (3, 3, 1, 4, 4, 15)
2nd Quantum USA (4, 5, 9, 3, 2, 23)
3rd Mutua Madrilena ESP (2, 4, 8, 8, 3, 25)
4th TAU Ceramica Andalucia ESP (1, 1, 6, 9, 9, 26)
5th Mean Machine MON (7, 16, 5, 1, 1, 30)
6th Platoon powered by Team Germany GER (5, 9, 2, 5, 14, 35)
7th El DesafÌo ESP (9, 6, 7, 11, 5, 38)
8th Matador ARG (10, 14, 3, 2, 10, 39)
9th Artemis SWE (12, 11, 4, 10, 7, 44)
10th Cristabella GBR (11, 2, 15, 7, 12, 47)