With no racing the previous day and only four races at the helm of Sea Dubai, Harm Muller Spreer and the team put on a show to be proud of on the last day of the RC44 Austria Cup. Taking a fantastically orchestrated victory in the first race there followed a third and a second place with the whole team on fine form. A judgment error in the last race cost them a podium place but their overall ranking in the Championship Tour after two rounds moved up to second place ahead of BMW Oracle and just behind No Way Back.

The scores from the first three races on the final day overshadowed the last race and the team ended the regatta on a positive note. ‘Things went well today, our starts were solid, our racing was good and I started to feel comfortable with the boat,’ said Harm Muller Spreer. ‘I’m still learning and I need a bit more time but today we performed really well as a team and it’s very encouraging for all of us,’ he added.

Strategy in the first race included tacking immediately after the start at the committee boat end of the line and heading to the coast, which led the team to a notable first place. The next race didn’t disappoint either with Sea Dubai sailing to the centre of the lake before heading towards the land and finishing in third. The wind started to drop in race seven and Sea Dubai rounded the windward mark in third place behind BMW Oracle and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero but an excellent downwind leg secured second place and the chance of being on the podium. But it wasn’t to be, tricky conditions in race eight sent the whole fleet searching for air in every direction and Sea Dubai finished ninth. It was a good day however and a great regatta in a very beautiful part of Austria. ‘It was a shame we didn’t so well in the last race, but we did great in the first three races today and we are in second place in the overall Championship ranking, it’s a good start,’ said Markus Wieser.

Many of the sailors, including Matti Paschen and Kazuhiko Sofuku from the Sea Dubai team will travel to La Maddalena in Sardinia at the end of the month to race in the Louis Vuitton Trophy before the next round of the RC44 Championship in Copenhagen June 8 – 13.

Fleet Race Results;

1^st BMW Oracle, 2^nd RC44 Challenge, 3^rd No Way Back, 4^th Sea Dubai, 5^th Ceeref, 6^th Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, 7^th Artemis, 8^th Katusha, 9^th Team Aqua, 10^th Team Austria

Overall results after two rounds:

1^st No Way Back, 2^nd Sea Dubai, 3^rd BMW Oracle, 4^th Artemis, 5^th Team Aqua, 6^th Katusha, 7^th Ceeref, 8^th RC44 Challenge, 9^th Puerto Calero, 10^th Team Austria, 11^th Organika