2014 Gold Cup, Alassio, Italy - English

There were dramatic conditions for the opening day of the D-One Gold Cup. Competitors from 9 nations woke up to a sunny morning and the breeze built throughout the morning of Day1 in the beautiful backdrop of Alassio Bay.

During the day there was a great deal of chopping and changing at the front of the high calibre fleet. GBR's Nick Craig led the fleet overnight tied with Peter Fiala CZE on 4 points. Uberto Visconti ITA finished off the top 3 after just claiming the 49er Italian nationals.

 Thursday night saw the D- One fleet attend the championship dinner at a local restaurant hosted by Luca Devoti. Lots of pasta and fantastic fish dishes were consumed finished off by a metre tall jug of Grappa.

 Day 2 was very different. The first race was started in 8kts in a challenging sea state left over from the overnight gale. Nick Simmons sailed a good first beat and run to round the bottom mark in 3rd just behind Nick Craig. With dying breeze the race officer shortened us and finished us at the top mark. Simmons found all the holes in the last beat and ended up swamped whilst Craig held on and took 3rd.

With the breeze completely shutting off the Race Officer raised AP over A and sent us ashore to wait further instructions. With the second race looking unlikely many returned to the club house to commence an evening on the pasta and beer, only for the breeze to switch 180 degrees and fill in to 15kts.

With impeccable timing the RO managed to squeeze in the second race in a gentle evening breeze with the big waves now in the right direction for surfing downwind. Humphrey Carter sailed well working his way through the fleet to 6th at the last windward mark claiming second GBR with the every consistent Craig also pulling through the fleet to take 3rd

Day 3 dawned hot and sunny with no wind. After the race officer finished his bottle of wine and spritz racing for the day was cancelled and everyone went for a very pleasant gelato. 

Day 4 ws perfect: clear blue skies and gentle breezes greeted the competitors. It was a great day to conclude the Gold Cup with a Brit, a Czech and an Italian making up the top 3. The first race was sailed in 6-8kts. With shifty conditions some new faces made it to the front of the tightly packed fleet. Alessandro Novi was doing some good corner banging up wind and sailed well downwind finishing second. Peter Fiala won the race excelling in these conditions showing the rest of us how to spot every shift and change gears when needed. With Nick Craig finishing down the pack everything was to play for in the final race with Nick and Peter now tied on equal points and Uberto in sniffing distance.

 For the second and final race the breeze increased in pressure with building waves. Peter CZE and Uberto ITA nailed the first beat getting around the top mark in good order with Nick rounding mid fleet giving himself some loud "verbal encouragement" which obviously worked well as by the end of the run he was back in contention. In a tense final lap the contenders tussled for the lead of the championship. Peter got boxed out downwind leaving Nick to gybe away to clinch second from Tamas Szamody HUN and take the 2014 D-One Gold Cup.

In the tightly contested masters category GBR's Giles Chipperfield sailed a consistent week beating previous champions to bring the trophy to UK shores for the first time. Well done Nick Craig!