44Cup Marstrand 2025 starts tomorrow
by 44Cup 25 Jun 07:03 NZST
25-28 June 2025
While the RC44s were up to 11 for the last event in Porto Cervo, for this week's 44Cup Marstrand, scheduled to set sail tomorrow from the breezy west coast of Sweden, the fleet has now grown to 12.
The 44Cup's old adversaries - Chris Bake's Team Aqua, Torbjörn Törnqvist's Artemis Racing, Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing, Nico Poons' Team Charisma, John Bassadone's Peninsula Racing, Igor Lah's Team Ceeref VAIDER and Vladimir Prosikhin's Team Nika, were joined in 2022 by Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team. Returning for the whole season this year, is Daniel Calero's Lanzarote Calero Sailing Team. Embarking on full campaigns since Porto Cervo are Mehmet Taki's Wow! Sailing Team from Turkey (following their trial in the BVI last autumn) and GeMera Racing, helmed by Torbjorn Tornqvist's son Markus, competing on his own boat for the first time.
The 12th team joining the 44Cup for the first time in Marstrand is Jan Scholtes' Warp 5. The Dutch team is using the 44Cup's successful 'black boat' trial horse provided to those wishing to try out RC44 racing before committing to the circuit full time.
Scholtes has cruised on the North Sea and the Ijsselmeer all his life. But the sale in 2021 of software company ZyLAB, where he was Chairman and CSO, freed up his time (although he still lecturers one day/week in AI and natural language processing at the University of Maastricht). Three years ago, he properly caught the bug for racing, having competed on several friends' yachts, including the J Class Velsheda and the Maarten 72 Aragon, acquiring a J/99 (also called Warp 5 - a Star Trek reference, meaning 125x light speed) which he still campaigns. He was attracted to the 44Cup as a step-up for his team, but also because its next event, the World Championship, will take place out of Scheveningen in his native Netherlands.
The Warp 5 crew includes a couple of old RC44 hands in grinder Jelle Janzen and Irish former BMW Oracle Racing pitman Revelin Minihane but with the crew led by class newbies Wouter Roos and tactician Wouter Verbraak.
Of his first training day on the RC44, Scholes commented: "It was really eye-opening - I was amazed with the boat's stability, because it has a very narrow hull and looks like it's not very stable, but you've got quite a big keel under it. Upwind, it was really impressive how it sails. We also tried it in waves and even then it went well. Downwind, it's more of a challenge, but I as long as it's <20 knots, we're happy. Yesterday we had a couple of gusts and our first broach of the week! We're really working on the boat handling now."
The closeness of the racing when racing starts will be an eye-opener too for although he races a one design, he typically sails it in handicap fleets. "Our first objective is to get around without damage and understand the boat a bit."
Surprisingly for someone of such experience this is Wouter Verbraak's first experience of the RC44. "I recognise it [the RC44] very much from my time in the V5 America's Cup boats - it's just a pure race boat. They're a lower budget than a TP52 and a one design. It's easy to get going in one. So far it's been super fun." While Verbraak is a renowned navigator, he has also raced on many occasions as a strategist and in smaller campaigns as a tactician. "I really enjoy it. Certainly the fleet is tight and I expect it to be challenging for me."
He is also impressed with the 44Cup format: "I like the idea of a circuit moving together, sharing logistics. We know several of the teams and they've been very helpful in lending us sails and materials. It reminds me a bit like the Volvo Ocean Race, where you're in a travelling circus and you can't bring all the spares yourself so you have to help each other."
As to who will win this week, the Törnqvists are clearly on the ascent with Artemis Racing and GeMera having finished second and third respectively in Porto Cervo. Team Nika is the present leader of the 2025 44Cup. Chris Bake's Team Aqua has won here more than anyone - consecutively over 2011-13, then the World Championship in 2019 and last in 2021 en route to winning the season. However the undisputed 'master of Marstrand' presently is Nico Poons' Charisma, which has won the last three editions, sealing the deal in 2024 with a race to spare.
So what is the secret? "Like any sport, keeping it consistent. So we stay at the same house, etc," says tactician Andy Horton. Having a strong, well exercised liver was vital last year, when, following the 44Cup's exceptional party at Marstrand's Society House to coincide with Sweden's Midsommarafton holiday, Poons and his team demonstrated the best recovery the following day winning the first race, helping them clinch the regatta.
As to the weather this week Horton says: "Obviously today was a blowout because this big front went through. It'll be post-frontal tomorrow, pre-frontal the next day, and then possibly two more fronts over the final two days, so 10 to 20 knots. The fun thing about Marstrand is that it's always different, every single day. We'll have northwesterlies, southerlies, westerly in the middle of a front for a day or two. And then there's the current, so you never get bored..." At times there can be as much as 1.5 knots running.
As to how having 12 boats on the start line will affect the racing, Horton advises that it requires care. "It becomes a case of turning the 8s or 9s into 4s and not into 12s. You've got to watch out for those big scores."
Racing on the 44Cup Marstrand is scheduled to set sail tomorrow with a first warning signal at 1200.