Report GC32 Riva

GC32 RIVA, 25 – 29 May 2022, Riva del Garda, Italy

Practically seamlessly we went from the RC44 Cup in Portugal to Lake Garda to start the competition season on the catamaran as well.

Our biggest question mark was certainly how strong the newly formed Red Bull Alinghi Racing Team would be.

After a good training session in Lagos in March, we were positive about the new season and were able to confirm our ambitions in the two preparatory races with a first and a second place.

Starting signal for the unlucky streak

On 26 May, the starting gun was fired for the opening race of the GC32 Racing Tour 2022, and we kicked off the new season with a win in the first race. We were highly motivated.

But then we miscalculated a buoy manoeuvre in the second race and keeled over. Fortunately, no one was injured and there was no damage to the boat. The race was stopped for safety reasons. Unfortunately, the righting took so long that we missed the start of the second race by a few minutes.

With a mixed performance, we still came third overall and finished the first event on the podium.

After we had worked intensively on our boat stability at the start in the training sessions, we were able to profit from this, while surprisingly, tactical decisions and certain manoeuvres caused us problems. Procedures that had worked well before were suddenly difficult again. In the meantime, we have found the causes and will focus on them.

We are already on our way to the next GC32 event in Lagos, Portugal, before we travel to Sweden immediately after the event to sail another regatta with the RC44 yacht. We get to rent the class association yacht again in Sweden as the new Black Star will not be ready in time.

Visit our GC32 gallery with a wealth of photos from this fast-paced regatta.