Done and dusted

Superb finale to Breitling MedCup in Ibiza

Peter de Ridder's unstoppable Mutua Madrilena completed their double today when they added the Trofeo Balearia Ibiza y Formentera to the overall 2006 Breitling MedCup TP52 Series title which they clinched yesterday.

De Ridder’s crew could not be accused of showboating, but the fashion in which they composed another two text book race wins today tells the story of their outstanding season.

Adrift by only one point behind Siemens this morning, they drew level when they won the first race. When they had to beat Siemens to win their third regatta title of six this season, De Ridder and his crew produced a near perfect pin end start - perfectly timed with great boat speed - and minutes into the race were able to cross the fleet. The final winning gun of the season was theirs and with it the Trofeo Breitling.

Adding to their victories at the Breitling Regatta in Portals and in Athens, Mutua Madrilena Mean Machine, steered by their Corinthian owner driver, were second in Punta Ala, third in Castellon, fifth at the Copa del Rey in Palma to finish 51 points clear of Fred and Steve Howe’s Warpath, skippered and steered by Emirates Team New Zealand’s Dean Barker.

Taking second place here in Ibiza by just one point Eamon Conneely’s Siemens, skippered and steered by Ian Walker, stole third place overall on the Breitling MedCup TP52 standings from Caixa Galicia, skippered by Roberto Bermudez who finished 11,9 for today and had to settle for fourth overall on the season standings.

“I feel very very happy. Really great,” smiled De Ridder. “Yesterday we celebrated a little, but we knew that today we had our little ‘tennis match’ with Siemens to see who could win the most regattas this season, and so it was nice to end up on a high. If there were any lingering doubts or questions they were answered today. That is a very good feeling. I think that many boats already gave up. It was good to see us come together with Siemens at the first windward marks. It was a real showdown and I am really excited about how we finished this one off.”

“It’s hard to sum up how I feel,” said Mutua Madrilena’s tactician Ray Davies, “This team has toughed out through thick and thin. Today just summed it up. They sailed brilliantly. To finish with two firsts is such a good feeling. We really worked hard in the last race. We knew it was all on between us and Siemens as to who won the overall points for this regatta, and so who won most regattas this season. We had the most amazing start at the pin end and were just launched. Hopefully it is on video because it was one for the text book. It was just a great way to finish the season.

“It is a great feeling. I started with three ambitions to win the Breitling MedCup. Now it is the America’s Cup and then the Volvo (Ocean Race)” concluded Davies.

Siemens lead Mutua Madrilena by a boat length at the windward mark in the first race. At the leeward gate de Ridder's team chose the inshore, right hand mark going downwind and headed inshore while Siemens chose the left and went more right up the beat. Mutua Madrilena hooked into a favourable shift in the wind direction on that side of the course rounding ahead of Siemens.

The second race was won off the start line by Mutua Madrilena. Their pin end start line gave them immediate control of the race.

“I’m happy with our day and our overall finish,” said Ian Walker. “We finished with a 4,4,2,2 and if that is not enough to win the regatta then you have to take your hat off to the winner. We are happy, we started one point behind Caixa and took third overall from them so that was big, we had two things we could shoot for and we got one and not the other."

While Peter de Ridder also wins the Corinthian Trophy for the Breitling MedCup TP 52 series overall, Juse Cusi’s Bribon, skippered by the Spain king HRH Juan Carlos, took second place on the Corinthian standings.

Results: Trofeo Balearia Ibiza y Formentera:

Pos	Sail nr.	Yacht	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Tot
1	04-MON52	Mutua Madrilena	Peter de Ridder	1	4	6	2	11	1	6	1	1	33
2	13-IRL5200	Siemens	Eamon Conneely	4	7	3	6	4	4	2	2	2	34
3	19-GBR5206	Cristabella	John Cook	13	5	4	1	1	10	14	4	5	57
4	16-ESP7452	Caixa Galicia	Vicente Tirado	2	1	9	10	8	14	1	11	9	65
5	18-USA52698	Warpath	Fred and Steve Howe	12	14	1	14	2	5	4	5	14	71
6	11-ITA52	Orlanda	Alessandro Pirera	6	12	2	8	9	3	12	15	12	79
7	12-ESP8110	Ono	Inaki Castaner	9	3	11	12	5	8	7	14	10	79
8	08-ESP7396	Baleria Deporte Galego	Gonzalo Araujo	7	6	15	7	15	2	5	6	17	80
9	06-GER4014	Pinta	Michael Illbruck	10	22	10	3	7	7	13	3	7	82
10	01-USA52864	Rush	Thomas Stark	5	2	13	15	3	13	11	9	11	82
11	09-POR2241	Bigamist VI	Pedro Mendoncia	8	8	16	13	12	6	8	13	15	99
12	14-ESP7657	Lexus Atlanti	George Andreadis/Jaime Yllera	18	17	12	4	6	11	9	17	6	100
13	02-ESP7553	Bribon	Jose Cusi	3	11	18	9	14	10	10	10	22	107
14	15-GER52	Platoon	Harm Muller-Spreer	17	18	17	18	13	16	3	8	3	113
15	07-ESP2152	Tau Ceramica-Andalucia	Javier Banderas/Rafael Diaz	19	10	7	21	17	12	16	7	4	113
16	03-NOR12000	Fram XVI	HM King Harald V of Norway	20	16	8	11	10	9	10	10	19	113
17	05-ITA572	Anonimo	Riccardo Simoneschi	15	13	14	17	14	15	15	12	13	128
18	17-GBR5252	Santa Ana	Stuart Robinson/Juan Antonio Iniesta	11	9	5	5	22	22	22	22	22	140
19	20-AUT52	C-Quadrat	Rainer Wilhelm	14	19	19	20	22	18	18	16	8	154
20	10-ESP7352	Aifos	Spanish Navy	16	20	20	16	18	17	19	18	16	160
21	22-RUS13	Rusal Synergy	Andrey Nikoleav	21	15	21	19	16	19	17	19	18	165

2006 Breitling MedCup TP52 Series, Overall standings:

Pos	Sail no	Yacht	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	D1	D2	D3	D4	Tot
1	04-MON52	Mutua Madrilena	Peter de Ridder	33	38	27	58	24	33	14	13	13	13	160
2	18-USA52698	Warpath	Fred and Steve Howe	27	37	46	58	38	71	22	16	14	14	211
3	13-IRL5200	Siemens	Eamon Conneely	93	30	55	34	60	34	17	16	15	15	243
4	16-ESP7452	Caixa Galicia	Vicente Tirado	42	46	58	66	38	65	18	17	17	14	249
5	19-GBR5206	Cristabella	John Cook	42	82	110	43	47	57	22	22	18	15	304
6	14-ESP7657	Lexus Atlanti	George Andreadis/Jaime Yllera	72	64	52	65	63	100	18	17	17	16	348
7	11-ITA52	Orlanda	Alessandro Pirera	72	43	95	78	70	79	22	18	17	17	363
8	02-ESP7553	Bribon	Jose Cusi	54	50	81	100	65	107	22	20	19	18	378
9	17-GBR5252	Santa Ana	Stuart Robinson/Juan Antonio Iniesta	66	57	77	59	68	140	22	22	22	22	379
10	01-USA52864	Rush	Thomas Stark	80	78	117	37	79	82	19	19	18	18	399
11	05-ITA572	Anonimo	Riccardo Simoneschi	48	84	92	88	69	128	22	19	18	18	432
12	06-GER4014	Pinta	Michael Illbruck	41	161	57	42	192	82	24	24	24	24	479
13	03-NOR12000	Fram XVI	HM King Harald V of Norway	90	82	106	92	100	113	20	20	19	19	505
14	12-ESP8110	ONO	Inaki Castaner	94	52	87	98	192	79	24	24	24	24	506
15	08-ESP7396	Baleria Deporte Galego	Gonzalo Araujo	86	84	97	65	192	80	24	24	24	24	508
16	15-GER52	Platoon	Harm Muller-Spreer	65	76	89	168	192	113	24	24	24	24	607
17	09-POR2241	Bigamist VI	Pedro Mendoncia	107	161	128	168	66	99	24	24	24	24	633
18	21-USA-52700	Bambakou	John Coumantaros	161	105	80	89	80	216	24	24	24	24	635
19	07-ESP2152	Tau Ceramica-Andalucia	Javier Banderas/Rafael Diaz	108	78	126	118	192	113	24	24	24	24	639
20	10-ESP7352	Aifos	Spanish Navy	111	121	141	93	104	160	21	20	19	19	651
21	20-AUT52	C-Quadrat	Rainer Wilhelm	161	132	139	123	192	154	24	24	24	24	805
22	22-RUS13	Rusal Synergy	Andrey Nikoleav	161	161	184	168	117	165	24	24	24	24	860
23	23-POR2241	Artemis	Torbjorn Tornqvist	161	161	184	64	192	216	24	24	24	24	882

NB: R1 = Punta Ala, R2 = Castellon, R3 = Breitling Cup, Porto Portals, R4 = Copa del Rey, Palma, R5 = Athens Trophy, R6 = Ibiza

Discards (D1, D2, D3 etc) kick in at every 10 races over the championship regardless of how this number falls per regatta (thus the fourth discard kicked in in Ibiza).