City of Split consolidates lead

On penultimate leg of Alpe Adria Sailing Tour reports Vittoria Trojer

After two false starts due to the complete lack of wind, Marco Augelli on board of City of Aquileia won the ninth leg of the Alpe Adria Sailing Tour from Split to Makarska, ending late last night.

It's the second win for this team, who had previously won the leg from Muggia to Koper. After the second attempt to get the boats away was suspended, the race committee decided to let the 12 Solaris 36 one designs motor to a place where there would be more wind.

9 miles from the city of Makarska, in front of the Isle of Brec, the marks were placed and the third and final start was given.

The top three winning boats also included Scor Team arriving 37seconds after the winner in second place with City of Split third with 1 minute 21 seconds later.

Sailing on City of Split is the President of the Croatian Olympic Committee, Zlatko Matesa. With this good result, City of Split consolidates their first place in the overall results, increasing their lead over BMW Tomic with Peter Holmberg at the helm (who finished a lowely 11th into Makarska).

It was also an excellent race for the courageous women's team of Val Nautika who arrived fourth 1 min 54 secs after the leader. Skipper Sabrina Breda, explains, "we decided to risk it and go near the shore. At one point we were even in first place until a sudden wind shift took away our success. We are still really happy, we showed that we can race with just about anyone!"

There was also a great result for the boat Region Friuli Venezia Giulia in fifth place finishing 2 min 21 secs after the winner. Helmsman, Marco Sartori said, "it was a constant battle for first place, we alternated with the girl's team, City of Aquileia
and Holmberg's BMW Tomic. It was frustrating to have a constant increase and decrease of wind, but in the end, our tactics paid off and we are happy with the result."

The overall results sees City of Split leading by 19 mins 50 secs over Peter Holmberg's BMW Tomic, while the rest of the results remain basically unchanged with Barcolana still in third place, followed by Scor Team and City of Aquileia.

Tomorrow is the final leg, which will depart Makarska for the city of Dubrovnik, an 80 mile leg which could possibly change the overall results.

Order of arrival for the 9th leg, Split-Makarska:
1. Citta di Aquileia 2h19.02;
2. Scor Team 2h19.39;
3. Citta di Spalato 2h20.23;
4. Val Nautika 2h20.56;
5. Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia 2h21.23;
6. Clementei 2h21.38;
7. Dubrovnik 2h21.48;
8. Sibenik 2h24.44;
9. Barcolana 2h25.17;
10.Magic Sailing Team 2h26.06;
11. BMW Tomic 2h35.04;
12. Alcatel 2h44.20

Overall result after nine legs:
1. Citta di Spalato 70h23.11;
2. BMW Tomic 70h43.01;
3. Barcolana 71h30.37;
4. Scor Team 72h21.48;
5. Citta di Aquileia 72h48.04;
6. Clementei 73h00.24;
7. Magic Sailing Team 74h22.53;
8. Alcatel 75h20.20;
9. Val Nautika 77h06.28;
10. Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia 77h13.39;
11,Dubrovnik 80h24.14;
12. Sibenik 82h06.22