Pieter Heerema and his team No Way Back have conquered the Sea Dubai RC 44 Gold Cup. Winners of the fleet regatta and the DHL Trophy, they also grab the RC 44 Championship Tour 2009 ahead of Artemis, who retains the overall fleet race title.
The scenario couldn't have been better ahead of the last racing day of the RC 44 Championship Tour 2009, with four boats in a position to win the overall title. Following the match race event earlier in the week, Pieter Heerema's No Way Back was leading the provisional ranking with 15 points ahead of Artemis (17), Team Aqua (18) and Ceeref (19). Needless to say that there was a huge pressure on the teams.
One week ago, ahead of the Gold Cup, No Way Back was third overall and fourth in the fleet race ranking. The double points system - heavily discussed this week - turned out massively in their favour. The Dutch team conquers the fleet race ranking and the overall Gold Cup. Last but not least, Heerema and Ray Davies win the Championship Tour 2009. During the price giving, Heerema received a superb sculpture created by the Swiss artist Fred Fischer and called Fluid.
Thanks to their second place, Artemis remains the fleet race champion 2009; the team will start the next season with brand new gold wheels! Finally, Ceeref conquered earlier in the week the prestigious SLAM Cup; a trophy awarded to the best match racer of the season.
Sea Dubai RC 44 Gold Cup - Fleet race, final results after ten races:
1. No Way Back, Pieter Heerema, 28 points
2. Artemis, Tim Snedden, 43
3. Team Aqua, Chris Bake, 52
4. Ceeref, Igor Lah, 56
5. BMW ORACLE Racing, Neville Crichton, 58
6. Team Katusha, Bob Little, 63
7. Team Sea Dubai, Yousef Lahej, 64
8. Team Austria, Christian Binder, 71
9. Organika, Maciej Nawrocki, 79
10. Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, Daniel Calero, 89
RC 44 Championship Tour 2009, overall result:
1. No Way Back, 15 points
2. Artemis, 17
3. Ceeref, 19
4. BMW ORACLE Racing, 20
5. Team Aqua, 22
6. Organika, 33
7. Puerto Calero Islas Canarias, 42
8. Team Katusha, 44
9. Team Sea Dubai, 47
10. Team Austria, 56
11. Jelik, 66