A light, streaky offshore breeze topping out at 12 knots greeted the fleet at Puerto Calero on Lanzarote, and it was the Thai-flagged Vayu who made the most of it. Don Whitcraft's crew, with Mallorca-based Manu Weiller calling tactics, sit atop the Royal Cup leaderboard after one day of racing.
It wasn't a tidy start to their regatta. Vayu jumped the gun in Race 1 and had to restart, then fought back through the fleet to cross second behind Provezza. The second race was calmer by comparison, though still eventful, Vayu working through the second beat to snatch third at the finish.
That puts them three points clear of Ergin Imre's Provezza, who sit tied on eight points with Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon Aviation.
It's the second time this season Vayu have led an event after the opening races.
Weiller was in no mood to celebrate early. "We have been here before and we know it is a long week, we just take the low points today and hope they are not too high at the end of the week," he said. "I think we all saw what was going on with the breeze, sometimes we were better positioned to take advantage. Every now and then we were a bit lucky."
He explained the drama behind that first-race recovery. "We had a problem with the jib and couldn't hoist it until there were two minutes to go; we were a long way from the line and the only thing we could do was try to get clear first on the pin, but it didn't quite work out. And then the good thing was that, coming from behind the fleet, we caught a good left-hand shift. The silver lining of a poor start is that you can sail freely and catch the wind shifts as you want, until you're level with the others again."
Race two went differently. "We got off to a great start and erred a bit more to starboard. I think we rounded the first mark in sixth place and then, on the first downwind leg, we managed to move up to third, then fourth, and by the second upwind leg we were up to second place only losing Platoon on the line."
It's a stark contrast to last month's regatta at Marina Rubicon, where the breeze averaged over 20 knots every day. Wednesday should bring more of the same light to moderate conditions before the tradewinds return with some force by Friday.
Provezza, for their part, sailed to a plan. Navigator Nacho Postigo had called a left-favoured track on Monday, and the Turkish boat led at every mark to win their first race since Puerto Portals.
Shawn and Tina Kang's Alpha Plus found the breeze where others didn't, splitting left on the opening run to ride a burst of pressure to victory in Race 2.
Platoon Aviation's day, an eight-point average across the two races, claws back six points on circuit leaders Sled, who slipped late in Race 2 to finish tenth. Combined with fourth in the opener, that leaves Takashi Okura's Sled down in eighth overall, a tumble for the season's pace-setters.
Müller-Spreer wasn't hiding his satisfaction. "It was a really tricky place to sail today. It is like a Bavarian lake wind coming from all directions but for us a good result with a sixth and a second and catching up six points to Sled. To be honest I don't look at Sled's points I just like to see them behind us."
France's Teasing Machine had no such luck. A broken D2 shroud before the start ruled them out of both races, though they're expected back on the water tomorrow.
Racing resumes Wednesday at 1330hrs local time.
