Calero Sailing Team successfully concludes 44Cup World Championship

After days of sun and solid wind, rain descended over Lake Lucerne on Saturday night and continued into mid-morning on Sunday, the final day of the 44Cup World Championship Brunnen. Only then could three more races be held in the southern part of Lake Lucerne’s ‘Urnersee’ section in a viable northerly.

Calero Sailing Team got off to a difficult start to the day with a broken runner block prior to the start of the first race, which subsequently hampered their performance throughout the day. In the second race they got off to a good start and, as ever, sailed well on the first upwind but suffered during manoeuvres on the downwind legs. “We gybed early, but the course was for the left side [looking downwind] and that was a problem for us,” explained Calero Sailing Team tactician and former Snipe World Champion, Alfredo Gonzalez. “Finally in the last race we had a good prestart and first upwind, and after that we had the same problem with the manoeuvring of the boat…”

While Calero Sailing Team finished at the bottom of the leaderboard, they have not held this position all week and frequently they have scored higher and this was despite the tricky conditions on Lake Lausanne. “It has been interesting to sail here,” continued Martinez. “It is not just down to luck - you need to read the breeze on the water, like you do on the open sea. It is normal sailing. With the robotic marks it is easier because you don’t need to lay a course on one side - you can race in the centre of the lake…”

Calero Sailing Team owner-drive Daniel Calero added: “There have been many positive things this week - I think we are very competitive. We have made few errors and have paid a lot for them as we have seen in the results. It has been tough reaching the windward mark first, second or third and then doing so badly on the downwinds. So, it has been a bit sweet and sour. It is a strange feeling because we are all convinced that we can be up there. But that is how it is…”

The Canary Islands team has attracted some accomplished crew for this regatta including Olympic Radial sailor Alicia Cebrian; Tokyo 470 bronze medallist Nico Rodríguez and accomplished Finn sailor Miguel Fernández and Nuno Barreto, the Atlanta 470 bronze medallist, among others. “We had good trimmers and lot of dinghy sailors in the crew,” commented Martinez. “I am very happy with them.”

As to the future of the team Daniel Calero is clearly hooked and hopes to rejoin the 44Cup for 2025 with his own boat rather than borrowing the 44Cup’s ‘black boat’. “We are very interested to continue in the class. Our idea is to analyse and work on our own boat, to get all the systems working so we can sail in all conditions, the same as our rivals.”

Calero, whose Canary Islands marina company has hosted its own 44Cup event since the very dawn of the RC44 class, praised local organiser Christian Zuerrer for the high quality of his event in Brunnen. “They have laid on a really nice event in every sense. Everything was well organised. Everyone was very friendly and we had the tent and the facilities, etc. The town itself helps to make this place enjoyable.”

Calero Sailing Team competes on the 44Cup thanks to the support of: Centros de Arte, Cultura y Turismo de Lanzarote (the Art, Culture and Tourism Centres (CACT) of the Cabildo of Lanzarote). Designed by renowned local artist, sculptor and nature activist César Manrique, these seven centres are attached to key Lanzarote tourist attractions which Manrique, in his unique style, integrated into Lanzarote’s own unique landscape. The first, set up in 1964, was the Cueva de los Verdes (a lava tube in Lanzarote’s Haria municipality), while the seventh and last, in 1991, was the Jardín de Cactus in Guatiza. These seven spaces reflect the cultural and natural values of Lanzarote, merging art and nature.

Calero Sailing Team is also supported by Calero Marinas, which operates marinas throughout the Canary Islands: Puerto Calero, Marina Lanzarote and Marina La Palma, plus their latest in Fuerteventura - Marina Jandía.

It also is backed by Calmar Residential Developments, which designs and builds bespoke luxury villas in Lanzarote, and Turismo Lanzarote, which, via their slogan ‘Lanzarote, A Unique Island’, promotes Lanzarote as a luxury destination for long haul tourists.