When victory was almost secured by recent F18 World Champions Paschalidis-Trigonis, getting four bullets in the first four sailed races, a mistake in memorizing Sailing Instructions lead Greek team, far in front of the fleet, to round a mark the wrong side during last racing day, and then to retire after finish, downshifting them to the fourth place, permitting Patrick Demesmaeker & Olivier Gagliani to take the final win at 2018 Saint Barth Cata-Cup, and to join Mischa Heemskerk & Eduard Zanen as double winners of the event.
As reported by the organisers, “The fourth and final day of the 11th St. Barth Cata Cup was expected to be decisive, at least for second and third place. But things turned out completely differently than anticipated. The reason? A huge mistake made by the Greeks, Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis (St Barth Assurances). In fact, well on their way to a fifth straight race win, and first place in the overall rankings, the current world champions took the marker in the wrong direction. A mistake they won’t soon forget as it pushed them from first to fourth place. Yet this error worked to the advantage of duo Enrique Figueroa and Ruben Booth (Nikki Beach St Barth), winners of the “MARCHE U” Grand Prize, and especially for the tandem of Patrick Demesmaeker and Olivier Gagliani (Les Perles de St Barth), who at the end of the day, shot to the top step of the podium and became the big winners of this regatta, repeating their 2015 victory. They have now joined Misha Heemskerk and Eduard Zanen in the very small circle of double winners for this event.”
Get full release at http://stbarthcatacup.com/en/pages/Press-Press_releases/2018/1271/
Great pictures at http://stbarthcatacup.com/en/pages/Photos-2018/