Primo Cup 2000

This year's Primo Cup was held over the consecutive weekends of 5/6 and 12/13 February at the Yacht Club de Monaco. The event, which is an important early season opener for Europe's one-design keelboats, attracted a high-quality fleet of 15 Beneteau 25s. British interest in the fleet centred upon Nigel Biggs and his Checkmate Sailing Team aboard Dickies Yacht Sales (left). Following on from their success in last year's Beneteau 25 Circuit, the team are aiming to go one better in 2000! While many of the fleet were sporting new sails, Nigel and his crew decided to stick with their existing Banks sails from 1999. The event opened in a patchy five-knot breeze, with large gains and losses to be made on each leg of the course. Madraco won the race, followed by Expat and Dickies.

Day two and a ten-knot offshore breeze enabled Dickies to use their superior boatspeed to good effect, posting two consecutive wins. A late start to the last race saw a reduced fleet as many crews, Dickies included, headed back to the harbour to catch their planes home.

The following weekend and crews were again treated to a 10-knot breeze and sunshine. Dickies stamped their authority on the first race with another convincing win and it looked as though race two was going the same way until a plastic bag around the keel allowed Expat to slip through. The final day of the event saw Dickies leading the class but without the luxury of a discard, the flight home the previous weekend having accounted for this. The first race was won by Expat, but Dickies held off a strong challenge from Madraco to move within striking distance of overall victory.

The final race was won in style by Dickies, who led from the starting line and gradually extended away to take the gun, over five minutes ahead of the next boat, and with it overall victory. Well done to Nigel and the Checkmate team.

For the next event on the Beneteau 25 circuit, Alassion Week in March, Dickies Yacht Sales will be powered by new sails to our latest designs, which we are confident will give them even more of an edge!

If you want to improve the performance of your Beneteau 25 (or discuss our latest sails for other one design or IR2000 keelboats), contact Hugh Myers (01489 582444).


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