Traditionally a team of black or white results, Charisma of Monaco-based Dutchman Nico Poons was very much in the latter phase, when his team defied the odds to win all three races on the opening day the 44Cup Cascais. This annihilation of his ultra-competitive opposition comes after Charisma was...

While the opening day of the 44Cup Cascais saw the rare occurrence of one boat - Nico Poons' Charisma - winning all three races, on Day Two it was back to the 44Cup ‘norm’ with lead changes and three different winners. Charisma performed consistently enough to maintain her lead at the half way st...

After two days of sun, Atlantic swell and prevailing northwesterlies, conditions turned around for Day Three of the 44Cup Cascais. Overnight the wind veered into the south and in the morning the eight RC44 teams waited ashore for an extra hour and half as the wind filled in. Out on the race track...

Normally 44Cup events are decided in the final gybes of the last leg of the last race after four days of competition. But at the 44Cup Cascais, the second of the 2022 series for the high performance owner-driver one designs, the opposite was true. Charisma of Monaco-based Dutchman Nico Poons, set...

Njörðr, the Norse god of the sea and the wind was clearly smiling upon both the 44Cup Marstrand and local team Artemis Racing for the first day of the 2022 44Cup’s third event off western Sweden’s holiday hotspot of Marstrand. The eight teams and their high performance one design RC44 yachts were...

The waters off the Swedish holiday hotspot of Marstrand took on a different complexion on Day Two of 44Cup racing, with a sharp chop and the wind backed from the northwest to the south and gusting into the mid-high teens. But once again, the sun was out and the temperature perfect for three more ...

From southwesterly winds gusting up to 20 knots, and one of the sharpest sea states the class has endured, dropping to five to six knots and the lightest conditions sailable by the nimble RC44: the 44Cup Marstrand’s penultimate day provided a complete test for the teams off west Sweden’s holiday ...

Two in a row for Poons and Charisma clinching their second win of the season. The fleet ventured out of the security of Marstrand harbour to be greeted by a stiff southwesterly breeze and a vicious sea state that was short and sharp. The fetch had built up overnight and according to tactician Adr...

First day at the 44Cup Worlds in Portoroz, Slovenia. An ultra-light onshore breeze should have made for a straightforward opening day to the high performance one design’s pinnacle event of the season. In fact it demonstrated how the nimble RC44 can race meaningfully in practically no wind, but st...

Day Two of the 44Cup Worlds in Slovenia and another slow start for the fleet being held ashore with racing not getting underway until 1400. However when it did fill in, the breeze was a crucial two knots more than it was for the opening day and the eight RC44 teams were able to race with their hi...

Big Day Three and it was catch time with four races planned to recoup the schedule. The race area was further offshore with the medieval nearby town of Piran as an eyecatching backdrop in one direction with another headland to weather strongly affecting the light breeze causing it to shift freque...

Final day of the 44Cup Worlds 22 and there was one dominant team showing the rest of the fleet their transom - Monaco-based Dutchman Nico Poons and his Charisma team. Local Slovenian favourite Igor Lah on Ceeref was top scoring boat on Day Three, but going into the Final Day still trailed Charism...

The nine teams competed on Day One off Muscat’s Al Mouj Marina were well prepared for the 2022 44Cup’s grand finale. However, it was not the turn of Nico Poons’ Charisma, with her newly installed season leader’s golden wheels, to come out on top, nor that of past 44Cup season winners and World Ch...

A light start on Day Two in Muscat, the fifth and concluding event of the 2022 44Cup. Three races were again held, the northerly wind peaked at 15 knots, but just enough to get the nimble RC44 one designs planing on the downwind legs. (CC Available)

Video Producer: Icarus Sports

The forecast for the penultimate day of the 44Cup Oman was for either a moderate northeasterly or for a light northwesterly. In fact the near non-existent gradient breeze and the similarly soft sea breeze made it a tricky day for both race officials and the nine 44Cup teams alike. (CC Available) ...

On the concluding day of the 2022 44Cup’s final event, the 44Cup Oman, PRO Maria Torrijo defied the odds and was able to stage three races. As is usual with this fleet of high performance owner-driver one designs, the results were close going into the final day with Team Aqua, Team Nika and Aleph...