Having competed in 44Cup World Championships for the last 15 years, Aleph Racing today for the very first time managed to secure the coveted title in the RC44 one design class’ most prestigious annual event.

But it was hard fought: For the last two days this championship, run by the Royal Yacht Squadron, has become a two-horse race between the Pietro Loro Piana-steered Aleph Racing and Team Aqua of event backer and RC44 Class President Chris Bake. Team Aqua was leading on Saturday when she scored two bullets, but Aleph Racing was consistent enough to lead into the final day by just one point. Today their gladiatorial contest continued; so close that the outcome could have gone either way.

In the first race on the first upwind Aleph managed to survive on starboard with Aqua hipped up and leading on to the run. Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika edged ahead on the second upwind. At the second top mark rounding Team Aqua was still second but on the final gybe Aleph Racing sneaked in front, crossing the line just three seconds ahead.

Similar happened, even more dramatically in race two: On the first beat Aleph trailed Aqua up the starboard layline into the top mark where Aqua was sixth and Aleph eighth. The two split down the first run with Aleph gybing early but this only served to drop her to last place. As Aleph went right up the second beat, Aqua tacked to cover her. A shift momentarily brought Aleph into contention but she rounded the second top mark seventh to Aqua’s third. Then on the final run, Aleph again pulled the rabbit out of the hat: first there was compression; then Aleph gybed for the line earlier than Aqua, which had fallen into a light patch forcing her to sail beyond the layline. Somehow Aleph managed to screech home in fourth as Aqua reached in in fifth, this time just two seconds behind.

Going into the final race, first and second places were secured but who would win was not with Aleph Racing two points ahead. This time Aleph Racing fully engaged, got ahead and to leeward of her opponent, crossed ahead and then essentially sat on Team Aqua for the remainder of the race. It didn’t matter that they finished eighth and nine, this left Aleph Racing on 35 points to Team Aqua’s 39 and with their World Champion title since joining the class. For most of this time the team has been campaigned by Hugues Lepic, but in recent years he has shared the helm with Loro Piana, handed over to the young Italian fully for this season. Lepic rang to congratulate his protégé soon after they’d crossed the line.

“I have to say it was only when Chris [Bake] threw me in the water [as is 44Cup winner tradition], that I realised what we’d done,” commented Loro Piana. “This week the boys have sailed so well that they made me look good. And how the boat is going so well: The RC44, for me, is the best sailing I've ever done. Due to the level you never know up until the last race who's going to win. That makes this so enjoyable.”

This was a third 44Cup World Championship victory for his Italian tactician Michele Ivaldi. “In the first race both of us sailed our own race,” said Ivaldi. “And then in the second there was some tacking on each other. We were always behind, and we missed a couple of shifts but kept pushing, pushing, pushing and we managed to climb back. The boys and Pietro did a super job in keeping the boat fast until the last metre of every race.

“In the last race we wanted to put some pressure on Aqua so we went for a bit of a match race and got a good start just to lee of them. Then as soon as they tacked, we managed to do the first cross ahead of them.”

Chris Bake came ashore frustrated but happy. “The first two races we just couldn't get a break on the downwinds. At times we were three or four places ahead of them and then on both downwinds they got us. We thought we’d got ahead of them and just never really cleared. The last race they had a better start than us and there was no way we could break them.”

Despite the outcome, as the backer of the 44Cup World Championship Cowes Bake was pleased with how the event had gone. “Everyone seems to have had a really good time and the weather was truly good. We were pretty lucky. I'm really proud of the class and what we were able to do with the King's Cup, it helped the local community and made a real difference to a lot of young people who can now get out on the water and in some way change their lives.”

Back at the front of the fleet, the fight was on to gain the final place on the podium. Today Vladimir Prosikhin’s Team Nika finally came good, posting a 1-3-1 elevating the defending world championship to fourth overall; one point astern of Markus Törnqvist’s GeMera Racing, winner of today’s second race.

“I just needed one more race!” lamented Prosikhin. “In the second race, I lost two points and if I’d lost only one point, I would have been third on the podium.” He felt that in retrospect they had gybed at the wrong moment in the second race.

Today the race area was back in the North Channel with a shifty building southerly 10-20 knot breeze coming over the Isle of Wight. The strengthening tide was flowing left to right across the race track with more at the start and less at the top mark, close to the Brambles Bank.

The fight for the podium remained tight with Christian Zuerrer’s Black Star Sailing Team ending up fifth, three points off the podium and Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing another two points adrift.

And how is Pietro Loro Piana celebrating tonight? “Tonight we are just having a nice warm cup of tea and we are going to go to bed really early…” Which means exactly not that.