First day of racing in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo

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Porto Cervo, Italy. 4th September 2006.

The record fleet participating in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2006, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, set off for the first day’s racing under clear blue skies and accompanied by light easterly breezes of around 4 -6 knots. All five competing divisions completed a course of around 26 nautical miles which took them around the islands of the La Maddalena Archipelago off the north-eastern course of Sardinia as the breeze gradually built to around 9 knots.

First off this morning were the Spirit of Tradition boats which set off at 11.30 from the start just outside the port of Porto Cervo. The course took them northwards to the Monaci islands and then down to the Secca Tre Monti before heading upwind to Mortoriotto then past Pevero Bay to the finish. The winner in both real and corrected time was Hetairos (Cay. Isl.), skippered by Germany’s Otto Heppel. Second and third place in corrected time went to Annagine (Ned) and Adela (Usa) respectively.

The Racing Division, which was the second group to start today proved to be one of the most exciting of the day as close rivals Wild Oats XI (Aus) and Alfa Romeo (Nzl) battled it out for first place. Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI just held the lead throughout the race, and in fact crossed the finish line only 43 seconds ahead of Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo. On corrected time, however, Wild Oats XI dropped back to second place behind the New Zealand boat which has Britsh Olympic gold-medal winner Ben Ainslie calling tactics. “We had a good start.” commented Alfa Romeo’s owner Neville Crichton. “We made no mistakes and came first overall, so we are happy. But of course tomorrow is another day.” Hasso Platner’s Morning Glory (Ger) took third place. ABN AMRO ONE (Ned) dominated among the two competing VOR boats, coming in almost 45 minutes ahead of Amer Sport Too (Ita) in both real and corrected time.

With last year’s winner Y3K competing in the Racing Division, the field seemed fairly open in the Wally division. Magic Carpet Squared (Gbr) owned by L’Oreal chairman Lindsay Owen Jones crossed the line with an almost nine-minute lead over Galeazzo Pecori Giraldi’s Tiketitan (Ita) with former Italian America’s Cup skipper Mauro Pelaschier at the helm. In corrected time Magic Carpet dropped down to second behind JC Decaux’s J One (Fra). Italy’s Tango, with Wally President Luca Bassani at the helm, came in third.

The Mini Maxi division saw the Italian boats dominating as Carlo Puri Negri’s Atalanta II came in first in real time, although she dropped back to fourth place in corrected time, just ahead of Clayton Deutsch’s Chippewa, the only American boat competing in this division. Giorgio Ruffo’s Aleph came in first in corrected time ahead of Ops 5 (Ita) and Edimetra (Ita). “It’s been a fantastic race. The conditions were perfect and we are extremely happy. We had flat seas, wind, sun, what else could we want?” commented Puri Negri.

Arne Glimcher’s Ghost, competing in her second Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, took line honours in the Cruising Division but dropped right back to fifth place on corrected time. The UK’s J-Class Velsheda took first place on handicap, followed by Italy’s Roma and last year’s overall Cruising winner Allsmoke.

Tomorrow’s forecast, provided by the event’s official meteorologist Filippo Petrucci, foresees similar conditions to today, with winds possible being slightly lighter.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup will be followed by the Rolex Swan Cup (11-17 September), which will close the YCCS 2006 sporting calendar. For more details on these regattas and all of the Club’s events please visit www.yccs.it.

Full results and details of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup are available on www.yccsmaxi.com.