Tension builds on penultimate day of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

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Porto Cervo, Italy.

8th September 2006.

In today’s fourth and penultimate day of racing in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, the record fleet of Maxi Yachts finally got some wind. Although the boats set out once again accompanied by light breezes of around 5-6 knots from 330° the winds soon picked up to approximately 15 knots.

The Race Committee decided to set varied courses for the participating divisions. The Spirit of  Tradition fleet, which set out first, headed from the start just off Porto Cervo past Capo Ferro and around the island of Santo Stefano  before heading northwards between the islands of Spargi and La Maddalena. The boats rounded the Barettinelli islands and turned for home, passing the Monaci islands on their way to a mark off Pevero Bay and on to the finish in front of the port of Porto Cervo for a total of approximately 29 nautical miles. Hetairos, whch had been leading the fleet yesterday, came in first in real time but dropped back to third place on corrected time. Aschanti of Vegesack meanwhile came in first after a clear run of last-place finishes up until today.

The Cruising division was the next to start, followed closely by the Mini Maxis. These divisions also sailed approximately 30 nautical miles heading first up along the coast past Santo Stefano and the Secca Corsara rock before rounding Spargi and doubling back on themselves. Roma, yesterday’s overall leader in the division crossed the finish line first, seven minutes ahead of Fantasticaaa, but moved down to third place on corrected time behind Velsheda and Allsmoke.

The Mini Maxi Division saw a revised scoreboard today as the division’s overall leader, Aleph, was penalized following measurement controls and fell back to sixth place leaving Carlo Puri Negri, CEO of Pirelli RE, sitting on first overall with Atalanta II. Puri Negri went on to win in today’s race on real time then dropped back to third on handicap behind Edimetra and Aleph respectively.

The Racing and Wally divisions were set windward-leeward courses for today. The first race, four legs for a total approximately 8.4 nautical miles, saw Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats cross the finish line less than a minute ahead of Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo, the two Reichel-Pugh designs have been neck-and neck on the course all week. Australia’s Wild Oats managed to retain her lead in corrected time for the first time this week ahead of Alfa Romeo while Morning Glory came in third. For the second windward-leeward race, the Race Committee repositioned the starting line and one again it was Wild Oats who crossed the finish line first, this time just three seconds ahead of Alfa Romeo. Crichton’s boat took handicap honours while Oatley moved to second and Morning Glory took third place once again.

The UK’s Magic Carpet Squared continued her domination of the Wally Division on the water, finishing just over 7 minutes ahead of Italy’s Tango. These two retained first and second place respectively on handicap followed by Dangerous But Fun which moved up from fourth place in real time to third on handicap. In the second race of the day Magic Carpet came in first again, this time almost six minutes ahead of Tiketitan. In corrected time Magic Carpet Squared moved to second behind Dark Shadow and in front of Tiketitan.

Overall leaders for each group, after a discard for the Racing and Wally divisions, and with one more day’s racing remaining are: Hetairos of the Cayman Islands for the Spirit of Tradition Division, Filippo Faruffini’s Roma for the Cruising Division, Alfa Romeo for the Racing division, Atalanta II among the Mini Maxis and Magic Carpet Squared, owned by Sir Lindsay Owen Jones for the Wallys. Competition should be particularly tough in the Cruising and Spirit of Tradition divisions where only one point separates the leaders from second-place competitors.

Tomorrow will see the last day of racing and the final prizegiving on the Piazza Azzurra.

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.