Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

A one-hour postponement saw the wind build from zip to 20 knots and more. With the wind came the sea - short, sharp and steep. And, whilst it was not all plain sailing, today was one of those days off Porto Cervo that sailors live for. Principal Race Officer Peter Craig and the race committee kept crews in the harbour for an extra hour, which would have done little to help anyone prepare for the afternoon ahead, because though the wind was expected to build no one had quite predicted what occurred. Neville Crichton's 30-metre lightening bolt, Alfa Romeo (NZL), blitzed the 24 miles in a shade over two hours. Come results time, honours were even in the Mini Maxis with Numbers and Rosebud/Team both posting a first and second in their two races. J One collected a first bullet of the week in the Wally Division; the J-Class Ranger maintained her perfect record in Cruising and Racing went to the super-maxi Alfa Romeo.

Rolex Commodores' Cup

The Rolex Commodores' Cup is taking place off Cowes, Isle of Wight, from 29th June to 6th July 2006. Fifteen teams representing France, Ireland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Hong Kong and Spain are participating.

After a two hour delay waiting for the wind to fill in, the 2008 Rolex Commodores' Cup got underway shortly before lunchtime today with two windward-leeward inshore races in the Western Solent. Conditions could not have been better for the 45 boat fleet with 12 knots of wind from the southwest and brilliant sunshine.

Race one saw the French defenders, Géry Trentesaux's France Blue, pull into first place tied with GBR Red, led by John Shepherd's big boat Fair Do's VII, followed by the two Irish teams. In particular Trentesaux's own Class 1 boat Lady Courrier, won her division with their small boat, Marc Alperovitch's Prime Time, scoring second, while in GBR Red Peter Rutter took honours in Class 2 aboard his new Corby 36 Quokka 7, and Jerry Otter posted a third on Erivale III.

The second race of the day was held on a similar course, but by this time the flood tide was ripping into the western Solent. With the wind and tide against them on the beat, competitors short tacked up the mainland side of the Solent darting out into the tide only to round the weather mark. However many boats got into trouble calling this layline and were forced to crab sideways to make it around or throw in a costly tack. The result was one boat being swept down on to the mark, while on another the crew succumbed to the stress causing them to mess up the hoist and trawl their spinnaker. In the end in Class 1, Géry Trentesaux's Lady Courrier won her second race of the day - earning her a perfect scoreline.

Sardinia Rolex Cup

The Sardinia Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, came to a close today after a long wait for a breeze which did not materialize. The Race Committee waited until the final time limit of 3 p.m. before admitting defeat while Team Spain breathed a sigh of relief as the overall results after eight races became definitive and Spain claimed the title of ISAF Offshore Team World Champion for the third time (2000, 2004).

Pedro Campos, helmsman of the Spanish TP52 Bribon Telefonica was understandably pleased on his return to port: "We are delighted with this victory: it was hard-fought with the Italian Team but in the end we did it. Yesterday we sealed things with three straight victories on the TP52. What a fantastic job from the whole team. This is my third victory in the Sardinia and my twelfth World Championship."

Each of Spain's boats - Massimo Mezzaroma's Farr 40 San Miguel telefonica Nerone helmed by Antonio Sodo Milgliori with Vasco Vascotto on tactics; Marco Salvi's Swan 45 Telefonica Vertigo with Francesco Bruni on tactics; and Jose Cusi's Bribon Telefonica with Campos at the helm and tactician Ray Davies - took four victories over eight races. Aside from Team Germany's brief spell at the top of the classification on day one prior to the results of protests, Spain led for the duration of the event.

"It has been a challenging week in which teamwork has been fundamental. We spent a lot of fun evenings together and created a team 24 hours a day and the results speak for themselves!" commented Vascotto of Nerone.

Team Italy placed second, eleven points behind Spain. All three of the Italian owners are YCCS members and both Riccardo Simoneschi's TP52 Audi powered by Q8 and Danilo Salsi's Swan 45 DSK placed well but it was Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino that really shone collecting two victories, five seconds and one third place leaving her top of the Farr 40s.

Team Germany finished in third place despite the best efforts of the United Internet Team Germany sailors on board the TP52 Platoon who tied down three victories in the first three days of sailing. Teams Southern Europe and Russia took fourth and fifth place respectively.

The Sardinia Cup Challenge Trophy was awarded to Team Spain by Princess Zahra Aga Khan, President of the Board of Directors of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, during the prize giving held on the Club's Piazza Azzurra.

Sardinia Rolex Cup

The duel between teams Spain and Italy is heating up as Spain sits in first place just one point ahead of home-team Italy after today’s distance race in the Sardinia Rolex Cup organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. The Race Committee set an Island Race today which took the 15-strong fleet (each team is composed of a Farr 40, a Swan 45 and a TP52) north up the stunning Sardinian coastline using the islands of the La Maddalena Archipelago as natural buoys and rounding the Barretinelli islands before a final long downwind run for a total of approximately 30 nautical miles. Conditions were impeccable once again with west north-westerly winds of 15 to 20 knots and blazing sunshine providing picture-perfect racing. Team Spain’s best result came from Massimo Mezzaroma’s San Miguel Telefonica Nerone which took first place among the Farr 40s ahead of Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino.

Sardinia Rolex Cup 2008

This coveted team trophy, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, is competed for every two years. Each nation team participating at the Sardinia Rolex Cup 2008 will comprise three yachts: a Farr 40, a Swan 45, and TP52. ISAF has designated the Sardinia Rolex Cup the Offshore Team World Championship, and teams will also be racing for the Rolex Offshore Team World Championship Trophy. After four days of windward-leeward racing, with the possibility of an islands race midweek, each boat’s score will be combined to make up the team total. Day one of the Sardinia Rolex Cup 2008, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, saw the five competing teams complete a windward-leeward race of approximately 7.5 miles despite light and shifty wind conditions. Following today’s race Team Germany leads the overall classification with both the TP52 Platoon, owned by Harm Mueller-Speer, and Wolfgang Schaefer’s Farr 40 Struntje Light having taken first place. Combined with the Swan 45 Earlybird’s third place the Germans now sit on five points ahead of Team Spain and Team Southern Europe. More or less perfect conditions off Porto Cervo allowed the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Race Committee to hold three windward-leeward races on day two of the Sardinia Rolex Cup. Sunshine, blue skies and 18 knots of west north-westerly winds accompanied the 15 boats that make up the five competing teams as they lined up for today’s first start at midday. With a total of four races now completed Team Spain leads the overall classification on 25 points ahead of Team Italy on 34 points and third-placed Team Germany on 35.

Giraglia Rolex Cup

Marco Paolucci's Comet 45S, Tartaruga, has taken overall honours in the Giraglia Race 2008, concluding this year's week-long Giraglia Rolex Cup. The 45-footer completed the 243-mile course in 31 hours, 43 minutes, 27 seconds. Tartaruga won a very close three-way battle on ORC corrected time, beating a Canard 41, Aurora, by just 57 seconds, and third-placed First 44.7 Argo by 2 minutes 13 seconds. Tartaruga wins the title of overall honour due to the fact that more boats were entered in the 88-strong ORC division than the 82 registered in IRC. In the IRC fleet Fissa, an A-40 RC entered by Ettore Yachting, took first place by more than 50 minutes on corrected time ahead of Vinicio Petracchi's Cookson 12M, High Five. Good wind on the final approaches to Genoa benefited the medium-sized boats this year, relegating the Maxis to the minor placings on handicap.

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2007 ended in triumph for some and disappointment for others as the final day played out and racing came to a conclusion. As is so often the way on the final day, the individual race winners today were overshadowed by the overall regatta winners. No surprise really since only one boat in each of the four divisions is crowned champion, walking away with a Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup trophy and a Rolex Yacht-master timepiece. This year the overall winners were Carlo Puri Negri & Atalanta II (ITA) in Mini Maxi, Jean Charles Decaux & J One (MON) in Wally, Ranger (CAY) in Cruising and, after a extraordinary racing performance today, Hasso Plattner and Morning Glory (GER) in the grand prix Racing Division.

Maxi Yachts Rolex Cup

Thursday's race saw all four divisions undertake pretty much yesterday's route in reverse. Results-wise, Morning Glory was top gun in Racing, beating Alfa Romeo on handicap by 15 seconds. In the Cruising Division, Ranger (CAY) finished 15-minutes behind Ghost (USA), but came out ahead on handicap. The 39 nautical mile race started opposite Porto Cervo into a 15 knot WNW. The fleet raced upwind to a turning mark before heading into the main channel at the gap between the southern end of Caprera & Isola delle Bisce. The yachts then beat up the length of the main passage between mainland Sardinia and the Maddalena Archipelago to Lavezzi. Here the yachts turned east and spinnaker reached back along the outside of the islands, past Monaci, to the final turning mark in the Golfo Peverro, just before the finish at Porto Cervo.

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

Race two of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup was a day of high drama. The 65 nautical mile Coastal Race took all four divisions all the way up the outside of the Maddalena Islands to Lavezzi and the southern tip of Corsica, returning back down the channel and beyond to the islet of Mortoriotto before a final return leg to the finish off Porto Cervo. This time the critical moment in proceedings was shortly after the start. But, once again, it involved the 30-metre supermaxi, Wild Oats XI (AUS). Within a few minutes of the start, her mast was seen to explode into three pieces. Four crew were launched into the water as the 12-tonne canting keel, then at maximum tilt and with nothing left above to balance it out, rolled the yacht violently to windward. All crew were safely recovered and, fortunately, only one crew was slightly injured during the catastrophe that brought to an abrupt end Bob Oatley's quest for victory and the continuation of the duel with her near sistership, Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo (NZL). Conditions at the start were uncomfortable, but not treacherous. A northeasterly Grecale at 15 knots had replaced the Mistral of yesterday. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Race Committee had set the start inside the Maddalena channel to afford some protection from the far lumpier sea state directly outside Porto Cervo harbour. Most relieved with this decision were the numerous spectator, support and media vessels whose task of holding station with the line was made far easier in the moderated waters within the channel.

The Racing Division start was uneventful - initially at least. Alfa Romeo grabbed the pin end - owner/skipper Neville Crichton rightly convinced they could lay the first mark of the course at Monaci. In the Racing Division, Alfa Romeo pulled away gradually from Morning Glory and was the first yacht to reach the Monaci rocks. But as she launched out of the channel at Capo Ferro on the leg to Mortoriotto she stalled. In the Wally Division the battle at the head of the fleet was between Magic Carpet Squared and Y3K.

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

At the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup if there is no wind, but somewhat more irritating if it is a surfeit that has caused the cancellation of the day's activities. The predicted Mistral wind arrived overnight with a vengeance. Anyone sleeping in Porto Cervo with the windows open last night would have sensed the onslaught of something special in the early hours of this morning. By the time yachts were due to leave the dock, the wind was blowing at an average of 40 knots, with gusts as high as 60 in the Straits of Bonifacio and 'around exposed headlands' - of which there are plenty in and around the Maddalena archipelago. With some of the most expensive racing yachts in the world assembled on the docks, owners and boat captains breathed a huge sigh of relief at the Race Committee's early decision to hold off until tomorrow. At 0930 the Committee signaled its intention to keep yachts in harbour to allow time see if the winds would moderate as predicted yesterday. By lunchtime it was clear the Mistral was here to stay and with no indication that a lessening in the strength would occur today, racing was duly postponed until Wednesday.

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2007 got underway on September 3 in the most glorious conditions. Blue sky, warm sun and building breeze - classic Porto Cervo. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda sent the fleet on a 30-mile blast up and down the main channel between the Maddalena Islands and mainland Sardinia. For many of the crews it was a perfect shakedown race; for some others the increasing wind strength served to highlight any weaknesses in the crew-work or equipment. All four divisions started on time in 10-12 knots of westerly and a gentle sea-state. In Racing Division, the expected head to head between Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo (NZL) and Bob Oatley's Wild Oats (AUS) let no one down. Overall victor on handicap in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Racing Division was Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory (GER).