Rolex Capri

Today was a good day. A good day to be sailing and an extremely good day to be sailing at Rolex Capri Sailing Week. Added to the mix of blue skies, sun and wind was a scenic backdrop that has the potential to defy imagination. For the competing crews there was little time, except between races, to truly enjoy the sight of Capri bathed in sunshine with Ischia and Vesuvius looming in the distance, but frankly they were probably having too much fun to care. For those with more time on their hands, watching yacht racing in these conditions, in this location is a privilege.

Back to the action. All classes took on two windward/leeward courses set into a freshening breeze from the south-east. The big boys raced over 8.1 miles and then 9.3 miles, whilst the two smaller boat classes raced twice over a 6.6 mile course. Wind was generally in the 8-12 knot range, but occasionally hit fifteen. The courses were laid with the windward mark in the Bocca Piccolo,! the narrow channel between Capri and the mainland. This gave rise to the odd shift, and plenty of lifts and headers, helping to ensure the tacticians justified their positions in deciding which side of the course was favoured.

Rolex Capri Sailing Week

Rolex Capri Sailing Week returned to some sense of normality today with blue skies, warm breeze and sunshine. On the racecourse the scene was a little different as the heat of the day seemingly affected one or two judgments. The breeze was 10 -13 knots for the early racing, but dropped during the day to sub-10 knots and, with plenty of shifts, gains and losses were there for the witting and unwitting.

At the end of racing the Maxi Class added two 9.5 mile windward/leewards to its scoreline and the Swan 601 Spirit of Jethou heads the standings following an unfortunate error on Alfa Romeo that has dropped her to third. In the Comets, racing twice over seven miles, Agorà Patrimoni Immobiliare put in two solid seconds to maintain her one point advantage over Libertine. The Swan 45s, meantime, had three good races that were not as straightforward as they could have been.

In the first race of the day the blue touch paper was lit on Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo, as expected, and she smoked away from the start unchallenged. Hardly surprising given her crew features a number of the Alinghi America's Cup team, including Grant Simmer. To put a bit of perspective on her impeccable performance, Alfa was on her second top mark rounding before the Comet fleet had made its first and then went on to finish the race before any of the others in her division had reached the second upwind mark.

Rolex Capri Sailing Week

Rolex Capri Sailing Week 2008 opened with a 33.4 mile coastal course that took all classes on a short beat to windward, followed by a fetch across the Golfo di Napoli from Capri to a mark off the equally glamorous island of Ischia and back again in a fresh south-south westerly, that at times was gusting upwards of twenty knots. The initial beat and subsequent fetch were fairly straightforward. For the tightly bunched Swan 45s and the Comets, though, the trip back offered more options as witnessed by the variety of headsails used on different yachts. To change or not to change that was undoubtedly the question. For the yachts out front the risk was clear, make the wrong choice and risk being overtaken. For those at the back, take a look at what was going on up front and guess accordingly.

Rolex Capri Winners

Day three of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, organized by the Yacht Club Capri in collaboration with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, brought unpredictable conditions with the fifty-one strong fleet waiting most of the day for the 5 to 6 knot breeze to pick up, only to see a north easterly wind of approximately 20 knots, with gusts of up to 24 knots, arrive in the late afternoon. Once again the Race Committee set a windward-leeward course of approximately 8 nautical miles for the Farr 40 and Swan 45 divisions while the Mini Maxi and Comet divisions sailed approximately 14 nautical miles around the buoys. Today's strong winds proved challenging for the One-Design fleets in particular and victory is not assured for any of the competitors in the four participating divisions as they head into tomorrow's final day of racing. The Farr 40 fleet saw Helmut Jan's Flash Gordon (USA) take first place after a string of erratic results over the previous five races. Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone (ITA) added another second place.

The fourth and final day of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week saw the competing fleet set out accompanied by bright sunshine and a 5 to 6 knot breeze from approximately 250°, increasing to 10 knots. The Race Committee set a windward-leeward course of approximately 8 nautical miles for the Farr 40 and Swan 45 divisions, while the Mini Maxi and Comet divisions also sailed approximately 8 nautical miles around the marks positioned in the Gulf of Naples.

In the Farr 40 fleet Jim Richardson's Barking Mad (USA), overall leader since Day Two, won the series by a clear margin over Massimo Stefano Leporati's Kismet (ITA) and Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone (ITA). The sixteen competing boats completed one windward-leeward race today, bringing them to a total of seven races for the event.

The final outcome of the series for the Swan 45 division was decided in today's race with Carlo Perrone's Atlantica Racing (ITA) building on yesterday's fine lead to take overall victory. Dick Weismann's Vixen (USA) took second place while Paolo Scerni's Kora 3 (ITA) came in third. This division had everything to play for as the top three competitors were separated by just one point going into last day's race.

Overall victory in the Min Maxi division went to Massimo Violati's Ops 5 (ITA) over Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II (ITA) and Antonello Morino's Sei Tu 2 respectively. Maurizio Biscardi's Libertine claimed first place in the Comet division over last year's winner Nur, owned by Guido Morisco. Alberto Franchella's Aria TX Active, with a crew composed of members of the Italian Airforce, took third.

At the closing Prize Giving Ceremony, held in Marina Grande, the winners of each division were awarded with Rolex Trophies and a Rolex Submariner Timepiece. The Giorgio Natale Special Trophy for the best classified YCC or YCCS member was awarded to Massimo Violati.

Rolex Capri, Day 2

Day two of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, sailed in the Gulf of Naples, saw the 51 boat fleet set out with very unstable wind conditions. Erratic southeast winds dominated the first race of the day only to suddenly change into southwesterly winds during the second race, making it incredibly difficult for all the tacticians who had to deal with the shifting wind of 50 degrees.

The race committee decided to sail the same courses as yesterday for each class.A windward-leeward course of approximately 8 nautical miles kept the Farr 40 and Swan 45 fleets busy, while the Comet and Mini Maxi fleets sailed approximately 13.5 nautical miles around the buoys positioned to the north of the island of Capri.

Among the Farr 40s, Gianluigi Serena's Enfant Terrible - with Paolo Cian calling tactics -and Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone - with tactition Lorenzo Bressani - respectively won the two regattas of the day. The good performance of Nerone, who dominated the second part of today's last regatta, brought her a 3rd place in the provisional ranking.

The overall results for this division after two days of racing and five completed regattas sees Barking Mad (USA), of owner Jim Richardson, dominating overall with a 2nd and a 5th place today, followed by Lang Walker's Kokomo (AUS), who fell behind yesterday's top position after a disappointing 13th place in today's first race and a 9th in the second. Calvi (ITA), owned by former president of the European Farr 40s Association Carlo Alberini, performed well in the two races.

For the Swan 45 division, composed of fifteen boats, two windward-leeward races were completed which both counted in the official scoring for the event after the two warm-up races competed yesterday. Atlantica Racing (ITA), owned by Carlo Perrone, dominates overall and is followed by Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuoridileone (ITA). The all-Italian Comet division saw Maurizio Biscardi's Libertine (ITA) - with Russia's Serghei Chevtsov at the helm - taking the top position overall with two 1st places in corrected time. The Mini Maxi fleet saw Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II (ITA) cross the finish-line 1st in both of today's races before moving to 3rd place overall on corrected time behind Massimo Violati's Ops 5 (ITA), who is actually leading the ranking.

Rolex Capri

The Rolex Capri Sailing week debuted in good sailing conditions with a west-southwesterly wind ranging from 8 to 12 knots and reaching up to 18 during the last leg of racing. The cloudy sky intimidated in the first race but left space to a sunny weather in last leg and permitted the Race Committee to complete 5 races in this first day of competition.

All classes raced with the fleet of 51 boats taking to the course prepared by the Race Committee in the waters in front of Capri. A windward-leeward course of 8 nautical miles was prepared for the Farr 40s and Swan 45s, while an initially 13.5 mile course was later reduced to 10 and set the stage for the Comet S and Mini Maxi regatta.

The Farr 40, with 16 entries, provided plenty of action with very close racing in the three windward-leeward races with disputed and close spectacular starts. Australian Lang Walker's Kokomo with Colin Beashel calling tactics led today's racing with two consecutive victories in the first races and a fifth place in the last, giving them an overall first place in the temporary ranking. Jim Richardson, in his Barking Mad (USA) with 2005 Volvo Ocean Race skipper Bouwe Bekking calling tactics, got second overall with a good performance today in two out of the three races. Italian favorite Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone - who looks to establish a healthy score line in these 4 regatta days which represent the fist leg of the Farr 40 European Circuit - concluded the day with a first place in the third regatta, but fell behind the leaders with a 7th place and 17th place taken in the first two races. For the Swan 45s today's racing acted as warm up racing and did not count for the Swan 45 World Mediterranean Circuit, as the Rolex Capri Sailing week is an official leg of it. Looking forward to the arrival of all the Swans entries for the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, who were also enrolled in a previous event in Portofino, the real racing will start tomorrow even if today's races set as a perfect text for the 15 who had already arrived. Among the Mini Maxis, Italian OPS 5 - a Baltic 60 owned by Violati Massimo, member of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda - led the 7 craft fleet in today's 10 miles course and took first place. Comet 45s Libertine won in it's class in today's regatta followed by Roberto Franchella's Aria Tx Active.

Rolex Capri

The Rolex Sailing season in the Mediterranean waters will opens today, Wednesday 16 May, with the third edition of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week. 54 boats have already moored in Capri Marina Grande harbor and are ready to take to the sea for the first race tomorrow after having already set a new record number of entries.

The Rolex Capri Sailing Week will be held from May 15th to the 19th and is organized for a third consecutive edition by the Yacht Club Capri in collaboration with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

A record fleet of Farr 40s, Swan 45s, Mini Maxis and Comets represent a total of 11 nations assembled in the Gulf of Naples. Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, USA and even a boat from Japan compose the fifty-four boat racing fleet.

All the previous edition winners are present in Capri to defend their title with the only exception being Vincenzo Onorato with his Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino following a grueling America's Cup campaign. With the 2006 winner out of the running, the 16 competing Farr 40 crafts will be breathing a sigh of relief and the two-time Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richarson (USA) with his Barking Mad will be worth watching, as will Matt Allen's Ichi Ban (AUS), runner up at the 2006 World Championship.

For the 16 one-design Swan 45 fleet the Rolex Capri Sailing Week will constitute an official leg of the Swan 45 World & Mediterranean Circuit and will host 2006 winner Leonardo Ferragamo in his third participation with his Cuordileone (ITA) alongside with Danilo Salsi's DSK (ITA), winner of the 2006 Rolex Sydney-Hobart.