Dalts sets the pace from sunny St Tropez

Nautor Challenge leads the fleet in its first 243-mile offshore race

Grant Dalton's Nautor Challenge Volvo 60 led the 122-boat fleet off the massed start line at the beginning of the Giraglia Race, the final and most important part of the Giraglia Rolex Cup.
Helmed by Bouwe Bekking in her first competitive outing, the grey and red Volvo 60 shot off the line set a mile away from the harbour of St Tropez.

Soon the larger maxi yachts took their rightful place at the front of the fleet as they headed off on their 243 mile voyage to Genoa in northern Italy via the Giraglia Rock off the coast of Corsica.

Just who will take line honours tomorrow in Genoa is a tough one to predict and depends on whether the forecasted southerly winds arrive for a fast downwind ride.

If that happens then the brand new Open 60 Cometa could make the most of her extremely light weight to fly past the larger maxi yachts. At just 8 tonnes she is around a third of the weight of he conventional 80-footers.The first two boats to pass the first mark of the course, Raffaele Raiola's Idea and Jim Dolan's Sagamore, seemed more intent on their personal match race than extending their lead over the next boats, My Song and Rrose Selavy.

The smaller boats,which range right down to the 6.5m Mini Transat yachts, will be hoping the wind builds in the latter stages of the race, as it did last year when the 30-footers stole the top prizes from the multi-million pound, professionally crewed big boats.

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