Busy September in Sardinia

What's on this month at the YC Costa Smeralda

It will be a busy month for the officials at Italy's premier yacht club in Porto Cervo, Sardinia.

Over September, the calendar for the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda will be devoted to big boats, starting with the Prada Veteran Boat Rally which is the Sardinian leg of the Prada Challenge for Classic Yachts, a circuit co-ordinated by the Yacht Club de Monaco under the patronage of the CIM (International Committee for the Mediterranean).
Over 1-6 September Porto Cervo will be hosting the world’s most beautiful veteran and classic boats as they challenge each other in three races on 3-5 September. The event culminates on 6 September with the final parade and prize-giving ceremony.

Founded in 1982, the Veteran Boat Rally was the Mediterranean’s very first classic boat event. Making a welcome return to Porto Cervo for the Rally this year, will be familiar names such as the legendary Croce del Sud, Shenandoah of Sark, Creole, Cambria, Skagerrack, the Yacht Club de Monaco’s Tuiga, the Italian Navy’s Capricia, and Aive (Italian Veteran Boat Association) President Gianni Loffredo’s Tirrenia II.

The Prada Veteran Boat Rally will be followed immediately by the 13th edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup on 7-13 September. The veteran gems will be making way for maxis of over 20m which, thanks to their extreme designs and cutting edge technologies, are incredibly competitive.

This year’s event has attracted a record of over 40 Wallyz, IMS, IRC and Jongert yachts from 13 different nations. It is guaranteed to offer a wonderful spectacle of big sails and brightly coloured spinnakers filled by the September winds for a truly exciting World Championship featuring the sailing world’s best known names, including Alberto Roemmers and Alexia, winner of the 2002 title, John Kahlbetzer with Bumblebee, Raffaele Raiola aboard Idea, Harry Maclowe with Unfurled, Whitefin, Adela, and the new generation of Wally, as well as My Song, Sotto voce and Alfa Romeo, the winner of the recent Rolex Sydney-Hobart and Rolex Fastnet races.

There is just a three-day gap between the departure of the Maxi Yachts and the arrival of more big sailing beauties, as the yachts built by the Cantiere di Pardo (16-20 September) converge on Porto Cervo from all over the Mediterranean for the Grand Soleil regatta.

23 September brings the Porto Cervo-Capri offshore race, while the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Members will be match racing against their New York Yacht Club counterparts on 24-28 September.