Race cancelled

21 mile 'distance' race canned at Sardinia Rolex Cup

The fleet of seven teams from six countries competing in the Sardinia Rolex Cup departed at noon today with eight knots of easterly breeze for the 26 nautical mile distance race. The course that started just outside Porto Cervo took this group of international sailors northwest past the island of Bisce up into Saline Bay and then northeast to 'I Monaci' and south back to the finish line.

According to the sailing instructions, provision 18.2, the time limit for the long distance race is 18:30 hours and, "if the course is not completed within this time by at least one boat of each division the race is abandoned." All classes met the time limit with the exception of the Farr class. The race was officially abandoned and will be re-sailed tomorrow.

"For our team, the cancellation of the race has been a shame, we had our three Telefónica MoviStar boats in a really good position and we could keep the 3 points of difference with the USA Team. At this moment we need to repeat the offshore race and we will aim to fight for the 3 points again" said Pedro Campos, skipper of the Spanish boat Bribon Telefonica adding: "Anyway, we are really happy with the team performance, above all because when HM The King D.Juan Carlos will arrive tomorrow to skipper Bribón, Spain will be the leader on the Sardinia Rolex Cup overall classification" .