Spain edges ahead

King of Spain's presence eggs on team on penultimate day of Sardinia Rolex Cup

The seven teams competing in the 2004 Sardinia Rolex Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, sailed a single windward leeward race on this penultimate day of regattas. Northwest winds of about 20 knots accompanied the start of the 10 mile race.

Spain, spurred on by the presence of H.M. King Juan Carlos, finished in first place on 41 points, overtaking the United States team who are now in second on 42. The Swiss team retains third place with 56 points, and no change in ranking either for Italy Red in fourth on 58 points.

The Spanish team finished second in both IMS and Swan 45 classes with Bribon Telefonica and Meridiana Telefonica respectively, while their Nerone Meridiana took third place in the Farr 40's. Marco Birch's Talisman for team USA remains at the top of the IMS overall ranking after 6 races, despite taking fourth place in today's regatta.

"Today's conditions in which the wind dropped from around 26 knots to 11 made sailing difficult in terms of choosing sails, but also very interesting. We had a good race and we'll be happy if we're in the lead" reported Pedro Campos, skipper of H.M. King Juan Carlos' Bribon Telefonica.

According to Adrian Stead, tactician on Mascalzone Latino which came in third in the Swan 45 class for the United States team, "we fought the Spanish for second place all the way round, unfortunately we messed up a jibe at a crucial point so we accepted our third place and set about doing what we could against Bribon."

Tomorrow, Saturday 26, the final day of the Sardinia Rolex Cup 2004. Prizegiving is scheduled for 6.30 pm at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's Clubhouse.

Team results:

1 ITA2272 NERONE MERIDIANA Massimo Mezzaroma SPAIN FARR 40 OD 6 2 1 2 2 3 10
1 GBR23R MERIDIANA TELEFONICA Marco Salvi /Alberto Signorin SPAIN SWAN 45 OD 3 6 3 3 2 2 13
1 ESP7010 BRIBON TELEFONICA Pedro Campos SPAIN EVENTO 46 2 1 2 6 5 2 18
Total: 41

2 ITA21210 MASCALZONE LATINO Vincenzo Onorato USA SWAN 45 OD 7 4 2 1 1 3 7
2 USA482 TALISMAN Marco Birch USA B/C 58' 1 3 1 1 1 4 11
2 USA52104 BAMBAKOU John Coumantaros USA FARR 40 OD 3 4 6 6 1 4 24
Total: 42

3 ITA4038 MADINA Dario Ferrari SWISS FARR 40 OD 1 1 5 4 7 6 24
3 ITA545 PAPASTILLA - THURAYA Fabio Montauti SWISS SWAN 45 OD 1 1 4 5 3 1 15
3 ITA121 X-PROZAC Bruno Frank SWISS GRAND SOLEIL 56 R 6 6 6 4 2 5 17
Total: 56

4 ITA2945 DSK Danilo Salsi ITALY RED SWAN 45 OD 6 7 6 4 4 6 20
4 ITA149 ORLANDA Alessandro Pirera ITALY RED FARR 53 3 4 3 2 4 3 19
4 ITA13711 TWT Marco Rodolfi ITALY RED FARR 40 OD 2 6 3 1 6 1 19
Total: 58

5 ITA14525 JEROBOAM CA NOVA Vittorio Codecasa ITALY BLUE SWAN 45 OD 2 3 1 8 6 4 24
5 ITA235 QQ8 WORLD CARGO Roberto Maffini ITALY BLUE EVENTO 46 4 2 4 5 3 1 19
5 FRA007 TWINS 2 Erik Maris ITALY BLUE FARR 40 OD 7 5 2 5 4 5 16
Total: 59

6 ITA14351 SEAWONDER Vittorio Urbinati GERMANY MC 46 5 5 5 3 6 7 21
6 GER5055 STRUNTJE LIGHT Wolfgang Shaefer GERMANY FARR 40 OD 4 3 4 7 3 2 23
6 GER5245 OPUS ONE Wolfgang Stolz GERMANY SWAN 45 OD 4 2 5 2 7 5 25
Total: 69

7 ITA1161 SEVEN Cristian Frers ARGENTINA FARR 40 OD 5 7 7 3 5 7 34
7 ITA14545 CUORDILEONE Freccia Blu srl ARGENTINA SWAN 45 OD 5 5 7 6 5 7 35
Total: 93

More photos on page 2...