Millionaire's snakes and ladders

Italian boats lead after day one of the Zegna Trophy in Porto Fino

There was a sunny day and 10 knots of wind from the south to southwest for the first day of the Ermenegildo Zegna Trophy - Spring Regatta in Porto Fino, Italy. The schedule for the day was for two races with the first starting at 11.00. But the show began the night before with the 42 yachts moored on the dock, which caught everybody's attention in Portofino's 'la piazzetta'.

In the big boat class it was Neville Creighton's Alfa Romeo that charged away to take the lead ahead of Henk van der Vaart's Black Dragon, Pier Luigi Loro Piana's My Song and with Charles Dunstone's Nokia in fourth place.

By the third mark Alfa Romeo and My Song were clear ahead while a tough battle was developing for third place between Raffaele Raiola's Idea, Nokia and Black Dragon. At the finish the breeze was dying and saw Alfa Romeo leading from My Song, with Black Dragon winning the fight for third.

For the second race conditions were light but generally more consistent although a shift below a rain squall came through effecting bottom half of fleet.

Once again Alfa Romeo took off like a scalded cat but on this occasion was followed by Nokia and My Dream (the former IMS maxi Alexia). By the third mark the Reichel-Pugh 85 My Sony had pulled up to second but was subsequently overhauled by Idea and Nokia.

On handicap Idea is leading My Song and Nokia.

In the Swan 45 Class, despite the efforts of the Italian Minister Roberto Castelli, on board of Aldo Fozzati's La forza del Destino, it is Vittorio Codecasa's Jeroboam that claimed victory. Paul Cayard was sailing Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuordileone, finishing fourth.

Among the Wally Yachts it is Peter Claus Offen's day, with the victory of his Y3K against Annica and Marco Tronchetti Provera's Kauris III, while Riccardo Bonadeo's Rrose won the Farr 40 One Design Class.

The Ermenegildo Zegna Trophy Spring Regattas continues tomorrow. In the afternoon at the Teatrino di Portofino a 'Life for Sailing' Award will be presented, by decision of the Jury, to the Argentine designer Germán Frers.

Following the award ceremony a round table discussion has been organised together with Philippe Starck and Andrea Pininfarina, on the subject 'One off: lines and forms from thought to reality'. On the stage, together with the designers, there will be Alessandro Cecchi Paone, one of the most popular Italian scientific journalists.

More photos on the following pages

Results

Pos.	Yacht	Owner / Armatore	Tot pnts
1	IDEA	RAIOLA Raffaele	3
2	MY SONG	LORO PIANA Pier Luigi	5
3	NOKIA	DUNSTONE Charles	6
4	BLACK DRAGON	Performance Yachting Ltd	8
5	DAMIANI OURDREAM	DE LUCA Massimo	11
6	SOTTOVOCE	VAN VEMDE Arien	13
7	ALFA Romeo	CRICHTON Neville	14
8	EDIMETRA VI	GISMONDI Ernesto	15
9	WALLYNO	BASSANI ANTIVARI Luca	16
10	FIAMMA	BARNABA Alessandro	20
11	RAINBOW	ROCCA Gianfelice	21
12	STAY CALM	ROBINSON Stewart	24
13	FARNIENTE	FIGUEIREDO Antonio	26
14	SHINING	CILENTI Domenico	28
15	WHITE LIE	CATTANEO Gianpaolo	31
16	JUNOPLANO	BUZZI Sandro	33
17	QUINTA SANTA MARIA	BOROLI Silvano	35
18	DRAKE PASSAGE	Offshore Sailing	37
19	PRENDIMI	Yacht club Bergamo	38
20	SOUTH GEORGIA	Offshore Sailing	39
21	SDOA REVOLUTION	PARAVIA Vittorio	41
22	MORGANA	DE SANTIS Francesco	46
	Swan 45
1	JEROBOAM	CODECASA Vittorio	4
2	LA FORZA DEL DESTINO	FOZZATI Aldo	7
3	PAPASTILLA	MONTAUTI Fabio	8
4	CUOR DI LEONE	FERRAGAMO Leonardo	9
5	AMNESIA	DE ZILLE Graham	10
6	VERTIGO	SALVI/SIGNORINI	11
7	MASCALZONE LATINO	ONORATO Vincenzo	11
8	OPUS ONE	STOLZ Wolfgang	15
9	MINTAKA	POLTI Stefano	17
10	DSK	SCERNI Enrico	19
	Farr 40
1	RROSE	BONADEO Riccardo	4
2	TWT	RODOLFI Marco	4
3	JOE FLY	MASPERO Giovanni	4
4	CACHARAZA	MARCOS Vivian	8
	Wally
1	Y3K	OFFEN Claus-Peter	2
2	ANNICA	Annica Yachts S.A.	4
3	KAURIS III	TRONCHETTI PROVERA Marco	6
4	DARK SHADOW	ORIA Adolfo	9
5	MAGIC CARPET SQUARED	OWEN-JONES Lindsay	9