Turning up the heat

Difficult conditions for competitors at the Rolex Settimana delle Bocche in Sardinia

The 33 crews competing in the 27th edition of the Rolex Settimana delle Bocche, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, enjoyed another action-packed day of sailing. Today's races - two windward/leeward races for the Farr 40 and Swan 45 One Design classes, and a 23-mile coastal course for the IMS fleet - featured a strong and gusty Westerly-Northwesterly wind ranging between 22 and 28 knots, some spectacular wipe-outs under spinnaker, thrilling mark roundings, fearless gybes and a few OCSs and penalty turns.

With only one race to go, the final results are still open in all classes: Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino from Italy heads the Farr 40 fleet (17 entries) by 12 points, Italian Marco Salvi's Vertigo leads the Swan 45 Class (10 entries) by a narrow 1-point margin, and Russian entry Synergy has a 2-point lead in the IMS division (6 entries).

Among the Farr 40 fleet, Nanoq - owned by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, who is not currently sailing in Porto Cervo - dominated the first race of the day with a perfect start, showing off some excellent boat handling and speed. Jens Christensen, tactician on the Danish Farr 40, felt that today Nanoq was finally competitive: "for the first time we won a race and we are very happy with the boat. Since we got the boat for the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds in Sydney, we have been struggling quite a lot, striving to improve all the time. Finally, today we made some changes to the boat and for the first time we found some good speed. Today we got a good start and played well the wind shifts, but the main thing is that we were very fast and that always makes a huge difference. We are having a great series, I've been coming here for 20 years and Porto Cervo is always beautiful, no question about that".

Mascalzone Latino finished almost head-to-head with Nanoq, followed by Italian entry Valemezza of Valentina Mezzaroma. America's Cup syndicate head Vincenzo Onorato, is having a great time here in Sardinia and is very clear about his objectives: "This is one of the most beautiful racing courses in the whole world, and once again Sardinia has stood up to its fame, dispatching some awesome windy days. So far it's been a great series, with some fabulous racing. We are extremely focused - our aim is to perform well and win."

In the second race of the day for the Farr 40 class, it was Giovanni Maspero's Joe Fly from Italy who dominated throughout the course, with a perfect start at the far pin end of the line. Gabriele Benussi, tactician on Joe Fly, feels that he had quite a difficult job today, with extremely challenging conditions: "It's been another tough day, with plenty of wind blowing at an average of 25 knots and lots of gusts that tested our tactical abilities. In the second race of the day, our helmsman, Giovanni Maspero, did a fantastic job and we were able to stay well ahead of the fleet throughout the race. We made a few small mistakes, like most of the crews. We are very happy as we were able to increase our distance in points from the fourth and fifth placed in the overall scorings and we are now a little more relaxed."

Mascalzone Latino, with another brilliant performance, finished second, followed by German entry Opus One, who is now second overall with a series of very consistent results.

Vertigo's supremacy among the Swan 45 Class is still unshaken and Italian Marco Salvi and his crew, today were able to gain the lead in the overall scorings - with another two stunning performances, a first and a second, the latter being converted into a first at the end of the day after T.Too's disqualification for having touched a mark. Francesco Bruni, tactician on Vertigo, is happy to have ended the day without the smallest scratch on the boat and his crew: "The wind today was much stronger than yesterday, testing the owners' abilities to the limit. We had three wipe-outs under spinnaker, and we still finished really well, so I can't even imagine what happened at the back of the fleet." In the first race of the day, Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuordileone from Italy finished second behind Vertigo, and ahead of Danilo Salsi's DSK Comifin, also from Italy. In the second race Vertigo came second behind Italian Francesco Martino's T.Too. Francesco Bruni admitted in having opted for a very safe approach due to the strong wind: "We sailed two very conservative races, maybe overly so. In fact, in the second race of the day we were first, but we decided to gybe early in order to be on the safe side and as a consequence one boat overtook us."

Francesco Martino, too, felt that today's conditions were at the limit of the owners/drivers' abilities: "It's been a very challenging and tiring day, with a very strong breeze and a tactically tricky race course. Unfortunately we are under protest for touching a mark, I wasn't aware of touching it, although I must admit that the rounding was very tight. In any case, we sailed a really great race." At the protest hearing, the International Jury decided to disqualify T.Too from the second race of the day. Carlo Perrone's Atlantica Racing finished third and is now second in the overall scorings, one point behind Vertigo.

Among the IMS fleet, Antonio Roncone's and Massimo Guardigli's Andromeda from Italy took line honours again - for the third day running - and finished second on handicap, while Russian entry Synergy was able again to clinch the victory on corrected time. Rinaldo Goria's GoGo' finished third on handicap.

Tonight, Rolex and YCCS will host a dinner for the Rolex Settimana delle Bocche competitors. The setting will be the yacht club scenic poolside terrace, with a superb 360 degree view over Porto Cervo Marina.

Since 1972, the Rolex Settimana delle Bocche has been organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV) and the Unione Vela Altura Italiana (UVAI). The event, which ends on Saturday, incorporates the Mediterranean One Design Championship and involves two of the most prominent One Design Classes: the Farr 40 and Swan 45. In addition, there is a handicap division for IMS rated boats in the band between GPH 550 and GPH 610. Seven nations are represented - Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Russia.

Farr 40
1. MASCALZONE LATINO Vincenzo Onorato ITA, 1/4/2/1/6/1/2/2/19.0
2. OPUS ONE Wolfgang Stolz GER, 3/2/4/10/2/2/5/3/31.0
3. JOE FLY Giovanni Maspero ITA, 4/6/6/8/7/3/10/1/45.0

Swan 45
1. VERTIGO Marco Salvi ITA, 10/1/DNS (11)/1/1/1/1/1/27.0
2. ATLANTICA RACING Carlo Perrone ITA, 5/2/2/5/2/4/6/2/28.0
3. DSK COMIFIN Danilo Salsi ITA, 1/4/3/4/4/7/3/6/32.0

IMS Division
1. SYNERGY Gateways Overseas Ltd RUS, 4/1/1/6.0
2. ANDROMEDA Antonio Roncone ITA, 1/5/2/8.0
3. TIMERIESCI Luca Lualdi ITA, 2/3/4/9.0