Home team pull ahead

A report from day two of the Sardinia Rolex Cup

The second day of the 2006 Sardinia Rolex Cup and ISAF Offshore Team World Championship, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, had a slow start. The starting sequence was delayed by an hour and a half due to the lack of wind, however the Race Committee was still able to complete two windward-leeward races. The tacticians had to deal with a shifting and unstable easterly breeze ranging between 8 and 11 knots. In the fickle wind, the fleet had to fight hard for a good spot off the starting line, and in both sequences a couple of boats were over the line early. While the TP52 fleet was able to sail into clear air immediately after the gun, stretching away from the rest of the fleet, the Swan 45s and Farr 40s were forced to sail in a compact group, with very tight and loud mark roundings.

With five races now completed and a maximum of four still to go, the home team from Sardegna, with Stuart Robinson's TP52 Santa Ana, Stefano Polti's Swan 45 Mintaka and Vincenzo Onorato's Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino currently leads on 43 points. Natalia Via Dufresne, double Olympic medallist and strategist on board Santa Ana (4, 2 for the day), summed up the difficulties in the light wind: “We were sailing really well but the conditions were really tricky. I think we have a problem with the speed sailing on port, but it's been an incredible day despite the changing conditions and the multiple shifts”. Like everybody else in the fleet, Natalia loves sailing here: “Porto Cervo is a fantastic place to sail and spend some time. It's the first time I've sailed here and the surroundings are great”.

Team Germany lies second with 46 points. Michael Illbruck's brand new TP52 Pinta so far has scored three wins and two thirds, and the team is extremely happy with its performance so far: “The division has some very good boats, Bribon and Santa Ana are two of the top boats in the class,” commented Illbruck, adding: “We are very, very happy. The second race had very difficult conditions. When the breeze drops below 7 knots, there's just not enough pressure. But all in all it's only our second regatta and we happy with where we are. Every race we learn a little more, are a little more comfortable. We're on the right track.” As to being part of a team, Illbruck sees tomorrows distance race as being an opportunity to really help his compatriots: “we have to do well in our class and our teammates have to do well in their class. In the coastal race it will be a bit different. We will be up front and we can communicate more with our team.”

Team Italy is in third with 57 points, tied with Team Monaco. This morning Team Italy lost one spot in the overall standings due to the disqualification of the Farr 40 Fiamma in Race Two, where it had come first, for breaching RRS 49.2. After yesterday's disappointment, America's Cup helmsman Tommaso Chieffi, calling the tactics on Fiamma, was happy about the outcome of day two: “Today we scored two seconds and unfortunately if it hadn't been for yesterday's DSQ we would surely have been in a much better spot in the overall standings. Today's racing was very challenging as we had two different winds on the two sides of the course. In this light air it is especially hard for us, as we are the smallest class in the fleet and we need to find lanes of clear air in order to get away from the bigger boats ahead of us. It is like sailing in a mine field.”

Today’s first race, race four of the event, was postponed for around 90 minutes while the race committee waited for shifty winds to stabilise. The fleet then set out on a course of around eight nautical miles in eight to nine knots of north-easterly breeze. The race witnessed strong leadership from Pinta who took line honours with a comfortable margin. However, fellow team members Opus One and Struntje Light were unable to match Pinta's success, both finishing in sixth.

Among the Farr 40s, Team Spain's Nerone was able to gain an early lead and finish first, showing a much better performance than yesterday. Francesco Martino's Swan 45 T…Too of Team Alpe Adria sailed to victory with a brilliant race. However, despite their success, they weren't able to improve the overall standings of their team. Alpe Adria, already hampered by the failure of its TP52 to start any races, found the world caving in this morning when its Farr 40 was disqualified from the first three races for fielding an ineligible helmsman. Whether La Marachella will be able to secure an approved helm for the remainder of the championship remains to be seen.

For Race Five the Race Committee selected a longer course, with three laps instead of two, and the fleet took over two hours to reach the finish line, as the wind gradually got lighter and shifted all over the race course. The Farr 40 Nerone and the Swan 45 Vertigo were over the line early, whilst their team's TP52, Bribon Movistar, fought a tight duel with Team Sardegna's Santa Ana. José Cusí's Spanish entry eventually took line honours. Pinta ended its winning streak coming in third. Among the Swan 45s, Opus One took its first victory of the series, while the Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino gained its third.

Internationally renowned match racer Marcus Wieser, calling the tactics on Opus One, stressed the importance of quickly getting into a lane of clear air: “We finished sixth and first today. It was quite shifty and very light breeze. When you get a line through the first upwind beat and you can pass a few boats without any bad air then you are lucky. We were lucky in the second race today. We got a really good start line and a right shift, so we were far ahead at the first upwind mark and could finish the race quite easily in first position.”

Reflecting on a reversal of fortune from a poor result in race 4, Wieser felt: “We didn't do anything different, but in the first race a TP52 tacked on us and we had to tack away again and we were not free to sail to the left side as we wanted to. All areas were locked. We were just reacting and not acting anymore.” Overall though, the German team is happy, “yesterday we were leading, we are second now, but we are only halfway through the series. So we have to hang into it and tomorrow is a new day.”

The weather is now quite stable and tomorrow's conditions are expected to a little better than today. According to Captain Filippo Petrucci, official meteorologist of the Sardinia Rolex Cup, “in the morning the thermal breeze will gradually shift to the right becoming easterly and increasing from an early 9 knots to 15 knots in the middle of the day.” Tomorrow the fleet will tackle the island race in the waters of the Archipelago de La Maddalena.

Provisional Team Standings after 5 races:

Position - Team - Points
1 - SARDEGNA - 43
2 - GERMANY - 46
3 - ITALY - 57
4 - MONACO - 57
5 - SPAIN - 58
6 - USA - 75
7 - ALPE ADRIA - 96