Another trip around the islands

Three races in at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup with Alfa Romeo consolidating her lead

The crews competing in the 2006 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, were challenged by another day of light winds on Wednesday. So far there has been no sign of the legendary Mistral, which can blow from the northwest at up to 45 knots. After an initial postponement on shore, the Race Committee selected a 26 mile coastal course for the Spirit of Tradition fleet, while the other fleets tackled a 35 mile course around the Archipelago de La Maddalena, on exactly the same route as yesterday but sailed clockwise.

After an initial upwind leg, the fleet headed to the Monaci islet on a close reach, followed by another reach to the submerged rocks of the Secca Tre Monti. The line-up of boats parading under spinnaker all the way into the channel was a truly incredible sight. The fleets then headed up between the islands with the 98ft Super Maxis Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats XI leading by an impressive margin over the Maxi turbo sled Morning Glory. Exactly as yesterday, under the shores of La Maddalena the wind dropped completely and turned through 180 degrees. Once again the crews had to face a tough tactical choice - sail all the way to the shoreline hoping to get into the shift or stay in the centre lane. Alfa Romeo, leading by a couple of boat lengths, opted for the middle, while Wild Oats went to shore and was unlucky to be caught in the doldrums, in a carbon copy situation of yesterday. A relieved Alfa Romeo was able to stretch its lead to a comfortable margin. After rounding the islet of Barettinelli di Fuori, the boats headed on a close reach to the Gulf of Pevero and the finish line off Porto Cervo. Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo maintained tight control over Bob Oatley's Wild Oats, claiming once again the double victory on the water, with a 3-plus minute lead, and on handicap. Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory came in third on real time but claimed a second on handicap and now sits - with a string of consistent results - second overall, just ahead of Wild Oats.

Neville Crichton recapped the day's racing: "We came off the starting line well and we were pretty close boat for boating with Wild Oats; she got through us just before the top mark. We followed her to the spinnaker running leg (at Secca Tre Monti), where we put a Code Zero up and she put a running spinnaker up. We sailed around the outside of her, opened up about three boat lengths on her and we just held it at three boat lengths for the rest of the race." Of the first critical moment in the victory, Crichton thought they made a better choice of spinnakers and that paid off. Regarding the second critical stage inside the channel, Crichton added: "It was difficult in the islands, at the same point as yesterday [off La Maddelena] she got up to us and once again it could have gone either way but we got the breeze probably 30 seconds before and opened up again. That was the end of the race virtually for them then. All we want to do once we get in front of her is just keep our gap and not do anything silly. We didn't take any risks and all we've got to do is finish with her and we beat her on handicap." Crichton is well aware that Morning Glory could be a real threat: "Morning Glory is there every race so I think in windward-leewards she would probably beat us on handicap. It's going to be pretty close, she's just about as quick as us upwind so it would be interesting."



America's Cup skipper and former match race world champion Karol Jablonski, sailing aboard Y3K - who today came in fourth on handicap - would have liked more upwind sailing in today's course, but overall was satisfied with the outcome of this third day: "We had another good start, but the upwind legs today were too short, we had a lot of reaching and we were sailing on 'rail tracks', without many tactical options. Half the way through the course we were still leading Morning Glory by roughly one minute on handicap. At the end of the race the light wind died and shifted against on us, so we lost some time at the end. Under 8 knots of breeze you have a problem when you have 45 tons competing against 28 tons racing machines [the Super Maxis]. We had a nice match racing against ABN AMRO One, they were 3-4 knots faster reaching down, but we rolled them again in the channel passage thanks to better tactical gybes. All in all it's been a faultless race from our crew, we've made the most out of the day."

Kiwi skipper Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO One, at his second Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, having sailed it in 1999 aboard Larry Ellison's Sayonara, was hoping for stronger winds. "It's lovely to be here. We are very much here with the whole idea that we've brought to Porto Cervo the boat that was designed to win the Volvo Ocean Race - to have some fun and sail in a beautiful place. If it stays under 15 knots we are not going to win any races but if it got windy we could really create a little bit of an upset. There are lots of boats here that were designed for these conditions, they are doing very well and it's great to see. We have to keep reminding ourselves that our boat was designed to win the Volvo Ocean Race, which it did. We are just on a little tour, but it's good fun , it's good for us to keep working on racing the boat as fast as we can in those conditions because that will make us better at it."

Great Britain's Magic Carpet Squared owned by Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones still hasn't found its match on the water among the Wally class. For the third consecutive time, the British entry led its fleet all the way around the course, but was relegated into fourth overall by Dark Shadow who claimed victory on handicap.


On board Roma

Among the Cruising Division, Arne Glimcher's Ghost from the US won line honours with a narrow 1 minute margin over Italian entry Roma, the latter claiming the victory on handicap. Ghost this week is sailing with the legendary figure of Halsey Herreshoff as navigator. Sailor, designer and museum founder, Herreshoff has been crew on 4 different 12 meters in the America's Cup and is currently director of the Herreshoff Marine Museum (Bristol, RI, US) and the America's Cup Hall of Fame. At his racing debut in Porto Cervo, he is highly impressed by the level of the Maxi fleet: "I've sailed a lot in the Mediterranean but I have actually never raced here before, I came here in the past just to visit. I think the Maxis here are a magnificent fleet. I am so impressed with all of the European sailing because while we have great races in America we don't have these grand events, where all these big boats come together. We have nothing that compares. I was particularly struck on the first day of racing when it was light and we were all kind of milling around, and all of a sudden there were about 10 Maxis all fitting in together, all beautiful and top quality - that was very impressive to see and I will remember that view for a very long time." Hereshoff is also awed by the level of the competitors: "On our boat we have Tom Whidden and a few other very strong guys, and from what I can observe also on many of the other boats the level is really high, so the racing is good". Herreshoff's role as navigator is particularly challenging but he is also having fun: "From my standpoint, being the navigator, I think it's so fun going around all of these narrow areas. It's challenging because there are a lot of rocks everywhere, you just need to make sure you understand that and be attentive to it all the time. There are plenty of wind shifts, it's a fun kind of racing. It's challenging to look ahead, try to guess what will happen and be prepared for it."

In the Mini Maxi division, Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II won both line honours and on corrected time and is lying in second overall, behind Giorgio Ruffo's Aleph. Former Olympian Nicola Celon from Italy, who recently won the Melges 24 world championship, is sailing aboard the Swan 70 Flying Dragon who is currently fifth overall in the division: "I am not an expert on handicaps and I simply know that we need to race against the clock, we do our best to beat our rivals on the water. It is difficult to make any predictions on the corrected time when you are out racing as the fleet includes boats which are quite diverse. The Maxi fleet is impressive and it must be an incredible sight from the outside. We are happy with the conditions although of course we would have more fun with stronger wind, it is quite hard to sail a heavy boat like a Swan 70 in this light air against lighter yachts."

The beautiful blue hulled Hetairos claimed line honours and a first on handicap among the Spirit of Tradition fleet, while George Lindemann's Adela came in second.

On Thursday the crews will enjoy a lay day, which for some will mean plenty of relaxation and beach time, while for others more training sessions and tune-up work. The day will end in true style with the much awaited Rolex Gala Dinner at the Cala di Volpe Hotel, a world renowned luxury resort.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), runs from September 3rd to September 9th.

Racing
1. ALFA ROMEO Neville Crichton NZL, 1/1/1/3.0
2. MORNING GLORY Hasso Platner GER, 3/2/2/7.0
3. WILD OATS Robert I. Oatley AUS, 2/4/3/9.0

VOR
1. ABN AMRO ONE ABN Amro Brand NED, 1/1/1/3.0
2. AMER SPORT TOO Giovanni Marangon EUR, 2/2/2/6.0

Cruising
1. ROMA Filippo Faruffini ITA, 2/1/1/4.0
2. VELSHEDA Tarbat Investments GBR, 1/2/4/7.0
3. ALLSMOKE Gunter Herz GER, 3/3/3/9.0

Spirit of Tradition
1. HETAIROS Rockport Ltd CAY IS, 1/2/1/4.0
2. ANNAGINE C. E. Van Asbeck NED, 2/1/3/6.0
3. ADELA George Lindemann USA, 3/3/2/8.0

Mini Maxi
1. ALEPH Giorgio Ruffo ITA, 1/1/2/4.0
2. ATALANTA II Carlo Puri Negri ITA, 4/3/1/8.0
3. OPS 5 Massimo Violati ITA, 2/5/5/12.0

Wally
1. MAGIC CARPET SQUARED Lindsay Owen Jones GBR, 2/1/4/7.0
2. TANGO Carlo Sama MON, 3/2/2/7.0
3. DARK SHADOW Antexis Ltd MON 5/3/1/9.0