Third Barcolana win for Crichton

Alfa Romeo 2 saunters home ahead of 1788 strong fleet

1788 competitors took today's single start of the 38th Barcolana regatta in Trieste just off the Società Velica Barcola Grignano. Between Miramare Castle and the lighthouse this amounted to more than 20,000 sailors, with an estimated 320,000 spectators watching this unique spectacle from the Triestine Karst cliffs.

Conditions for the race were lively. The white smoke of the rocket signalling the start, was swept away by the Bora, blowing between 20 and 23 knots with 30 knots gusts.

From the outset a match race was lining up between Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo 2 and Maximus-Alikè, chartered to Lorenzo Bodini, the two boats crossing the line overlapped with Alfa holding the windward advantage over Maximusbut with Maximus fractionally ahead. Good tactics and boat speed enabled Alfa to overhaul her rival just 350m from the start line.

Bodini tried to catch up by hoisting the gennaker but they suffered further from a poor hoist allowing Alfa Romeo to round the first mark 473m ahead.

While Maximus-Alikè got back up to speed, there came a surprise: eight boat lengths behind Alfa Romeo was the Andrej Justin-designed 24m Maxi Jena of Mitja Kosmina with Miroslav Reljanovic as tactician. The Slovenian team came off the starting line near Barcola helped by the strong Bora gusts to take second place ahead of Maximus-Alikè as the boats converged half way up the first leg.

Meanwhile the same tactics favoured another Slovenian boat, the Frers Open 60 Anyway True, skippered by Maurizio Bencic, who won last week in the Bernetti. She was third at the mark following Alfa Romeo 2 which in turn was 1 minute and 48 seconds ahead of Maxi Jena. Maximus-Alikè rounded the top mark in fourth place.

After the first mark rounding, the boats headed towards the mark off Miramare castle, by which time the position remained the same although Alfa Romeo 2 was able to accelerate, increasing her lead over the fleet sailing at 10-18 knots average speed.

At Miramare mark weather conditions changed: the wind disappeared and the crews were forced to make the best they could in the sudden dead calm. Alfa Romeo 2 slowed abruptly to just 2 knots boat speed allowing her rivals to catch up a situation where anything could happen.

But Neville Crichton, owner and skipper of Alfa Romeo 2, was able to pick his way out of the hole by picking the right side of the course where there was slightly more breeze and the chasing pack were forced to follow. The Kiwi maxi crossed the line in first place, while almost overlapped, Maximus Alikè and Maxi Jena sailed close to shore in the fight for second the Slovenian crew ultimately taking it.

For Crichton, this was his third victory in the Barcolana, following his wins in 2003 and 2004, this time sailing the course in just 1 hour and 23 minutes. "We did a wonderful race, we managed to tackle the different situations in the best way," said Neville Crichton. "We followed precise racing tactics: we got off the line cleanly to windward of Maximus-Alikè and at that point we moved into lead. With both strong wind and light breeze we proved to be the fastest boat and the strongest team. Alfa Romeo is still the SuperMaxi everyone wants to beat".

Maxi Jena crossed the finishing line 7 minutes later. "When Maximus-Alikè passed us in the second leg of the race we never gave up the possibility of coming in second," said an enthusiastic Mitija Kosmina. "When the wind calmed down, near Miramare, we hoisted a genoa which let us approach Maximus with Bodini at the helm. In the last lap we sailed on the left side of the course. It was the right choice, we were able to earn a great result finishing behind the world's strongest SuperMaxi: this second place has the taste of victory".

Pipped to the post, Lorenzo Bodini commented: "After a getting a beautiful start, we were not able to stop Alfa Romeo 2 from slipping away. We hit the line together but she was to windward. We were all three very close at the mark near Miramare due to the dead calm and we chose to sail further out at sea where the gusts were stronger. Then we duelled with Maxi Jena until the end in a sort of match-race. It's a pity because if the wind had been steadier we would have done better".

Behind the first three Super maxis was a traditional participant of the Barcolana: Esimit-Europa ( formerly Riviera de Rimini) now belonging to Igor Simcic. The boat skippered by Alberto Bolzan with Stefano Spangaro as tactitian (both from Trieste) finished first in the Maxi class for the fifth time in a row.

Surprisingly Anyway True came home fifth with Maurizio Bencic at the helm, while TuttaTrieste1 was sixth, chartered by the Financial Police Sporting Group of Gaeta, with Paolo Cian at the helm.

Seventh is the Southern Wind 78 racer-cruiser, Southern Star, skippered by Gabriele Benussi, also of Trieste.

Russell Coutts came home 17th overall in the RC 44 Magia.

Arrival order:

1 Alfa Romeo 2, Neville Crichton (time: 1hour 23minutes)
2 Maxi Jena, Mitija Kosmina
3 Maximus-Alikè, Lorenzo Bodini
4 Esimit-Europa, Alberto Bolzan e Stefano Spangaro
5 Anyway True, Maurizio Bencic
6 TuttaTrieste2-Fiamme Gialle, Andrea Neri
7 Southern Star, Gabriele Benussi
8 Veliki Viharnik, Dusan Puh
9 Sei Tu 2, Antonello Morina
10 Cuba Libre, Thomas Kurtzmann
11 Madex-Cometa, Robert Besic
12 Pegaso-Calvi, Paolo Montefusco

Finish order, class by class here....