Early advantage to Alfa

A perfect opening day to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The 17th Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda kicked off today with a record fleet of 46 yachts and beautiful sailing conditions. A light northeasterly breeze of 8-10 knots, flat seas and warm sun were the feature of the day.

For all five divisions, the Race Committee for organiser's the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, selected a 26 mile long coastal course, which included a initial upwind leg for all but the Spirit of Tradition yachts, a long reach to the rocky outcrop of the Monaci, another tight reach to the Secca Tre Monti, a slightly more technical upwind leg to the islet of Mortoriotto and a last sprint to the Gulf of Pevero and the finish line opposite Porto Cervo.

The Spirit of Tradition fleet was the first away from the starting block, with the 38m, Bruce King designed Hetairos taking an early lead at the Committee Boat. Today was one of the few occasions that the schooner Adela, the largest boat in the fleet by some 15m, found its match on the water. Owned by American gas and media tycoon George Lindemann, Adela was late to the line and throughout the race was unable to regain this deficit. In a faultless showing, Hetairos was able to take a successful double victory, on line honours and handicap. Adela came in second on real time but had to hand over its position to Annagine on handicap. Brendan Fury, captain of Hetarios, albeit slightly disappointed with their start, felt that overall this was a good first day of racing: "Today's conditions were quite light for our type of boat, but we were able to sail with a good speed and take line honours in our class. There was a slight delay at the start and this prevented us from taking off as well as we were hoping for. It takes a long time for this kind of boat to find the right position on the line and get the speed up again."

The two latest Super Maxis, Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI and her near sistership, Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo, were very much the 'rock stars' of the second start of the day. With eight yachts on the line in the Racing Division, both opted for a perfectly executed port tack, pin-end start that enabled them to get ahead of their rivals. Wild Oats XI was able to hold on to a narrow lead over her rival throughout the race, eventually taking line honours by less than a minute. On handicap, however, it was Alfa Romeo, with double Olympic Gold and Silver medallist Ben Ainslie calling the tactics, who claimed victory in their class. "We had a good start. Our strategy was to stay close to Wild Oats, we wanted to sail in a controlling way" commented Alfa Romeo's owner Neville Crichton. "We made no mistakes and came first overall, so we are happy. But of course tomorrow is another day."

Mark Richards, skipper of Wild Oats XI, was equally buoyant about his team's result: "We had a really good day. We didn't get them on handicap, but we were very close so we're happy. The line had a big port bias and we ended up following each other in from the pin end; we flopped over and that was it. We took the lead about three-quarters of the way up the first beat, which worked out very nicely. On the first two runs we had different chutes up and they were a little bit faster than us, but the next beat was good for us."

Richards, who knows these waters extremely well, expects a week of tough competition: "I've sailed here many times, including match-racing with Peter Gilmour, this is about my 20th regatta here. Today was a class race and it's going to be an exciting week. It should be a really good tussle with Alfa."

Hasso Plattner's maxZ86 Morning Glory came third both on real and corrected time in the Racing division. This canting keel Maxi turbo sled boasts an impressive crew, which includes the likes of Dutch Volvo Ocean Race skipper Bouwe Bekking, American Olympic and America's Cup sailor Morgan Larson and American Olympic Star gold medallist, round the world and America's Cup veteran Steve Erickson.

The 98ft Maximus, co-owned by Charles St Clair Brown and Bill Buckley, had a conservative start something she can ill-afford as scratch boat in the division and ended the first day of the series with a sixth on handicap.

The Wally Division, third to start, was led around the course by Great Britain's Magic Carpet Squared owned by Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of the Board of Directors of L'Oreal. At the Monaci rounding, with still two-thirds of the race remaining, Magic Carpet had gained a huge lead over her classmates, and had almost caught Open Season, competing in the Racing Division. The British entry, with two former Volvo Ocean Race navigators on board in the form of Marcel van Triest and Miranda Merron went onto take line honours. However, it was Jean Charles Decaux's J One who clinched the race on handicap, relegating Magic Carpet Squared to second. Galeazzo Pecori Giraldi's Tiketitan from Italy, with Italian America's Cup veterans Mauro Pelaschier and Flavio Favini, came second on real time but slid to into fourth on handicap.

The newly formed Mini Maxi division provided the most entertaining start with some tight action at the Committee Boat end of the line. It seemed that Italy's Ernesto Gismondi's Edimetra VI, one of this year's pre-favourites, was going to steal the limelight with a perfect start, but a few seconds before the gun he was unable to squeeze in and was forced to tack away. After a hard fight at centre line, it was Italian Atalanta II who was able to take the lead and stretch away. Carlo Puri Negri's Farr 70 was the first Mini Maxi to reach the Monaci rocks and was able to sail effortlessly throughout the course, eventually taking line honours for its class. "It's been a fantastic race. The conditions were perfect and we are extremely happy. We had flat seas, wind, sun, what else could we want?" commented Carlo Puri Negri, who finished fourth on handicap. With a fourth on real time, Giorgio Ruffo's Aleph from Italy claimed victory on corrected time, followed by Massimo Violati's Ops 5. After its mishap at the start, Edimetra recovered to finish third on handicap.

The Cruising Division, which includes an eclectic mix of yachts, was the last to start. The 34m Unfurled of New York real estate mogul Harry Macklowe, a winner from last year's event, suffered a premature start ditching her chances for a first day victory. With a faultless start, the magnificent 37m Ghost, owned by last year's newcomer the American film producer and art gallery founder Arne Glimcher, was able to take an early lead. Ghost has an extremely talented and experienced crew that includes Italian yacht designer Luca Brenta, four America's Cup sailors from the Italian Luna Rossa Challenge 2007, Tom Whidden, President of North Marine Group, and the legendary Halsey Herreshoff, sailor, designer and museum founder, as navigator.

Ghost was able to claim line honours, followed by Italian Filippo Faruffini's elegant Farr-designed Roma, who came in second both on real and corrected time. The majestic British J-Class Velsheda, with America's Cup and Olympic veterans Rod Davis and Kevin Hall among the crew, won on handicap. According to Luca Brenta, " Velsheda is the true winner in our class today. She is probably the oldest and the most beautiful boat of the fleet." Regarding Ghost's performance, Brenta added: "It's been a very nice race, with a good stable breeze. We sailed conservatively and made some smart tactical decisions in the second part of the course where the wind picked up slightly. It paid to stay close to shore, near the entry to Porto Cervo."

Brenta feels that it is quite difficult to arrange handicap ratings for the Cruising Division, as it includes boats that are very different: "It's hard having boats at the extreme end of the spectrum such as Velsheda, and Roma, who is more race-oriented. Anyhow, we sailed well and we are happy with what we got." Gunter Herz's British entry Allsmoke, which won the combined Cruising Division series rankings in 2005, claimed a third on handicap, with veteran offshore sailor and multiple world champion Ken Read on board.

According to Major Filippo Petrucci, official meteorologist for the event, "tomorrow the conditions will be similar to today, but with slightly lighter winds."

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

Provisional standings

Racing
1. ALFA ROMEO Neville Crichton NZL, 1/1.0
2. WILD OATS Robert I. Oatley AUS, 2/2.0
3. MORNING GLORY Hasso Platner GER, 3/3.0

Cruising
1. VELSHEDA Tarbat Investments GBR, 1/1.0
2. ROMA Filippo Faruffini ITA, 2/2.0
3. ALLSMOKE Gunter Herz GER, 3/3.0

Spirit of Tradition
1. HETAIROS Rockport Ltd CAY IS, 1/1.0
2. ANNAGINE C. E. Van Asbeck NED, 2/2.0
3. ADELA George Lindemann USA, 3/3.0

Mini Maxi
1. ALEPH Giorgio Ruffo ITA, 1/1.0
2. OPS 5 Massimo Violati ITA, 2/2.0
3. EDIMETRA Ernesto Gismondi ITA, 3/3.0

W
1. J ONE Jean Charles Decaux GBR, 1/1.0
2. MAGIC CARPET SQUARED Lindsay Owen Jones GBR, 2/2.0
3. TANGO Carlo Sama MON, 3/3.0

For complete results - click here