Coutts pipped at the post

As Moneypenny wins on countback on the final day of the Rolex Swan Cup

The hard-fought quest for overall honours in the 14th Rolex Swan Cup, organised by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, ended with a testing day of racing. With the legendary northwesterly Mistral gusting up to 30 knots and heavy seas outside the islands, the 99 entries tackled a 17-mile coastal course.

Moneypenny (USA) won on a tie-break in the Swan 601 fleet, while Italy's DSK Comifin was able to fend off a strong US contingent among the Swan 45s. Aqua Equinox (BEL) took overall honours on handicap in the Grand Prix division (21 entries) and Jacobite (GBR) came first among the Classic division (45 entries).

In the Swan 601s, for James R. Swartz's Moneypenny (USA) and Torbjorn Tornquist's Artemis (SWE), the final race was a classic winner takes all scenario. The two yachts have been locked together in a gladiatorial contest all week and with the discard in play after five races only one place separated them in the standings. The pressure was greatest on Moneypenny. She had to win; anything less would be insufficient to unseat Artemis.

Moneypenny did win, but Artemis finished second leaving the yachts tied on 9 points. With both holding three bullets and three second-places they were inseparable on countback. The tie-break rules came into effect and the last race result was critical. Moneypenny won the race and with it the title. Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuor di Leone (ITA), with Paul Cayard calling the tactics, ended the series in third.

James Swartz had had his sights set on winning the Rolex Swan Cup for a long time: "Ever since I took delivery of the yacht last year, I have been aiming to win this regatta and this is a dream come true - a truly magical day. This event has allowed us to have some of our best racing ever against highly skilled crews on the other 601s and they provided us with great competition.

"Today we welcomed the Mistral winds and we had a great start, breaking free of the other boats early on. We had several near perfect sail sets but it was tricky going through the straits. We were well prepared for this event and now we have achieved our goal." Swartz was aided in his quest by an all-star crew that included several current and former America's Cup and round the world sailors. Among them, Dee Smith was tactician and Mark Rudiger was navigator.

Despite losing the top spot, Torbjorn Tornquist, owner of Artemis, was gracious in defeat and had enjoyed the tough battle with Moneypenny: "I think this is one of the best places to sail in the world, with great wind and conditions, beautiful scenery and a fantastic yacht club which made sure everyone had a great time. I have really enjoyed sailing here."

Tornquist competed two years ago on a Swan 48, but this event was a step up that he had relished, continuing; "Today's racing was tough with the strong winds, but it was really interesting and demanding - we aimed high for this competition.

" Moneypenny worked really hard and had a very good crew, so did we, but I guess that's the way it goes. It was very close, they had three wins, we had three wins. Now we'll go home and think about what we can improve and we'll be back in 2008 for sure."

The 29-strong Swan 45 fleet from nine countries was led throughout the week by Danilo Salsi's DSK Comifin (ITA), who had to fend off a strong contingent of US entries led by Dick Weismann's Vixen. The Italian entry went into the last race of the series with a comfortable but still vulnerable 6 point lead over Vixen and the luxury of a ninth as worst result against Vixen's weighty 22nd. The greater pressure was on Vixen. Weismann had to finish in the top three and hope Salsi would have his worst day of the regatta, finishing at least 7 places adrift. In the end it was too much to ask. The Italian crew finished fourth in today's race and, despite a good start, Vixen faded in the tricky conditions coming home in ninth.

Tactician Pietro D'Alì, whose resume includes the Figaro, Olympics, America's Cup and the Whitbread Round the World Race, today had only one thought on his mind - keeping a close control over Vixen: "Today was a tough race. In 30 knots of wind, the Swan 45 is a challenging boat, and gybing becomes especially difficult as the full carbon mainsails are very light. My goal today was to lead Vixen around the course and get at least five or six boats in between us and them. I wanted to make sure that in case of technical failure on our boat we could still hold enough of a margin to stay ahead. This was my only thought from start to finish. We never let go of Vixen, tacking on their sails all along." Although confident with his team's scores, D'Alì did not take anything for granted: "In any regatta you can never guess, Vixen is a fast boat with a strong team and in such a big and competitive fleet it is always possible to make a big mistake or to suffer some sort of damage. Our crew did an excellent job, we have been working together for a year and half, and Danilo [Salsi] is doing a really great job at the helm."

Despite falling at the last, Dick Weismann remained upbeat about his team's efforts: "The week has gone really well. We've enjoyed every day, even the rainy long distance race. We couldn't have been happier with our results. Obviously we would have been happier still with first place but we're thrilled with our overall performance.

Commenting on the last race of the series, Weismann added: "Today we just sailed it as a regular race. It was a little more pressured because we did have a shot at first place [overall]. But we made up our minds at the beginning to treat it as normal and sail against the whole fleet, and not just one boat, the lead boat. They [DSK] sailed a great race, of course; they're very, very skilled. One of the nicest things to happen was when we were coming in together we passed next to Danilo [Salsi] and our boat clapped, and they clapped. It was a really nice gesture."

With a victory on corrected time in the last day of the series, Filip Balcaen's Swan 56 Aqua Equinox (BEL), confirmed its leadership among the Grand Prix division, claiming overall honours with a comfortable 4-point lead. Massimo Dentice's Swan 70 Bugia Bianca (ITA) took the second spot on the podium, with a fifth on handicap in the last race of the series. Roel Pieper's Swan 80 Favonius claimed line honours in the last race and a third on corrected time, which was enough to end the series in third.

Filip Balcaen is at his third Rolex Swan Cup and feels that this has been his best event so far: "I must say it has been a fantastic regatta, it's the third time we have entered and this year we have had our best performance. We came tenth the first time, then 3rd and today first - it feels amazing. We have been lucky having such good sailing weather, with winds generally between 12 and 16 knots, making the conditions just perfect for racing our boat. The Swan 56 is a great model and proves that if you have the right crew, it can be possible for an older model to win such a competitive regatta. We have beaten some Swan 70s and other fantastic performers because we have the determination to win. The crew worked extremely hard and now it's time to celebrate."

America's Cup veteran Lorenzo Bortolotti from Italy, tactician on board Bugia Bianca, commented on how a few mistakes compromised their last race: "We worked hard and sailed well in the first half but I am disappointed that we made a couple of errors later on and lost time, probably around three minutes overall. The windward leg was most challenging and we lost our advantage to the smaller boats. Our competitor was Aqua Equinox, it was very close and without the mistakes we could have won. The crew was working so well and the boat sailed perfectly. I am happy with the results and it has been a super regatta, very well organised."

In the Classic Fleet, Peter Simon's Swan 65 Monsoon Jaguar (GBR), the fastest boat on the water among the division, once again claimed line honours in the last race but was unable to reach the podium. With a third on corrected time in the last race, Stephen & Benedict James claimed overall honours with their Swan 48 Jacobite. William Kardash's Swan 44 Aura (USA) came in second, followed by Colin Buffin's Swan 44 Junkanoo (GBR).

Stephen James commented: "It is only the second time that we have competed in this event with Jacobite. In 2002 we came second and we had some unfinished business to settle. It was a very satisfying win and I feel like a very lucky man, with a superb crew. Aura and Monsoon Jaguar created the most difficulty for us but we really enjoyed racing against such a wide variety of models. It has been a great series and the format of this event was so well organised."

The 2006 Rolex Swan Cup ends today with the Final Prizegiving Ceremony, where the four division winners will be awarded with the Swan Cup Trophy and a coveted Rolex Submariner timepiece.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Sail No.	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot
	Grand Prix Class
1	AQUA EQUINOX	Filip Balcaen	BEL6237	2	1	3	1	1	0	0	5
2	BUGIA BIANCA	Massimo Dentice	ITA14014	1	7	1	2	5	0	0	9
3	FAVONIUS	Roel Pieper	ITA7	5	3	2	4	3	0	0	12
4	STAY CALM	Stuart Robinson	GBR70R	4	5	4	5	2	0	0	15
5	FLYING DRAGON	Paolo Scerni	GBR6770R	8	7	5	3	7	0	0	22
6	MALIGAYA	Andrew Soriano	GBR8663	6	6	8	9	4	0	0	24
7	MANU	Urs Brunner	GBR7007	7	10	7	8	6	0	0	28
8	THE BLUE PEARL	Anders Johnson	GBR4773	18	11	6	6	8	0	0	31
9	FANTASTICAAA	Lanfranco Cirillo-Leonid Mikchalson	ITA15185	3	2	22	7	22	0	0	34
10	BERENICE	Marco Rodolfi	ITA989	14	8	9	13	22	0	0	44
11	VIRAGO	Stuart & MarrGwen Townsend	USA51114	12	9	13	16	10	0	0	44
12	BRAIN WAVE	J. Brand	NED6131	11	12	14	12	9	0	0	44
13	ATALANTE 2	Raymond Tanghe	BEL565	10	14	12	10	22	0	0	46
14	CLOVER III	Neil Finnegan	52056	9	15	15	11	11	0	0	46
15	SILANDRA V	Gian Luca Braggiotti	MON76	13	13	10	14	12	0	0	48
16	KIWI INA ASSITALIA	Team Vela Srl	ITA13521	16	17	11	15	14	0	0	56
17	MYSTERY	Bill Ireland	0	19	18	16	22	13	0	0	66
18	MARIE BLUE	Carel Paauwe	GBR6095R	15	16	17	20	22	0	0	68
19	KING FISHER	Marcel Welling	NED1257	20	19	22	18	15	0	0	72
20	RANI	Jochen Hertzke	GER333	17	22	18	17	22	0	0	74
21	VARSOVIE	ODA Limited	USA7701	21	20	22	19	22	0	0	82
	Swan 601
1	MONEYPENNY	James R. Swartz	US61007	2	3	2	1	2	1	1	9
2	ARTEMIS	Torbjorn Tornquist	SWE11011	1	2	1	2	1	2	2	9
3	CUOR DI LEONE	Leonardo Ferragamo	ITA16015	3	1	3	4	3	4	3	17
4	SPIRIT OF JETHOU	Peter Ogden	GBR2601R	4	4	4	3	4	3	4	22
	Classics
1	JACOBITE	Stephen & Benedict James	GBR48R	1	1	2	4	3	0	0	7
2	AURA	William J. Kardash	USA51016	2	2	7	2	6	0	0	12
3	JUNKANOO	Colin Buffin	GBR1622	4	5	3	1	7	0	0	13
4	MONSOON JAGUAR	Peter Simon	GBR9165	3	7	1	6	9	0	0	17
5	BLACK TIE	Gavin Howe	GBR43500	8	3	4	42	5	0	0	20
6	SOLENIA 2 - SUSI	Fabio Scalzi - Gianmarco Rinaldi	ITA2992	6	25	5	3	10	0	0	24
7	CRILIA	Heinz Gerd Stein	GER4342	10	4	8	8	4	0	0	24
8	FOREIGN AFFAIR	Paul Basson	MON46	12	6	6	12	1	0	0	25
9	REEF POINTS	Joseph Huber	USA52244	5	13	9	5	46	0	0	32
10	LOWLY WORM	John Dean	GBR4639R	7	12	46	7	13	0	0	39
11	SELENE	Mark L. Jephcott	GBR976	9	8	22	9	17	0	0	43
12	MATCHLESS	Carlo Comparini	GBR171	11	15	10	10	16	0	0	46
13	TORTUGA	Sell Guenter	GER4760	42	10	11	16	12	0	0	49
14	MONOMOTAPA	Per Ame Nielsen	MO9206	25	9	16	13	14	0	0	52
15	ISKAREEN	Reemt Bruhns	GER4517	15	17	13	11	21	0	0	56
16	EMOTION	Franco Gaiani	ITA12482	16	11	17	19	27	0	0	63
17	SIMS IV	Stefano Liguori	ITA10029	17	24	12	14	28	0	0	67
18	SASSENACH	Ian Laing	GBR532R	37	20	28	17	8	0	0	73
19	DREAM	Francesco Persio	ITA7182	18	22	15	20	26	0	0	75
20	RITA	Achim Tuerklitz	GER273	23	18	27	21	18	0	0	80
21	WAY OF LIFE	Max Manuel Luders	GER4141	31	19	35	29	2	0	0	81
22	TWILIGHT	Michael J. Huyghe	BEL469	19	21	26	15	46	0	0	81
23	MILANTO	PASYC	GBR9804	29	16	23	23	19	0	0	81
24	DIOSCURA	Erling Astrup	NOR11007	28	14	19	26	46	0	0	87
25	HESTER	Hans Olaf Henkel	GER2969	14	33	18	24	35	0	0	89
26	MONTRACHET	Robert Schuijt	NED6293	26	29	14	28	22	0	0	90
27	NORTHERN CHILD	Julian Sincock	GBR5951T	21	34	24	18	30	0	0	93
28	CHERI HAKKATAN	Ronald Wulff	GER777	24	35	21	33	24	0	0	102
29	BALLYTRIM	Andrew Allner	GBR5046R	40	32	34	22	15	0	0	103
30	YELLOWDRAMA	Stephen Matthews	GBR1250	22	39	31	31	20	0	0	104
31	BLACK SWAN	Gaetano Breviglieri	ITA8155	20	26	29	37	33	0	0	108
32	HINANO	Pietro, Matteo e Paolo Algeloni	USA51047	30	30	20	35	29	0	0	109
33	SAIDA	Michael Krueger	GER4365	34	23	25	27	46	0	0	109
34	KIDOGO III	Geminiani Enzo	ITA6184	13	38	46	25	34	0	0	110
35	KENTA	Filippo e Marco Alver…	ITA3565R	39	31	36	40	11	0	0	117
36	GUNDEL G	Jens Ulrich Kiessling	GER4850	35	28	46	34	25	0	0	122
37	ASTRA	Jeremy Paul	GBR9664	41	27	30	32	46	0	0	130
38	FIDIBU'	Alfonso Weber	FIN5252	33	36	33	38	31	0	0	133
39	TARANTELLA	Oy Nautor Ab	FIN36001	27	41	46	36	32	0	0	136
40	VAITIARA	Battista Galliani	ITA9384	32	43	32	39	36	0	0	139
41	VENATOR	L. H. Prins	NED6504	43	37	46	41	23	0	0	144
42	MAGIA II	Enrico Scopesi	ITA5529	36	40	46	30	46	0	0	152
43	BERGAME	Pierre Rouaud	FRA34606	44	46	37	44	37	0	0	162
44	ALBABLU	Renato Irrera	ITA11844	38	42	46	46	46	0	0	172
45	FREELANCE	F. Javier Ortiz de Zuntiga	BEL678	46	46	46	43	46	0	0	181

To read more about the Swan 45s and to view their results - click here .