Alfa forges ahead

Neville Crichton sets sail from St Tropez in an attempt to better Giraglia Rolex Cup Race record

The 159 Giraglia Rolex Cup Race boats left for Genoa today at 13.00 local time, with a southeasterly wind of just two knots. The energy at the starting line was electric and there were a few collisions although the race committee did not call back the boats. The teams are well on their way now and will spend their first night in calm conditions, sailing inwinds of 5-15 knots.

This morning all of the participants who signed up for the 243-mile offshore Giraglia Rolex Cup Race seemed a bit more out of sorts than usual. Perhaps this was because of the magnificent Rolex Gala Dinner and prize giving ceremony that took place last night at La Citadelle of St. Tropez. The 2000 invited guests dined beneath the stars and enjoyed an extraordinary firework display and acrobatic performance. Still under the charm of last night's festivities, the tacticians and their team members had to quickly regroup this morning to be the first across the starting line to catch the clear breeze. With three different starts, the race committee had a difficult time pushing back the numerous spectator boats who wanted to be as close to the action as possible. The spectators along the shoreline were in the best position to catch the first tacks and jibes of the race.

Just before the last start, three boats crashed into one another, a collision that luckily had no serious consequences. Even though they left St. Tropez last, the Maxis and the Super-Maxis quickly caught up to Groups A and B of the IMS Class.

After only a couple of minutes on the course, Alfa Romeo took the lead and seemed to fly on her way to Genoa. Wild Oats did not participate in the offshore race so that they could be sure to arrive in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday for the start of the Super Yacht Cup, leaving Neville Crichton to concentrate on breaking the current Giraglia record. Alfa Romeo holds the current race record, set in 2003, of 22h 13mn and 48s. In the next few hours, the winds must favour the long strides of the giant New Zealand boat in order for her to keep her current pace until the finish. Alfa Romeo must cross the finish line tomorrow morning, Thursday to break her four-year old current record, but only the weather decides if she will make it.

Figaro and former America's Cup sailor Pietro D'Ali, tactician on board of Edimetra, had this to say about the Giraglia Rolex Cup inshore races: "La Citadelle was a stunning place to celebrate our yesterday's overall victory. Also, we did three good days of costal races, which are less technical than the windward/leeward races and also with different kind of boats," referring to his recent racing in the Rolex Farr 40 European Championship in Porto Cervo aboard Calvi.

"We had three good starts," he continued, "one in every regatta, along with a good intuition of the wind directions. Our last leeward leg yesterday was excellent. We tacked very well according to a shifting wind and we took the right lane line to the finish line. Unfortunately, in the last 15 racing minutes the wind suddenly shifted one more time approximately 15 degrees so than we had to jibe one more time. We were then a little bit worried about all the small boats coming in quickly behind us and what we would have to pay in corrected time. But we won."

For today's long offshore Giraglia Rolex Cup Race he said: "A slight wind is expected for the race. Once left of the coast - where we can still benefit from some wind even if it's a shifting one - we will start to study the wind quite seriously. Then it will be more difficult. You risk finding yourself in the middle of the sea with 2-3 knots of shifting winds. I know how to navigate the area as I have done 15 Giraglias, even if many years have passed by since my last participation and I have been competing in more technical classes and racing in the meanwhile," referring to his experience onboard Farr 40s, Swan 45s, and Cup boats. "To pass the Giraglia Rock might be easy and hard at the same time," D'Ali continued. "You can find a complete lack of wind where it takes you hours to round the Giraglia or an easterly wind might raise up and make the passage quite easy and fast."

More photos on page 2....