A fourth win and a new course record

Alfa Romeo II zips around the Barcolana course ahead of 1830 boats, plus images from this extraordinary event

The Bay of Trieste today proved triumphant for Alfa Romeo 2 at the Barcolana 39: after only 55 minutes 30 seconds of racing and Neville Crichton's superyacht won in the regatta the first boat home of an incredible 1831 boats that simultaneously took the start line. This was Crichton's fourth victory. Racing on her own, ahead of the fleet she carried out a smooth and technically perfect race: they waited to get clear before hoisting the gennaker, being concerned not to injure any of the 25,000 sailors competing, and rushed ahead towards the first mark at a speed of over 25 knots.

They finished with a lead of more than five minutes over all their other rivals thanks to the 16 knot Bora wind, gusting up to 35 knots, but it was only with the excellent precision of owner and helmsman, Neville Crichton that the boat's superiority enabled them to break the record on the 16.5 mile long course. The previous record of 58 minutes 30 seconds was set by Skandia in 2005 and was better on this occasion by two minutes.

"This is our 4th win in the Barcolana and there is more enthusiasm among the crowd here than in New Zealand," said Neville Crichton. "It has been a good race with a strong breeze at the start and we were quite concerned in causing no damage to the boats around us, so we did not hoist the spinnaker till we got clear. The rest of the race was quite straightforward and easy. We weren't sure we would break the record because the wind calmed down in the last leg but we've made it and it was good fun. We probably won't be here next year but the year after."


Meanwhile the race battled out behind with an interesting duel between MaxiJena of Solvenian Mitja Kosmina, who finished second ahead of the first Maxi Class Maxi, Esimit Europa of Igor Simcic.

Kosmina, skipper of Maxi Jena, after a difficult start due to some problems with the genneker, immediately concentrated on clinching his 'traditional' second place in Barcolana because Esimit, although a smaller boat, was able to sail ahead at the start and was second at the first mark, in Slovenian waters.

"It has been really tough today because the main winch got stuck at the start and we couldn't hoist the gennaker properly and also the wind shifted suddenly some 30°," said Kosmina, "All this happened in a few seconds and it was very difficult to keep calm and concentrated. We had to perform a series of physically heavy manoeuvres and at that moment I was afraid my crew would not be to keep the pace till the end. And tis is why I very proud of my crew who concentrated on clinching the second place, because there was nothing we could do against Alfa Romeo 2 who was already ahead and Esimit-Europa was close behind, doing an really excellent race."

Simcic added: "This has been for us one of the best Barcolanas ever. With a 20-25 knots wind blowing we had to do our best at the start. For the first time we were second at the first mark ahead of Maxi Jena, and we were able to lead halfway the second lap, when Mitja overtook. This result proves that this boat, and in particular its crew, have done their best today. I'm very proud of this team, all the effort and work done in these month has been paid back."

Behind the lead maxis was the 'class battle' between the six Farr 80 (ex Grand Mistrals), followed by the excellent Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle, chartered by the Financial Police.

Among the six Grand Mistrals, was the Army's boat, helmed by Cino Ricci, the first to round the mark finishing sixth behind Fly-Cometa of Flavio Favini, 6 minutes 30 seconds after Alfa Romeo 2. The real battle between one-design yachts took place in the second leg when Mauro Pelaschier sailed ahead of friend-rival Cino Ricci, followed by Idrusa Calvi of Paolo Montefusco, Casino Park - Anyway True of the Bora Sailing Team, and Ricci. This order did not change until the end of the race.

Kosmina's Maxi Jena crossed the finishing line about 15 minutes after Alfa Romeo 2 ahead of Esimit-Europa's extraordinary crew, winner for the sixth time among the Maxis, Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle, scored an excellent fourth place - and Fly Cometa, led around the race course by another America's Cup sailman Flavio Favini.

There was a spectacular but irregular start for Russell Coutts' Team Omega who together with the RC44s Team Ceeref (with helmsman James Spithill) and Es Bankers (Dean Barker) crossed the starting line almost one minute before the start gun (easily done with 1830 other boats behind you...)

Coutts gave his impressions of the race: "A fantastic race today. We had a great time racing with so many sails and with perfect weather conditions, sailing close to 80ft yachts. We had a lot of fun. Bora wind was strong and you had to make sure you pick the right angle to get to the first mark. It's a good strategic technical race. We hoisted the gennaker straight from the start. I'll definitely come back next year for the Barcolana, it's a fantastic race and a great sailing festival with so many boats involved."

Overall provisional results for the first ten boats:

1) Alfa Romeo 2 of Neville Crichton in 55'30";
2) Maxijena of Mitija Kosmina;
3) Esimit-Europa of Igor Simcic;
4) Tuttatrieste2-Fiamme Gialle chartered by the Sailing Division of the Financial Police;
5) Fly-Cometa of Flavio Favini;
6) Drake Passage-Banca Generali of Mauro Pelaschier;
7) Idrusa-Calvi of Paolo Montefusco;
8) Casino Park-Anyway True of Maurizio Bencic;
9) Ross I-Esercito of Cino Ricci;
10) Ushuaia - Devco Devco Srl of Sabatini Paolo

More photos on the following pages....