Gentle start

Boat International Superyacht Regatta underway in Sardinia

On Monday, the first day of the Boat International Superyacht Regatta in Porto Cervo 23 competing yachts left Porto Cervo Marina accompanied by blue skies, sunshine and a southeasterly breeze that would build to an average of 12 knots. Though the winds were not strong enough to send these giant sailing yachts hurtling 'round the courses set by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Race Committee through the golden granite islands and islets of the la Maddalena Archipelago, they certainly were challenging enough to make today’s racing technically demanding and spectacular to watch. The overall leaders of the Performance and Cruising divisions on corrected time are, respectively, New Zealander Neville Crichton aboard Alfa Romeo and Claudio de Eccher of Italy aboard Southern Star.

The Performance division, which counts the five thoroughbred racers of the fleet, started first on a course that brought the fleet from the start just off Porto Cervo through the strait between Capo Ferro and the Isola delle Bisce (Island of the Snakes) before passing between the island of Caprera and the Secca Tre Monti rock. The fleet then headed north, leaving the La Maddalena Island to starboard. After rounding the Barretinelli island, the fleet then took on a long upwind beat to reach the finish line in the Pevero Gulf for a total of approximately 30 nautical miles. Alfa Romeo took the lead from the offset, followed by Senso One - the former Mari Cha IV - and Claus-Peter Offen’s Y3K. The leaders maintained their positions throughout, although Y3K lost some time changing a torn spinnaker.

Despite the spinnaker setback, Claus-Peter Offen, owner of Y3K and president of the International Maxi Association, said he had a great day of sailing. “In total it was a wonderful race. I think we had very good speed and a good start exactly in the position we wanted. We were able very soon to extend our lead until Capo Ferro when, in the gybe there, the gennaker was ripped in a block. The whole manoeuvre of taking down and setting the new one did cost us about two minutes due to the fact that the new one did not come immediately free from the socket. After that, we found our rhythm again very quickly, and eventually we finished second behind Alfa Romeo (on corrected time). So we are very happy. "

Alfa Romeo also corrected ahead of Lindsay Owen Jones’ Magic Carpet 2, which finished third, but Senso One slipped back to the bottom of the fleet.

				IRC	Finish	Elapsed	Corrected	R1
1	ALFA ROMEO	NZL80	McConac	1.833	14:58:15	02:53:15	05:17:34	1
	Neville Crichton
2	Y3K	GER5800	Wally 1	1.633	15:21:43	03:16:43	05:21:14	2
	Claus-Peter Offen
3	MAGIC CARPET 2	GBR94R	Wally	1.599	15:26:20	03:21:20	05:21:56	3
	Lindsay Owen Jones
4	HIGHLAND FLING X	888	Wally	1.473	15:44:35	03:39:35	05:23:27	4
	Irvine Laidlaw
5	SENSO ONE	MLT55	Custom	1.85	15:08:48	03:03:48	05:40:02	5
	Yacht Avenue Limited

Each of the yachts in the Cruising Division had a separate start based on their IRC rating, and the Race Committee set a 17-mile course, which shared the same final beat as the Performance division and generated the stunning spectacle of the “formula one” yachts racing alongside cruisers such as the beautifully restored 1920s gaff cutter Lulworth. The 78-foot Southern Star was fastest around the course in this group followed by Salperton with Ed Dubois at the helm. On corrected time Southern Star led Acaia Cube, with Marco Pecorella at the helm, and Charles Dunstone’s Hamilton II.

Stronger southeasterly winds of approximately 15 to 17 knots are forecast for Tuesday along with more sunshine and blue skies. Racing is scheduled to start at 12 noon.

		Sail	Type	IRC	Elapsed	Corrected
1	SOUTHERN STAR	14925	SW 78	1.395	0: 2:14:27	0: 3: 7:33
	Claudio de Eccher/t.b.n.
2	ACAIA CUBE	ITA 14408	SW 80	1.396	0: 2:17:58	0: 3:12:36
	Pegaso Srl/Marco Pecorella
3	HAMILTON II	GBR 117 L	Sloop	1.533	0: 2: 7: 1	0: 3:14:43
	Lockstock Ltd/Charles Dunestone
4	SALPERTON	0	Dubois	1.513	0: 2: 9: 5	0: 3:15:18
	Primero Maritime/Ed Dubois
5	FADO	POR 7777	SW 100	1.472	0: 2:13:47	0: 3:16:56
	Antonio Figuereido/t.b.n.
6	GLISS	SUI 381	RHS Sloop	1.443	0: 2:18:14	0: 3:19:28
	Marco Vogele/Marco Vogele
7	RAPTURE	1005	SW 100	1.488	0: 2:14:14	0: 3:19:44
	Brook Lenfest/Jef Hanlon
8	FAREWELL	ITA 1564	SW 100	1.453	0: 2:20:57	0: 3:24:48
	Golden Sail Yacht Srl/Alessandro M. Rinaldi
9	KOKOMO	0	Alloy Yachts	1.586	0: 2:14:27	0: 3:33:14
	Lang Walker/Lang Walker
10	MARGARET ANN	GBR 96 R	Dubois 95	1.357	0: 2:43:17	0: 3:41:35
	Tony De Mulder/Tony De Mulder
11	PINK GIN	0	Baltic Cust. 52	1.724	0: 2:10:27	0: 3:44:54
	Pink Gin Ltd/Hans-Walter Kroger
12	BORKUMRIFF IV	0	Huisan Sch.	1.353	0: 2:52:55	0: 3:53:57
	Cap Corse/Marco Pecorella
13	LULWORTH	2	Gaff Cutter	1.387	0: 3: 1:13	0: 4:11:21
	Johan J.M. van den Bruele
14	OHANA	0	Perini 43M	1.328	0: 3:26:36	0: 4:34:22
	GEF/Mattia Dzaja
15	HERITAGE M	0	Perini Cutter	1.203	0: 3:50:48	0: 4:37:39
	Teneboat Srl/Fabrizio Capitanucci
16	HERITAGE	0	Perini 45M	1.352	0: 3:28:15	0: 4:41:33
	Almirantado/Luciano Biggi

For full details, entry lists, results and images see http://www.yccs.it

More pictures on the following pages...