Round two

Racing resumes at the Primo Cup–Trophée Credit Suisse

The Primo Cup–Trophée Credit Suisse provided variable conditions throughout the three days, proving difficult for some, while others appeared to make light of the elements to produce convincing victories.

A total of eight races, of which seven counted, were sailed for the one-designs competing in the first weekend - Star, Dragon, Surprise and J/24 - and seven races, of which six counted, were held for the two IRC classes.

Unstoppable with five race wins, the Swiss Team Vision Future skippered by Jean-Jacques Chabard dominated in the IRC 1&2 class, ahead of Frenchman Olivier Maubert on Esparlica 3 and Monaco resident Roberto Tamburelli on Forrest Gump III.

The Swiss had an excellent regatta, with a double 1-2, not only in the Surprise class with Nicolas Groux's Signaterre beating his compatriot Michel Glaus on Teo Jacob, but also Lorenz Zimmermann on Squalo Bianco VII pipping Christoph Gautschi's Fram to the post in the Star class with Andrea Orlando's Acciuga Jr third.

In the other classes, Russian Anatoli Loginov on Strange Little Girl, came out on top in the Dragons, ahead of Michael Kurtz on Activists; while Frenchman Adrien Follin on Give Me Five won IRC 3&4, and in the J/24 Greece's Dimitrios Altisiadis on Evniki won ahead of four-time European champion Jan Southworth's Il Riccio and Ian Ilsley on St Andrews Securities, runner-up at the European Championship. Also competing in this class were two teams from the Manhattan Yacht Club here to take on the best European sailors, with their Commodore Michael Fortenbaugh, who sailed with Mathieu and Nicolas Bouchet, two young sailors of the YCM’s Sports Division, who compete in 470s and Lasers.

The first three in each series were presented with the Trophée Credit Suisse and SLAM Advanced Technology Sportswear by CEO of Credit Suisse Monaco, Alain Ucari, and Italian actor Ezio Greggio, surrounded by members of the Yacht Club de Monaco’s steering committee.

IRC 1&2 (11 boats from six nations): From the first day Jean-Jacques Chaubard’s Team Vision Future proved a formidable opponent. With five wins out of seven races. The orange and black GP 42 claimed the first step of the podium from the start and never relinquished it. Esparlica 3 finished second with two wins tied on 14 points with Forrest Gump III.

IRC 3&4 (13 boats from three nations): Adrien Follin’s Sainte-Maxime team on Give Me Five can congratulate themselves on keeping their first place in this class, despite there beein strong competition from the outset from five other teams that could have toppled them. Jean-Claude Bertrand on Tchin Tchin snatched second place from No Limit helmed by Marc Pajot who surrounded by his daughters was hoping to string together a third consecutive victory in the Primo Cup–Trophée Credit Suisse.

J/24 (21 boats from eight nations): With boats from England, Greece, Monaco, Germany, Sweden, Italy, USA and Holland, the GBR crew on Il Riccio lost out to the consistent Greeks on Evniki helmed by Dimitrios Altisiadis after a tightly fought contest. “We are very happy to be here. This is our second time at the Primo Cup and it really is our favourite regatta,” commented the Greek skipper. After some technical problems (broken spinnaker pole) on the first day Ian Ilsley, supported by François Brenac, on St Andrews Securities completed the podium, climbing back to be just 11 points adrift of the top.

Surprise (19 boats from four nations): In the Primo Cup’s most loyal series, Italian Andrea Vailati on Twins managed a good third place behind the victorious Swiss duo. Michel Glaus took second behind Nicolas Groux on Signaterre, who never finished lower than fifth and won three races.

Star (10 boats from four nations): The Star series always attracts a high level fleet, the results usually going to the wire. While none of the teams on the podium managed more than one race win, it was Switzerland's Lorenz Zimmerman on Squalo Bianco VII who snatched victory from regatta regular Christoph Gautschi on Fram and young Monaco sailor Andréa Orlando, who learned his skills with the YCM Sports Section.

Dragon (8 boats from six nations): Less than two points separated first from third after a fierce contest over all eight races. In the end, one of the favourites in this series, the Russian Anatoli Loginov on Anapurnna clinched it by 1 point ahead of Michael Kurtz on Activists and by 2 points from compatriot Dmitry Samokhin on Strange Little Girl. It’s highly likely these three will be on the podium at the next Dragon European Championship.

Next Friday it will be the turn of the SB20, Smeralda 888, J/70, Melges 20, Platu 25 and Longtze Premiers to race at the Primo Cup–Trophée Credit Suisse.

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