Unlike Broughton, Atalanta II skipper Carlo Puri Negri has done the Giraglia Race numerous times. Having found himself drifting out in the Mediterranean on many of those occasions, he is more sceptical about the forecast.

"They are predicting a strong wind from the south-west, what we call the Libecco. But we Italians are very superstitious. There's nothing certain about Giraglia. A lot of time you get to within two hours of Genoa, and then you stop. But whatever the weather I am looking forward to it. It's always good to see so many boats together, it's very nice to see."

The fleet bobbed around on a windless Gulf of St Tropez for two hours until the race committee was satisfied the wind had settled down enough for a fair start.

The big boats came off the line at 2pm in 5 knots of wind, although as they made their way to the first Rolex mark about 1.5 miles from the start, the breeze dropped away again to almost zero.

Alfa Romeo ghosted her way to the windward mark in first place. The crew sneaked the Code Zero headsail up to the top of the mast and when it set, the 100-footer accelerated like a greyhound, sailing at almost twice windspeed as the breeze returned. However, no sooner had they hoisted but the increase in pressure with a windshift forced them to lower the sail again as Crichton bore away to maintain control. A lot of effort for not much reward. Still, it was all slickly done and Alfa Romeo sailed serenely away from the fleet, most of whom were still drifting in less wind back in the Gulf.

Second around the Rolex buoy was Igor Simcic's Open 60 Esimit Europa, closely followed by Maxis Atalanta II and Edimetra VI.

Gilles Argellies's Brenta 55 Imagine, had just rounded the second turning mark, little more than 2 miles from the start, when the mainsail tumbled down the mast track, most likely due to a broken halyard. It was unclear how long it would take the German team to repair the problem and rehoist the mainsail as they made painfully slow upwind progress under jib.

Once out of the Gulf of St Tropez, the breeze increased to 10 knots, with the fleet tacking their way to the Porquerolles Islands before they turn to set spinnakers toward the Giraglia Rock off Corsica.

Last night, more than 2,000 guest were treated to a spectacular dinner, fireworks and entertainment at La Citadelle, the ancient battlements which look over the town of St Tropez. The winners of the inshore racing from the previous three days received their Rolex timepieces.

There was a surprise winner of ORC Group A, when Carlo Puri Negri went up to receive his prize for Atalanta II's victory in the division. A number of boats had pointed out an error in the calculation of the length of race 2 on Monday.

When the correct distance was factored into the handicap system, Atalanta II was one of the beneficiaries, and the points change elevated her to first overall, displacing Andromeda from the top of the rankings.

This is the 56th edition of the Giraglia Race, a 243-mile marathon starting from St Tropez via the Giraglia Rock at the northern tip of Corsica to the finish in the Italian port of Genoa.