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Maxi Yacht
Rolex Cup 2008 Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy September 1 - 6, 2008. |
Photos By Kurt Arrigo and Daniel Forster for Rolex.
Edited by Peter Andrews.
Edited by Peter Andrews.
September
5, 2008.
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Day four of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup started late
but it didn’t come up short on excitement or entertainment,
especially in the Cruising Division. Today was another day for the holiday-makers
in this vacation paradise to witness the impressive array of
the big, the beautiful and the fast in the sailing world.
The highest point on Mortoriotto is 77 metres, dwarfing the rigs of the biggest yachts here. But as the island slopes quickly southwest, the majority of its mass is no match for the mast of a super-maxi. Hamilton II boasts a 42.5 metre mast, Velsheda's is 56 metres and Salperton's is a staggering 60m. Those enjoying an afternoon's swim in the emerald clear waters of the sculpted coves could just wonder in awe, as the towering rigs glided by on the far side of the rocky outcrop. Principal Race Officer Peter Craig and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Race Committee faced an awkward moment, as ten minutes ahead of the scheduled start time the wind swung wildly right and dropped about 5 knots. It is credit to the team's swift work that they got the four starts off without delay, despite the need to adjust the pin more than once. |
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The Wallys and Mini Maxis sailed a 27 nautical
mile course upwind to Mortoriotto. This was followed by a long
run to Monaci, then a fetch to Secca Tre Monti before a beat through
Bomb Alley. These fleets then sailed past Capo Ferro, then up to
the mark in Golfo Pevero before reaching the finish line off the
entrance to Porto Cervo.
The Cruising Division went somewhere different, using the islands of Mortorio and Soffi as its upwind turning mark, before rounding the rocks of Mortoriotto and running back to the finish off Porto Cervo; with the now familiar hitch into Golfo Pevero - a 21 nm course. Despite unpromising winds at the start, the breeze built quickly peaking up into the high teens. Happy boats today were Rambler in Racing Division, Highland Fling in the Wally Division, Ranger in Cruising and Numbers in the Mini Maxi. In the Racing Division, the 90-foot Rambler (USA) and her uber-maxi competition, the 100-foot Alfa Romeo (NZL), were given a day off their usual whistle-stop tour of the islands and undertook a windward / leeward course of six legs totalling 17.3 miles. The start was not straightforward with both yachts over early and George David's Rambler not realizing until she was some way down the track. |
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Neville Crichton's Alfa meanwhile stole a march
by going back quickly and it looked game over at this point. But
it wouldn't be yacht racing if it were that simple. Halfway up
the third beat, Alfa appeared to encounter real problems with her
rig and Rambler was able to close right up to finish only three
minutes behind on the water and 10 minutes ahead on handicap.
While honours is wholly even in this Division with both having posted two firsts and two seconds, tomorrow is 'Super Saturday' with everything to play for despite a discard coming into the equation. All week the Mini Maxis have been having a tussle on the line. Hardly surprising with eighteen yachts of 60 feet and over, all charged up and raring to go. As the class approached the start line today, it was clear that a bunch towards the middle was going to find it difficult to avoid being course side when the gun went. The key question for the onlookers was whether this group comprised also-rans or favourites. |
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As the sail numbers were called out by the Race
Committee, the stomachs on Rosebud / Team
DYT (USA) must have felt
the proverbial lump forming as the crew realized they were the
only front-runner in the class to be caught. By the time Roger
Sturgeon's crew had cleared the penalty it looked game over here
too. But you don't win the Rolex
Sydney Hobart by giving up at
the first difficult hurdle.
Rosebud took the initiative, stormed the first leg and got herself back into the race. In the end it was too much to make total amends and although she finished fifth on the water less than eight minutes behind Numbers (USA), she was fifth on handicap. Numbers cruised to victory one minute ahead of the Torben Grael-led Alfa Romeo 3 (NZL), having forced the pace in the race from start to finish. Irrespective of whether past performance is any indicator, she looks to have an unassailable lead in the Mini Maxi Division. |
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With a discard
coming into play today with five races now completed, the Ernesto
Bertarelli-chartered master-blaster has a total points score
of four, compared to Rosebud's nine. With her worst score a second,
Numbers cannot be beaten even if she self-destructs before the
start. Not bad, given she started the week by nudging the rocks. In the Wally Division, the 143-foot Esense came of age and took her first line honours of the week, beating Claus Peter Offen's Y3K (GER) home by six minutes. Esense clearly enjoyed the long course legs on offer today. Minimum of manoeuvres, maximum straight-line speed - easy. Irvine Laidlaw and Highland Fling X (GBR) posted an excellent first place and Lindsay Owen-Jones' Magic Carpet 2 (GBR) which finished 10 seconds adrift of Y3K, took second on handicap. |
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With owner Jean-Charles
Decaux unable to take the helm today, J
One incurred a 2 percent time
penalty, plus one place under the class rules, which saw them
finish a painful sixth on handicap. As a result, it could not
be tighter at the top of this division, with the top four boats
separated by two points. Trying to work out the discard permutations
is a job for a mathematician. The Cruising Division chose today to put on a great performance. The course looked pretty tame to start with, but held plenty of opportunities for those tacticians in tune with the variations in wind direction and strength present today; not to mention the depth of water available around the rocks. Viriella put on her best show of the week to lead the fleet around the course from start to finish; despite the best efforts of Charles Dunstone's Hamilton II (GBR) which came in second on the water. Once again the two J Class sloops did their best to steal the show finishing one - two on handicap after a ferocious scrap in the final phases. They finished 21 seconds apart on the water, with Ranger squeezing past just before the turn into Golfo Pevero. Gerry Dykstra, yacht designer and the man charged with the restoration of Velsheda, was elated coming off the water. "Our start was okay, but we were not helped by a wind shift afterwards, that made the start look different than it really was. After that, things became more lively and I think we raised the shares of the J boats quite a bit today!" |
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Having been
behind Ranger for much of the race, Velsheda (GBR) took advantage
of an uncharacteristic error on Ranger to slip past at Soffi.
Hamilton II hailed water at Ranger fearful of an unscheduled
rendezvous with submerged rocks. Ranger had to overstand the
turn and Velsheda managed to squeeze in. Ranger came back at
Velsheda and the two fought tooth and nail to the finish. Although Viriella ended up fourth on handicap, helmsman Gigio Russo thoroughly enjoyed the day after a difficult start. "We took the start on the wrong end of the line, but we saw some boats up the course that got a quite an intense right hand shift. We tacked and crossed the fleet between the leaders and the losers and we got the shift. We managed to round the first mark ahead of Ranger and then we stretched away.” “We made the right call to round the island of Soffi without using the gennaker for a little bit and that paid off because although we lost some distance to the guys following us, we managed to get around the island under control with just the main and jib." |
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The overall
standings in the Division see Ranger on top, with just 4 points
and discarding a 1 tomorrow. Hetairos (CAY IS) is in second on
15 and Velsheda in third on 19. On a happily upbeat note, reports from the crew of Andres Soriano's Alegre advise that crewmember Led Pritchard is expected to make a full-recovery from his traumatic lower right-leg fracture, suffered during yesterday's racing. The crew are indebted to all those who helped in the transfer of Pritchard from the boat to Olbia Hospital and would like to express their appreciation. It is anticipated that Pritchard will spend a few more days in hospital in Sardinia before returning home to continue his recovery. The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from September 1st to September 7th. Racing finishes tomorrow, Saturday and the prize giving tomorrow evening will be the culmination of an intense week of big boat racing. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to the most advanced monohulls afloat today, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is nothing if not an astonishing line up of sailing power. For further information on the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and the entire YCCS sporting season please visit www.yccsmaxi.com. |
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Outimage
and Rolex © 2008 |
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For more information
about the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2008, including the entry list and
results, please visit: |
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