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Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010
by Studio Borlenghi. |
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Recent
yachting
and boating events covered by Outimage Publications |
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| Rolex Capri
Sailing Week 2010 |
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Louis Vuitton
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La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy.
May 22 -June 6, 2010. |
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| Louis Vuitton Trophy |
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| Photos by
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| RORC Caribbean
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by Carlo Borlenghi
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XXVI Primo
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| Alinghi, defender
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China Cup 2009
by Carlo Borlenghi. |
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| Rolex Middle Sea Race 2009. |
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| Maxi Yacht
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to Gold Coast Yacht Race 2009. |
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Audi Winter
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Sydney Harbour 2009. |
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RORC Caribbean
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Antigua
February 23-25, 2009.
by
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Volvo Ocean
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2008-2009. |
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XXV Primo Cup
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Montecarlo, Feb 5-15, 2009.
Photographs by
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Louis Vuitton
Pacific Series
Auckland New Zealand,
Jan 24 - Feb 14, 2009.
Photographs by
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| Shockwave for Shockwave. |
| By the Giraglia
Rolex Cup Media Team. |
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Photos by Kurt
Arrigo for Rolex.
Page edited By Peter Andrews. |
| June 18, 2010. |
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| In previous
editions, Neville Crichton from New Zealand has committed
his best efforts to winning line honours and breaking the
course record. At this year’s Giraglia Rolex Cup, Crichton
made it clear that his intentions were the overall win in
the distance race. That he achieved this aim at his first
true attempt and so convincingly has impressed even this
serial collector of race trophies. |
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Neville Crichton's 72-foot Mini Maxi Shockwave, during the
Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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The 72-foot Shockwave (NZL)
finished the 241 nautical mile race in second place on the
water, just over an hour after Esimit Europa 2.
This was impressive enough. More significantly though,
Crichton’s Reichel-Pugh designed Mini Maxi beat Udo
Schutz’s STP 65 Container (GER) by 42 minutes
on handicap to claim the top prize.
Crichton’s assessment of his team’s mission
ahead of the start of the distance race was prescient.
"We’ve always got line honours in the past, I don’t
think we’ll be so successful this time. There’s no
way we can beat the 100-footer over the line. Shockwave is
totally handicap oriented and I think we’ve got a good
crack at the handicap win, and, a good crack at coming second," said
Crichton. |
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Neville Crichton's 72-foot Mini Maxi Shockwave, during the
Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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One crack later
and the biggest ripples on the water were plainly from Shockwave.
"I’m ecstatic. We set out to win on handicap and to
do so is just great. When I left San Remo this morning I had
no idea we might win. We drove the hell out of the boat on the
way to the rock, consistently doing 22 knots. We had the bow
under the water a lot of the time and it was uncomfortable, but
we were keeping up with the 100-footer most of the way across
which was impressive. About 30 miles short of the rock, the 100-footer
started to pull away. We slowed up and I thought that was that." |
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Neville Crichton's 72-foot Mini Maxi Shockwave, during the
Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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Plainly, it
was not. Shockwave’s race of mixed fortunes
ended at 12:15 yesterday (Thursday). At the start on Wednesday,
Crichton’s crew with three-time Volvo Ocean Race winner
Stuart Bannatyne in the tactician’s role, had been
quick off the start. Not as quick as the nimble footed Jethou (GBR),
which reached the initial windward mark in first place by
a hair’s breadth.
Jethou’s glory was short-lived with the
New Zealanders’ passing her before La Moutte, the
turning mark at the mouth of the Bay of Saint-Tropez. Shockwave in
turn was overtaken by the fastest boat in the fleet, Esimit (formerly
Crichton’s Alfa Romeo II), as the fleet
headed to La Fourmigue, the final mark before the turn
to the Giraglia. |
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Peter Ogden's Mini Maxi Jethou, during the Giraglia Rolex
Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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The leg from
La Fourmigue to the mythical rock was a drag race for the
bigger yachts. Benefiting from the 20-knot breeze from the
southwest, the frontrunners barrelled down the track in frankly,
awesome conditions.
Igor Simcic, owner of Esimit, was in raptures
at the finish; not just about securing line honours, but
particularly about this early segment of the race.
"We were really flying to the Giraglia, at times making
27 knots. That is really special. With this boat it is really
something fantastic. It is difficult to describe the sensation;
the boat is flying. All the time I was thinking this is incredible,
just incredible." |
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Igor Simcic's Esimit Europa 2, during the Giraglia Rolex
Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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As with all
drag races the parachute eventually had to be deployed and
the brakes applied. Just before sunset and shy of the Giraglia,
the wind dropped and the fleet slowed dramatically. From
then on the race became a struggle for everyone, as the pressure
went up and down. Miguel Bonet, the skipper of the Farr 52 Plis-Play,
highlighted the difficulties.
"Initially we had good wind on the way the rock, but eventually
it took us 15 to 16 hours to get there at 8 in the morning. Then
the wind was really down and we were stopped for three or four
hours until the wind came up again. Even at the finish, the wind
was very fine and difficult." |
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Escuela Mediteranea de Vela's Farr 52 Plis-Play, during
the Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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When the Swan
90 Solleone rounded the rock at 07:30, she had been
fortunate and encountered solid breeze and set off on a fast
fetch towards San Remo. Like those on the yachts nearest
to her, the crew assumed that the frontrunners were experiencing
the same and must have been about to finish, close to the
course record.
This assumption was unfounded. The Ligurian Sea between
the Giraglia and San Remo was not in the friendliest of
moods. What it had given on the first day it well and truly
took away on the second. |
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Ferragamo and Freccia Blu's Swan 90 Solleone, during the
Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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Where the first
day was beautiful the second day was ugly. It took considerable
patience and determined perseverance to stay the course;
as evidenced by the number of retirees, fed up with the trickeries
and twisted imagination of the Giraglia wind gods that did
their best to frustrate the crews.
Those that finished the race knew they had been set and
had completed a Herculean task, a mind game that could
test even the most professional crews. |
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Giraglia Rock Lighthouse, during the Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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On Esimit the
primary concern in the mind of Favini, who has participated
in several Giraglia Rolex Cups before, was that every time
the blue flyer parked up, the breeze would fill from behind
and favour the slower boats.
"When you stop normally, the fleet catches up. It is very
easy to get caught, but you know that the others probably have
had the same problem. They [Shockwave] definitely gained
on us since they finished so close, I think we may have had more
light air than them."
Whether his assessment was correct or not, what applied
to Esimit almost certainly applied to Shockwave and
so on through the fleet. No one had a straightforward ride
from the rock, physically or mentally. |
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Giraglia Rock, during the Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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Prior to the
start, Bannatyne had hedged his bets after describing the
perfect scenario being played out on the weather models,
all of which were happily predicting good winds for much
of the race.
"It all sounds very nice and simple, but whether it turns
out that way we’ll just have to wait and see," said
the man who has done it and seen it all before.
It was not simple at all. Crichton confessed that the worst
moment of the race for Shockwave had been halfway
between the rock and the finish.
"We parked for 3 to 3 and a half hours midway across. I
thought that would damage us a lot. We had opened a big lead
on Container after rounding the rock, but watched her
pull up on us. We then parked up again just off the coast at
San Remo and could see Esimit just ahead, but for the
park ups. We might have finished closer to her than we did." |
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Neville Crichton's 72-foot Mini Maxi Shockwave, during the
Giraglia Rolex Cup 2010.
Photo © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo.
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For Crichton
though, the twists and turns of the race are long forgotten.
Understandably, he is beyond worrying about what might have
been; his delight is manifest, so much so that he has changed
his travel plans to attend the prize giving tomorrow. There
is only ever one overall winner and this year it is he and
his crew that is taking home the main prize.
The prize giving for 2010 Giraglia Rolex Cup will be held
at 13:00 CEST on Saturday, the 19th of June at the Yacht
Club San Remo.
Further information on the Giraglia Rolex Cup may be found
at www.giragliarolexcup.com. |
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| Outimage and
Rolex © 2010 |
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