| Sea state |
| By Rolex Media . |
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Photos
By Carlo
Borlenghi for Rolex.
Edited by Peter Andrews. |
September 7, 2009. |
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| There was a twinkle in the eye of Poseidon this morning as the lord of the sea was about to prove mastery of the waves does not come easily even to the gifted. This was to be a testing day for all competitors. Not everyone was overawed, as ocean ace Torben Grael and Olympic maestro Robert Scheidt conspired to bring Luna Rossa (ITA) home first amongst the Racing Mini Maxis, although not without their moment. |
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Bowman action onboard Maestrale Holding's STP65 Luna Rossa, during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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| Jean-Charles Decaud’s J One (FRA) was the fortunate one in the Wallys, while Velsheda (GBR) and tradition got the better of modernity in the Cruising Division. The luck of the Irish was evidenced in the Racing / Cruising Mini Maxis, as Whisper (IRL) quietly went about her business. And in the combined Racing / Cruising division, Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste (HKG) quickly wrapped up a race win. |
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Jean-Charles Decaud’s J One (FRA), during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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The journey from Porto Cervo harbour to the start line was enough to set the nerves jangling this morning as a 3-metre sea and 20 to 25 knots of northeasterly wind greeted competitors. The conditions were more than manageable for Maxi yachts, but there were traps in the waves and gusts that would catch those unwary, unlucky or unprepared.
The Race Committee chose a 35 nautical mile course, that took the fleet on a beat to a windward mark, followed by a fetch to the rocks at Monaci, where the yachts bore off onto a run down into the main channel between the Maddalena Islands and mainland Sardinia. At Secca di Tre Monti, the fleet hardened up for some upwind work in flat water to the top mark of the course at Barrettinelli di Fuori. Then it was back out into the lump and bump of the open sea and a fast reach down to the finish off Porto Cervo. |
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Tarbat's J-Class, Velsheda, leading the Cruising and Spirit of Tradition class after day 1 of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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The Racing Mini Maxis got proceedings underway. Neville Crichton all but confirmed his worst fears about preparation with a distinctly second row start that saw Alfa Romeo (NZL) forced to tack off onto port straight after the gun. The division split in two with half favouring the right and half the left. The right paid.
By first mark, Crichton’s crew, with Ben Ainslie in the strategist’s role, had regained composure and position to take a slender lead over Niklas Zennström’s Rán (GBR). Luna Rossa was in third and the biggest surprise was the 60-foot Jethou getting the better of the STP65 Container (GER). It was at this point that Poseidon played his first trump card. Andres Soriano and Alegre (GBR) suffered sail damage that was considered enough to warrant the crew taking an early bath. One down. |
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Karl Kwok's IRC 79.8 Beau Geste (HKG), during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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The next three classes got away without incident making the best of the difficult conditions, but the fifth and final start was the most dramatic. Poseidon’s humour was black at this point, perhaps frustrated at the fleet’s apparent nonchalant regard for the conditions. The Polish crew on Intuition were thrown the unhittable curve ball.
Two bangs announced the Racing / Cruising Mini Maxi’s entrance into the arena and the one from the Committee boat was expected. The one from the from Intuition however, was gut wrenching as the top three metres of her mast separated leaving her mortally-wounded on the line and a sorry sight for the fast departing fleet. Two down. |
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Niklas Zennström's JV 72 Rán (GBR) at the starting line, during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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| In the Wallys, Lindsay Owen Jones and Magic Carpet had looked to be settled into the groove early holding a good lead over Open Season and the longer Y3K. It was a lead they would hold all the way to Barrettinelli when the trident of bad fortune chose to strike Owen Jones, not for the first time in the history of this event. Twice in quick succession the head sail appeared to blow out of the foil, leaving the Magic Carpet looking a little thread bare as she was forced to finish race under main alone. Not quite three down, but in the context of this race she would no longer play a serious role. |
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Thomas Bscher's Open Season, chasing Claus Peter Offen's Y3K and Lindsay Owen Jones' Magic Carpet 2, during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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On Luna Rossa, Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael were understandably happy with the way the day’s events unfolded. "It was a good day for us," commented Grael, "we had a nice start, read the course well, made some nice moves and even got to the finish line ahead, which is good for a small boat in a class like ours."
Grael admitted that it had not been straight forward describing how shortly after watching Rán suffer her moment of misfortune; when the jib tack broke tearing the sail out of the headfoil; the Luna Rossa crew took the lead and promptly lost control of the inner staysail during the hoist. Fortunately for Luna Rossa, they were reaching at this point and the issue was no more than an irritation.
Rán’s problems cost them second if not the race, according to tactician Adrian Stead. The remaining podium positions in Luna Rossa’s class were taken by Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente (USA) and Alfa Romeo. |
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Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo (NZL), during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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In the second tier group of less race-oriented Mini Maxis, the Irish yacht Whisper sailed an exemplary race to correct out seven minutes ahead of Massimillano Florio’s Grande Orazio and Massimo Violati’s OPS 5. Owner Mick Cotter was a happy man as he climbed ashore.
"we had big breeze, which helps a big heavy boat like ours. We had no problems either, which some of the other boats seemed to have," said Cotter.
For Whisper, the biggest problem of the day was which sail to put up which was echoed by tactician Andy Beadsworth. Beadsworth described that on the reach back to the finish, they were torn between sticking with the sail combination that had almost got them to the top of the course first on the water, or changing the combination knock the boat speed up a gear. In the end, conservatism won through.
"We had a few concerns about hoisting the kite. We’d been going well till that point, though we might have been better off reefed. Putting the spinnaker up might have opened us to more problems and, to be honest, we were in such a good position we didn’t need to gain anything, so we held off," concluded Beadsworth. A wise choice indeed. |
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Hap Fauth's Bella Mente and Andy Soriano's Alegre crossing tacks, during the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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For some crews the end of racing today could not come soon enough and the prospect of more of the same tomorrow will probably be unnerving a few. By contrast for Mick Cotter, tomorrow can’t come soon enough and he is hoping for another dose of today’s conditions.
"I don’t think there is a better place to sail, you are nearly always going to get a breeze and it’s warm so it does not matter if the sea comes over you," said Cotter. When Irish eyes are smiling.
Racing continues tomorrow, with the first signal scheduled for 11.30 CEST.
The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from 6 to 12 September. The prize giving on Saturday 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 more information about the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2009 including entry lists and results please visit www.yccs.it. |
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| Outimage and Rolex © 2009 |
