The last day of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Boat International Media in Porto Cervo, brought lights winds and several surprises for the 19 superyachts competing in the event. Overall winners of the seventh edition of the regatta were the Dutch yacht Firefly (Division A), the 34-metre Unfurled (Division B) and Italy's Grande Orazio (Division C), flying the YCCS burgee. After a long and patient wait on the starting line for the easterly breeze to fill in, the YCCS Race Committee was able to sound the first signal for Race 4 at 2 p.m. Accompanied by 6/7 knots, the superyachts headed north to round Monaci Island before racing back towards the coast of Sardinia, through the channel at Capo Ferro and on to the finish line off Porto Cervo.
Firefly could not have been beaten in Division A heading into today's race, but a fourth and final bullet left her with a perfect record of victories. With a fourth place today Magic Carpet 3, with Jochen Schuemann calling tactics, was able to hold on to second place overall ahead of the 33-metre sloop Inoui who made her entry into the top three thanks to her performance in today's final race.
The Royal Huisman sloop Unfurled claimed her second consecutive win today to seize victory from Moonbird, the Dubois yacht steered by double Olympic gold-medal winner Shirley Robertson which had held the top spot in Division B all week. Third place went to Cape Arrow with Peter Holmberg on tactics.
In Division C the newly-launched Gande Orazio made a superb debut in her first ever regatta performance: with three bullets in four races held she also claimed the Southern Wind Trophy for the top-placed yacht from the South African yard. The 80 foot Selene, built by Nautor's Swan, managed to hold on to second place overall while a victory today brought Pier Luigi Loro Piana's My Song up to third place overall.
Owners and crews assembled for the prize giving in Piazza Azzurra this evening with the promise of seeing each other again for the Loro Piana Caribbean Superyacht Regatta and Rendezvous in Virgin Gorda in 2015 (11-14 March).
'My thanks go to the Race Committee, who were able to set excellent courses for all of the conditions we had this week. It was all we could have asked for: our beautiful race course and the stunning fleet were complemented by fantastic conditions and a little bit of everything from strong Mistral winds to light easterly breezes - we had it all and we got fantastic races in every day!' commented YCCS Commodore Riccardo Bonadeo at the conclusion of the event.
Pier Luigi Loro Piana, speaking on behalf of the title sponsor, was equally happy: 'The level of sailing and the level of the boats was really high this year. We had a great week, good winds, sunshine, we couldn't have asked for more. I'm particularly happy to have seen several new boats racing this year and I hope to see them again both at the Caribbean edition and here in Porto Cervo next year.'
As the superyachts leave Porto Cervo Marina they will make way for a fleet of TP52 yachts lining up in front of the YCCS in preparation for the Audi TP52 World Championship, taking place from Monday ninth to Saturday 14th June 2014.
YCCS website Event website
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