Ben Ainslie heads for Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

by Event media on 2 Sep 2008
The 19th Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda gets underway Tuesday with an entry list of 40 yachts representing a broad spectrum of maxi scene. The who's who of yachting is headed by three-time Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, fresh from his exploits in China who will be offering some strategic tips to Neville Crichton on the 98-foot Alfa.

Once again the canting keeled, carbon-fibre, super-maxi Alfa Romeo will brush shoulders with the polished brass and bright work of Ranger and Velsheda, from the J Class era.

Whilst the 144-foot Salperton and 143-foot Esense will be casting long shadows over the relative minnows in the 60-79 foot Mini-Maxi Division that includes a whole host of pedigree performers. And, it is not just the yachts themselves that are catching the eye. The crew rosters for this festival of big boat competition boast some of the most famous names in sailing today.

As well as Ainslie, another multi gold medallist is Torben Grael, skipper of the 69-foot Alfa Romeo 3, who has his longer-term sights set on another Holy Grail of sailing - the Volvo Ocean Race. Grael's here to sharpen up his team's inshore racing skills ahead of the first in port race in Alicante in October.

Mentioning Around the World Racing takes us neatly to Paul Cayard, part of the burgeoning brains trust on the back of the STP 65 Moneypenny. Cayard is also a former Games competitor, but is best known for his efforts in the America's Cup and as a winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1997.

Many of Cayard's AC friends and foes are here too. Ernesto Bertarelli, founder of the Alinghi syndicate and current holder of the Cup has chartered Dan Meyer's Numbers in the Mini Maxi Division and is racing with three-time AC winning uber-tactician Brad Butterworth, incidentally another Whitbread Race winner (this time from 1990, with Peter Blake and the then mighty Steinlager II).

The Racing Division may be small on numbers, but it is not small on yacht pedigree or crew credentials. Alfa Romeo will be expected to take on a showboating role by leading the fleet around the course each day. She is one of the leading exponents of the monohull arms race on the water today. She recently captured the course record in the Giraglia Rolex Cup, formerly held by Crichton's prior steed now named Rambler and owned by George David.

Rambler is no slouch either. Despite being arguably last-year's model with her fixed keel, she has proved twice in the past twelve months that cometh the conditions cometh the boat, ripping-up the previous Rolex Middle Sea Race record by some 16 hours and the Rolex Buenos Airies Offshore Race record by 9 hours.

Whatever the week holds in weather terms, we are in for another spectacular contest between some of the finest yachts afloat and some of the finest sailors of their and, possibly any, generation.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from 1 to 7 September. Racing commences Tuesday and with racing scheduled for each following day, 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.