Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup - All set for Porto Cervo action

by Jill Campbell on 3 Sep 2012 The 23rd edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is set to get underway tomorrow and anticipation is building in Porto Cervo as the owners, crews, technicians and officers participating complete final preparations. A fleet of 34 maxi yachts have travelled to northern Sardinia from across Europe and from Russia and the USA, to compete in five days of racing in and around the islands of the La Maddalena archipelago.

The event, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) in collaboration with the International Maxi Association (IMA), which includes the third edition of the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship, is taking place from second to 8th September.
 
The twelve yachts competing in the Mini Maxi division for the title of World Champion include 2012 launches such as Hap Fauth's Bella Mente and Alessandro Rombelli's Stig, both designed by the Judel/Vrolijk team. Niklas Zennstrom's Rán, winner of the previous two editions of the Mini Maxi Rolex Worlds is on site to defend his title against the new racers and against seasoned campaigners such as Sir Peter Ogden with his Jethou, winner of the Rolex Volcano Race earlier this year.

The division boasts some top-class professional tacticians looking to make the difference in the windward-leeward and coastal races facing the Mini Maxi fleet such as Adrian Stead on Rán, Tommaso Chieffi on the Russian Swan 60 Bronenosec and Lorenzo Bressani on Stig. The remaining 25 Maxis have been divided into Racing, Racing/Cruising, Supermaxi and Wally divisions.
 
The Racing division includes speed machines and top sailors such as Esimit Europa 2 with three-time Olympic gold medal winner and America's Cup veteran Jochen Schümann calling tactics as well as Irvine Laidlaw's 25-metre Highland Fling with America's Cup winning helmsman Peter Holmberg in the role of tactician.
 
In the Racing/Cruising division Brian Benjamin's Aegir will be looking to improve on last year's second place finish while Dieter Schoen's 30.5-metre Chrisco is making her regatta debut in the five-strong division.
 
The Supermaxi division (for yachts of 30.5 metres LOA and upwards) encompasses the goliaths of the sailing world and includes the 66 metre modern classic ketch Hetairos, launched in 2011 and competing for the first time at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, and the 45 metre Saudade. Last year's division winner, the 34-metre Nilaya, is also competing and will be relying on the tactical abilities of Volvo Ocean Race veteran Bouwe Bekking to help bring home another victory.
 
Among the eight-boat Wally division, former winners Jean Charles Decaux with his J One and Lindsay Owen Jones with his Magic Carpet2 will be ones to watch while another regular competitor at the Maxi event, Charles Dunstone, will be seeking to conquest the top spot with his newly-launched Wally 100 Hamilton.
 
Racing is scheduled to start at 11.30 a.m. CET tomorrow, Monday 3rd September. South-easterly breezes of approximately 10 knots are predicted for the afternoon. Yacht Club Costa Smeralda website