Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup - Day 3 - Two bullet day for Momo in Porto Cervo

by James Boyd on 7 Sep 2017 As Bryon Ehrhart, owner of Lucky, put it: “Today was great sailing - Chamber of Commerce stuff!” After difficult conditions for some of the seven classes at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup yesterday, there was solid breeze for day three of racing. Winds ranging from 10-20+ knots enabled the Maxi 72s and Wallys successfully to sail two windward-leewards, while the remaining five Maxi classes completed a coastal course, clockwise around Caprera and La Maddalena, with the wind piping up to the mid-20s.

Held for the world’s largest racing yachts, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is jointly organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, this year celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the International Maxi Association, the body sanctioned by World Sailing to represent the Maxi classes.

In the Maxi 72s, Momo was today’s big winner claiming both races - the first by 2:51 under IRC corrected time from Dario Ferrari's Cannonball, the second by 1:12 from George Sakellaris' Proteus.

“We had two good starts and everything went well,” said Momo’s owner, Dieter Schön. “It was a good day for us. It is always the same - you have small shifts, the wind always on the left and you have to control the others. The competition is great.”

Momo’s strategist, Murray Jones, who, following Bermuda, is now the most capped America’s Cup-winner of all time, acknowledged: “We had two good starts, especially the first one when we were really fast off the line. We had good boat speed upwind and downwind, but a couple of layline calls downwind weren’t great. It wasn’t that straightforward.”

Momo now leads the Maxi 72 class overall.

Conditions favoured the bigger boats in the Wally class. Open Season of International Maxi Association President Thomas Bscher, claimed the first race and was on a similar path in the second until she infringed the Wallycento Galateia in a top mark port-starboard incident. Open Season had to carry out a penalty turn which for a 107footer is a major undertaking. “That dropped us from first or second to 10th, second last,” observed tactician, Jochen Schümann. Galateia won, but under IRC corrected time Nahita was second by just five seconds and Philippe Ligiers Ryokan 2 third a further two seconds back.

In the first race, Open Season pulled off a similar start to Momo, thundering across the line close to the committee boat and, despite a close leeward gate rounding with Galateia, was able to power away and win comfortably.

In the Super Maxis it was the turn of Kim Schindelhauer’s WinWin to live up to her name, moving her up to third overall behind Salvatore Trifiro's new Ribelle and Filip Balcaen's Baltic 112, Nilaya. “It was a lot of fun,” said WinWin’s tactician, former America’s Cup skipper, Mark Sadler. “There was nice consistent pressure all the way around - up to 18-20 knots. The top four boats are really close.” WinWin managed to get ahead through a clean start and getting in the groove on the fetch north of La Maddalena, her 80 tonnes at one point hitting 18 knots.

Among the Maxis it was again a one, two for George David’s Rambler 88 and Sir Irvine Laidlaw’s Highland Fling XI. They are tied on five points overall.

For a second day running it was the brand new Southern Wind 96, Sorceress, of Canadian Will Apold that claimed third. Apold has sailed his previous boats here, but this is Sorceress’ first Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. “It’s super - lots of great activities, a great yacht club and beautiful surroundings, a beautiful place to sail,” says Apold of the Costa Smeralda. Sorceress, he says, is designed 95% for cruising, 5% for racing. “The deck is from me. Down below is by my wife...”

Of the competition with Rambler 88 and Highland Fling XI, Sorceress' tactician Laurent Pagès observed: “Upwind we match them both pretty well, but they have the edge when you crack sheets.” They are also grand prix boats that have been campaigned for years.

In the Mini Maxi Racing class, Sir Peter Ogden’s Judel Vrolijk 72 Jethou claimed her third bullet of the series, leaving American Bryon Ehrhart’s Reichel Pugh 63 Lucky to take second. The 2015 winner of The Transatlantic Race enjoyed today’s conditions: “When you have this kind of breeze, the boat livens up and the crew is fully into it. It is hard to catch Jethou: She is a quick boat and is very well sailed.” Unlike Jethou, Lucky also has mixed pro and amateur crew, many New York Yacht Club members.

In the ultra-competitive Mini Maxi Racer Cruiser 1 class, Roberto Lacorte's Vismara 62 SuperNikka claimed today's race by 23 seconds from yesterday's winner, Benoît de Froidmont's Wally 60 Wallyño and now leads overall by a mere point.

In a rerun of yesterday's race, in Mini Maxi Racer Cruiser 2, Riccardo de Michele's Vallicelli 80 H2O won from Giuseppe Puttini's highly successful Swan 65 Shirlaf with Dr Marietta Gräfin Strasoldo's Swan 651 Lunz Am Meer third.

Tomorrow is a layday for all except the Wallys and Maxi 72s. They will sail two windward-leewards to make up for Tuesday’s lost races.

Tonight the hot ticket in Porto Cervo is to the International Maxi Association annual dinner at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. The IMA Annual General Meeting will take place tomorrow afternoon.

Full results:

Super Maxi
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Type	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	RIBELLE	SMAXI	RIBELLE	SALVATORE TRIFIRO'	SLOOP	MCKEON	2	1	2	5
2	GBR112L	SMAXI	NILAYA	FICAYA LTD	BALTIC 112 R/P	PUGH/NAUTA	1	3	3	7
3	WINWIN	SMAXI	WINWIN	SCORPION LIMITED	SUPERYACHT	JAVIER JAUDENES	3	4	1	8
4	SUI3066	SMAXI	INOUI	MARCO VOGELE	BRIAND 108	BRIAND	4	2	5	11
5	ITA1746	SMAXI	VIRIELLA	VITTORIO MORETTI	FRERS 118'	FRERS	5	5	4	14

 

Maxi
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Type	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	USA25555	MAXI	RAMBLER 88 R	GEORGE DAVID	CANTING KEEL	JUAN K	3	1	1	5
2	MON888	MAXI	HIGHLAND FLING 11 R	IRVINE LAIDLAW	RP 82 CUSTOM	FRERS	1	2	2	5
3	GBR9059R	MAXI	NEFERTITI	JUAN BALL	SWAN 90	FRERS	2	4	4	10
4	CAN54321	MAXI	SORCERESS	WILL APOLD	SOUTHERNWIND 96	FARR	4	3	3	10
5	ITA15333	MAXI	WIZARD	SEVI FRUSCELLA	VALLICELLI 80	VALLICELLI	5	5	5	15
6	ITA44683	MAXI	DIABLESSE	DIABLESSE YACHT LTD	SLOOP 92	FRANCIS	7 DNF	7 DNC	6	20

 

Mini Maxi R
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Type	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	GBR74R	MINI MAXI R	JETHOU	SIR PETER OGDEN	MINI MAXI	VROLIJK	1	1	1	3
2	USA60010	MINI MAXI R	LUCKY	BRYON EHRHART	RP 63	REICHEL PUGH	2	3	2	7
3	GBR60X	MINI MAXI R	SPECTRE	PETER DUBENS	PD 60	FRERS	3	2	3	8
4	USA7744	MINI MAXI R	ADELASIA DI TORRES	RENATO AZARA	PROTOTYPE	DAVIDSON	4	4	4	12

 

Mini Maxi RC 1
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Type	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	ITA77773	MINI MAXI RC1	SUPERNIKKA	ROBERTO LACORTE	VISMARA 62 RC	VISMARA / MILLS	2	2	1	5
2	W80	MINI MAXI RC1	WALLYNO	DE FROIDMONT	WALLY 60	FARR	3	1	2	6
3	FRA60101	MINI MAXI RC1	AROBAS	GERARD LOGEL	SWAN 601	FRERS	1	5	4	10
4	FRA1895	MINI MAXI RC1	LORINA 1895	JEAN PIERRE BARJON	SWAN 601	FRERS	4	4	5	13
5	MON777	MINI MAXI RC1	WOHPE	ROBERTO LAURO	SWAN 601	FRERS	5	3	6	14
6	ITA17230	MINI MAXI RC1	OSCAR 3	ALDO PARISOTTO	MYLIUS 65	SIMEONE	7	6	3	16
7	ITA16923	MINI MAXI RC1	DURLINDANA 3	GIANCARLO GIANNI	FARR 60	FARR	6	7.5	8	21.5
8	ITA204	MINI MAXI RC1	ATALANTA II	CARLO ALESSANDRO PURI NEGRI	FARR 70	FARR / FELCI	10 DNC	7.5	7	24.5
9	ITA77007	MINI MAXI RC1	YORU	LUIGI SALA	VISMARA MILLS 62	VISMARA/ MILLS	8	9	10 DNF	27

 

Mini Maxi RC 2
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Type	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	ITA15668	MINI MAXI RC2	H2O	RICCARDO DE MICHELE	VALLICELLI 80	VALLICELLI	2	1	1	4
2	ITA13973	MINI MAXI RC2	SHIRLAF	GIUSEPPE PUTTINI	SWAN 65	SPARKMAN & STEVENS	1	2	2	5
3	AUT2895	MINI MAXI RC2	LUNZ AM MEER	DR. MARIETTA GRAFIN STRASOLDO	SWAN 651	FRERS	3	3	3	9
4	ESP9518	MINI MAXI RC2	PELOTARI. PROJECT	ANDRES VARELAS ENTRECANALES	X 65	JEPPESEN	4	4	5	13
5	SUI7618	MINI MAXI RC2	TAMINA	CARL GERRIT DEILMANN	CNB 76	BRIAND	5	5	4	14
6	MLT720	MINI MAXI RC2	FARR II KIND	PINTO LTD	FARR 72	FARR	6	7 DNF	7 DNF	20

 

Wally
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Type	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	CAY1002	WALLY	GALATEIA	SWITCHBACK MARINE	WALLYCENTO	REICHEL PUGH	4	2	1	7
2	DD98	WALLY	NAHITA	PANTHER MARINA LTD	WALLY 80	FARR	3	4	2	9
3	W774	WALLY	LYRA	KIM LIMITED	WALLY 77	WALLY YACHT	2	5	6	13
4	GBR94R	WALLY	MAGIC BLUE	ANTONIO CACACE	WALLY 95	FRERS	1	9	4	14
5	GBR1001R	WALLY	MAGIC CARPET CUBED	SIR LINDSAY OWEN JONES	WALLYCENTO	REICHEL PUGH	8	3	5	16
6	FRA888	WALLY	RYOKAN 2	PHILIPPE LIGIER	WALLY 80	FARR	6	10	3	19
7	GBR8211N	WALLY	OPEN SEASON	THOMAS BESCHER	WALLY 107	VROLIJK	9	1	10	20
8	GER6060	WALLY	Y3K	CLAUS PETER OFFEN	WALLY 100	FRERS	5	8	8	21
9	GBR94.3	WALLY	SENSEI	AGAPE INVESTIMENTI LTD	WALLY 94	FRERS	7	6	9	22
10	GBR7077	WALLY	J ONE	JEAN-CHARLES DECAUX	WALLY 77	FRERS	12 DSQ	7	7	26
11	W80.1	WALLY	TILAKKHANA	ALHOEN LP	WALLY 80	FARR / BRENTA	10	11	11	32

 

Maxi 72
Pos	Sail nr.	Class	Yacht	Owner	Designer	1	2	3	Points
1	IVB72	MAXI 72	MOMO	MOMO RACING LTD	VROLIJK	3.75	1	1	5.75
2	USA45	MAXI 72	BELLA MENTE	FAUTH HAP	VROLIJK	1.25	3	4	8.25
3	USA60722	MAXI 72	PROTEUS	GEORGE SAKELLERIS	VROLIJK	2.5	4	2	8.5
4	ITA42200	MAXI 72	CANNONBALL	DARIO FERRARI	BOTIN	5	2	3	10
5	GBR8728R	MAXI 72	CAOL ILA R	OCEAN RACING	MILLS	6.25	5	5	16.25