Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

by Event media on 4 Sep 2006 The crystal-clear waters of the Costa Smeralda, the world renowned sailors' paradise, is set to host one of the most impressive gatherings of sailing yachts ever. The 17th edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup has attracted a record fleet of 46 teams representing 15 nations.

This year's line-up smashes the 2005 record of 37 yachts and, once again, has brought the elite of the international sailing and business worlds to Porto Cervo. The 2006 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup will be the stage for some truly fierce competition among a fleet of veritable giants, which includes some strong new entries and a number of veterans of this highlight of the Mediterranean yachting season.

Two new Super Maxis, Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI (Australia) and her near sistership, Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo (New Zealand), are undoubtedly two to watch at this year's event. Designed by Reichel/Pugh and competing in the Racing Division, both come in at 98 feet with canting keel technology and a host of other high-tech innovations.

Wild Oats XI, won it all in the last Rolex Sydney Hobart: a rare line honours and handicap victory double, as well as setting a new race record. Alfa Romeo was tough to beat and came in second on both elapsed and corrected time; later in the year she took line honours at another classic offshore race, the 2006 Giraglia Rolex Cup.

Returning to Porto Cervo after last year's catastrophic breakdown - a broken rig on the second day of the series - is the 98-foot Maximus. Co-owned by the two New Zealand businessmen Charles St Clair Brown and Bill Buckley, she recently became holder of the Round the Island (Isle of Wight) record. Another illustrious name among the Racing Division is that of Hasso Plattner and his maxZ86, Morning Glory, a canting keel Maxi turbo sled also designed by Reichel/Pugh with a sail plan bigger than an America's Cup Class boat.

The average speed of the fleet this year may well take another big leap forward, with one Volvo 70 competing alongside the Super Maxis, the celebrated ABN AMRO ONE winner of the most recent Volvo Ocean Race. Mike Sanderson, the Kiwi skipper of ABN AMRO ONE, is at his second Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, having sailed it in 1999 aboard Larry Ellison's Sayonara, and is looking forward to some of the traditional good Sardinian winds: 'We hope to race well and, if we get some days of good breeze, to get amongst the Maxis on IRC. We are really looking forward to the regatta, I think that if we get some wind the courses will really suit our boat'. The legendary New Zealand Endeavour and Steinlager 2, two older round the world race winners, will also be competing in this Division.

The newly formed Mini Maxi Division will be one of the larger classes with 11 entries. The Italian Farr 70 Atalanta II will be one of the toughest competitors. Owned by Carlo Puri Negri, General Executive Manager of Pirelli Real Estate, Atalanta II managed a clean sweep of the silverware at the 2005 Rolex Middle Sea Race as overall winner. In doing so, Puri Negri and the Atalanta II crew also won the Mediterranean Championship of Offshore Racing, a new series of four events. Another strong entry in this Division is Ernesto Gismondi's Edimetra VI from Italy, a winner in 2001 and which this year came first overall in the combined inshore and offshore races of the Giraglia Rolex Cup.

The Cruising Division includes Gunter Herz's British entry Allsmoke, which won the combined Cruising Division series rankings in 2005. In his quest for a repeat victory, Herz will face some serious competition, such as last year's winner in Cruising B Division, Italian Filippo Faruffini's elegant Roma - a cruising boat camouflaged as a pure racer, with dismountable coffee grinders, six cabins, five separate bathrooms and full air conditioning.

The 34 metre Unfurled of New York real estate mogul Harry Macklowe, another winner from last year's event (Cruising A), will also be on this year's starting line, alongside the magnificent 37 metre Ghost, owned by last year's new-comer the American film producer and art gallery founder Arne Glimcher.

The legendary J Class Velsheda, designed by Camper & Nicholson in 1933, will complete this breathtaking parade of sails.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup fleet also incorporates five Spirit of Tradition yachts, including the world famous schooner Adela owned by American gas and media tycoon, George Lindemann. The largest yacht of the fleet by some 15-metres, with a LOA of just over 55-metres, Adela is a regular competitor at this event and usually dwarfs the other yachts at the event.

Nine yachts will compete in the W Division. With Germany's Claus Peter Offen's Y3K (winner in 2005) and Alberto Roemmers's Alexia from Argentina (second in 2005) competing in the Racing Division, the field appears wide-open in this class. A series of new W80 - Aori, Dangerous but Fun, Indio, Tango - will race alongside Italian entry Tiketitan, third in 2005, and Great Britain's Magic Carpet Squared owned by Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of the Board of Directors of L'Oreal, which also suffered rig damage last year.

'We are delighted to welcome such a spectacular fleet to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2006,' commented YCCS Commodore Gianfranco Alberini, 'The event embodies yacht racing at its very best and with an entry list of this standard and the world-class regatta course here, we are sure to see a week of intense competition.'

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from September 3rd to September 9th. Racing commences tomorrow, Monday, with a lay-day (or reserve) scheduled for Thursday September 7th. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to simply the fastest monohulls afloat today, the Maxi line-up is nothing but astonishing.

The week traditionally comprises a variety of inshore racecourses off the coastline of northeastern Sardinia and around the Archipelago of La Maddalena with its narrow straits, rocky outcrops and shifting winds. The courses are designed to make the best use of the daily weather conditions - winds in September can be anywhere between light thermally-induced sea breezes to the famous Mistral, which can blow from the northwest at up to 45 knots at times.

According to Major Filippo Petrucci, official meteorologist for the event, 'Light thermally-induced winds from the northeast will be the feature of the week. A high pressure system is stationed over Sardinia, therefore racing will most likely take place in 8 to 10 knots of wind and light seas. From Thursday on some clouds might appear, but the overall forecast will not change much.' This year the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup fleet will be split into five main divisions:

Racing: comprising high performance yachts racing under IRC handicap, with a minimum length of 24 metres; in view of their speed, the two Volvo Ocean racers (one 70 and one 60) will start in this division albeit with separate scoring.

Cruising: comprising a range of heavy and light displacement yachts, some of which include the same high-performance design innovations as the Racing Division, but feature lavish interiors and all modern comforts; this division races under IRC handicap and the minimum length is 24 metres.

W: racing under their own handicap, based on the IMS system's Velocity Prediction Program.

Spirit of Tradition: encompassing vintage yachts and modern day classics, yachts that are built to look like they are from a bygone era, but which may sport the latest keel configurations and be equipped with all modern comforts; these yachts race with a day-by day performance handicap and the minimum length is 24 metres.

Mini Maxi: introduced this year in order to accommodate the more traditional Maxi yachts, smaller than those in the Racing Division; Mini Maxis are between 18 metres and 23.9 metres in length and must comply with the IMS/ORC Club Rules and Regu