Alfa Romeo takes line honours in the Rolex Cup

by KPMS on 6 Sep 2007 Alfa Romeo took line honours in the second race at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in a day of high drama with who Australian rival, Wild Oats, suffering a spectacular mast failure that rolled the yacht and flung all the crew into the sea.

The 65 nautical mile Coastal Race took competitors all the way up the outside of the Maddalena Islands to Lavezzi and the southern tip of Corsica, returning back down the channel and beyond to the islet of Mortoriotto before a final return leg to the finish off Porto Cervo.

This time the critical moment in proceedings was shortly after the start. But, once again, it involved the 30-metre supermaxi, Wild Oats XI (AUS). Within a few minutes of the start, her mast was seen to explode into three pieces, ripping the sail and rig apart in a catastrophic failure. The crew were launched into the water as the 12-tonne canting keel, then at maximum tilt and with nothing left above to balance it out, instantly rolled the yacht violently to windward. All crew were safely recovered and, fortunately, only one crew was slightly injured during the catastrophe that brought to an abrupt end Bob Oatley's quest for victory and in the duel with Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo (NZL).

Conditions at the start were uncomfortable, but not treacherous. A northeasterly Grecale at 15 knots had replaced the Mistral of yesterday. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Race Committee had set the start inside the Maddalena channel to afford some protection from the far lumpier sea state directly outside Porto Cervo harbour. Most relieved with this decision were the numerous spectator, support and media vessels whose task of holding station with the line was made far easier in the moderated waters within the channel.

The Racing Division start was uneventful - initially at least. Alfa Romeo grabbed the pin end - owner/skipper Neville Crichton rightly convinced they could lay the first mark of the course at Monaci. Wild Oats was inside her, with Favonius closest to the Committee boat in the 7-boat division. Just as it seemed that watchers would be treated to an enthralling drag race to the Monaci rocks, Wild Oats suffered her unfortunate demise.

Best guesses suggest the mast suffered a rigging failure. Why is a mystery to experienced helmsman Mark Richards, 'We've never had anything like this happen in ten years of offshore campaigning. We could understand it more easily if we were pounding upwind in rough seas and strong winds, but that wasn't the case here.'

As is often the way in yacht racing, the remainder of the fleet appeared to pay little heed to Wild Oats' distress and carried on the business of getting around the course. To simplify their attitude in this way would be a complete disservice to the other participating crews who know full well that mishaps occur to even the most carefully prepared boats - and certainly Wild Oats would be in that category.

To begin with, the rest of the race unfolded as the first day. Alfa Romeo pulled away gradually from Morning Glory and was the first yacht to reach the Monaci rocks. By Lavezzi, the furthest point from Porto Cervo, Crichton reckoned they had 20 minutes on Morning Glory and had every chance of winning the race on the water and handicap.

It was not to be.

As she launched out of the channel at Capo Ferro on the leg to Mortoriotto she stalled. Crichton takes up the story, 'we came out of there and parked up. We did about 2 knots for probably twenty minutes. Morning Glory all but caught us up. As soon as we got the breeze we opened up 10 minutes on them but it wasn't enough to win the race. So I'd say we were probably last on handicap, though at least we had the consolation of being first over the line.'

Crichton was upbeat despite this, 'it was a good race. We were happy the way we sailed. Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not. We ran out of the wind and there's nothing you can do about that. I don't think there is anything we could have done different. If it had finished in the channel we would have won it. We had our time at the top mark (Lavezzi) and at the bottom of the channel. But that's yachting and tomorrow is another day.'

The story, regarding the wind and the advantage for the smaller boats, was similar on Morning Glory. Tactician Morgan Larson was philosophical too, 'about three-quarters of the way through the race as we came out through the gap (at Capo Ferro), cloud covered in and dropped the windspeed down quite a bit. The left side of the race course got quite light, but we were able to sneak up a little on the right, staying close to the shore and dodging the rocks and the reefs.'

'We closed up quite a bit on Alfa Romeo. Then they did a beautiful job getting back into the wind and stretching back out on us. I guess it wasn't enough for them and, at the end of the day, the smaller boats did the same to us and it looks like Loki won and Titan was second.' It never seems to amaze how the crews on the first yachts home know the results before the organization can confirm them - but Larson was correct.

Tommaso Chieffi, tactician on Rambler was also in the zone in this respect too, 'it was a bit of a tough day for us today. Unfortunately, due to the conditions as we were coming upwind for the last beat to the mark at Mortoriotto the wind really dropped for the guys in front catching out the big boats including Alfa Romeo and Morning Glory but, at the same time, the guys behind were putting miles on us too. There was not enough for us to beat Morning Glory and we also beaten by Loki and Titan who were right behind us.'

Stephen Ainsworth, the owner of Loki, was understandably delighted, 'we made a real gain coming up between the islands. The work up that passage went really well. Chris Links (tactician) picked a few nice shifts and got us on the right side of the passage. We heard that the big boats when they came out of the passage parked up and that is where they got slowed down. The bigger boats had established a pretty good lead on us during the first run and we needed to pull some back, so we obviously did and then some!'

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup runs from September 2nd to September 8th. Racing continues on Thursday, with the first start at 1140 CET. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to simply the fastest monohulls afloat today, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is nothing if not an astonishing line up of sailpower.