Transatlantic Maxi Yachts - Blue Pearl Leads

by YCCS Press Office on 9 Dec 2007 Following Nariida's real time victory in 10 days 14 hours, 1 minute and 48 seconds, Peter Harrison's Sojana (GBR) was second across the line in 11 days, 14 hours, 54 minutes and 59 seconds.

The Farr 115 Bermudian Ketch crossed the finish line off St. Maarten's Simpson Bay one second before 4am UTC having completed the 2650 mile trip from Santa Cruz in Tenerife at an average speed of nine knots. This is the first edition of the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, an event open to monohull yachts of 18 metres (59 feet) and above promoted by the International Maxi Association (IMA) and organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of the Real Club Nautico de Tenerife and the Sint Maarten Yacht Club

As soon as it had crossed the line and confirmed its finish time, the Sojana team thanked the Race Committee and turned right around, headed for Antigua where the boat will undergo some sail repairs before taking part in the Superyacht Cup there.

André Auberton's Dark Shadow (MON) was third in with an elapsed time of 11 days, 21 hours, 33 minutes and 34 seconds. The Wally 100 crossed the finish line just after 10.30 am UTC: dawn local time.

Frenchman Auberton, who intends to cruise in the Caribbean this winter before returning to the Mediterranean for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, enjoyed the crossing: 'A lot of up and downs, a lot of adventures and many things happening. It was a lovely trip. Very good team spirit on board and we fought right up to the end in the true spirit of racing. We were happy to finish. We crossed the line this morning yelling like crazy, like young boys! It's a pleasure to be here and congratulations to Nariida, and it's a pleasure to have two Wallys. The Wallys did well! It's a lovely boat and this was lovely racing: well organized, it's a pleasure to cross the Atlantic with such good organization.'

Hot on the heels of Dark Shadow came Anders Johnson's Blue Pearl (GBR) with an elapsed time of 12 days, 2 hours, 22 minutes and 41 seconds.

'Well we shredded most of our spinnakers but we're really happy with our result,' explained Sweden's Klabbe Nylof, racing skipper on Blue Pearl. 'The owner is happy and so are we. It was good fun. Congratulations to Nariida for their line honours, they had rock solid tactics and it paid off. I think they expected to arrive sooner but they had light winds in the last few days like us. It depended a lot on the route, we chose the northern route and went for that. I wouldn't say it was easy but the goal was there and we went for it.'

'We had a few problems on the trip.' Added owner Anders Johnson. 'The water maker stopped working and so that probably made us go faster towards the end! We had a few days of really light winds which slowed us down a bit but we had a good trip. Last night there was a lot of wind, about 25 to 30 knots and the boat was doing her top speed of around 18 knots.'

With four of the boats having crossed the finish line Blue Pearl has moved to first place in the provisional classification on IRC handicap ahead of Nariida, Dark Shadow and Sojana. Until all seven boats are in, however, the classification remains provisional.

Valkyrie's (CAN) captain Guy Spencer has given their ETA as approximately 22.00 UTC this evening while Bernd Kortum's Julie Marie (GER) is due in early tomorrow morning. Gerhard Ruether's Zefiro (GER) should arrive approximately 24 hours later.

Full details of the event, including entry lists, sailing instructions, photographs and live tracking, are available at www.yccs.it .