Favonius leads maxis at Rolex Capri Sailing Week

by YCC Press Office on 24 May 2008 Today was a good day. A good day to be sailing and an extremely good day to be sailing at Rolex Capri Sailing Week. Added to the mix of blue skies, sun and wind was a scenic backdrop that has the potential to defy imagination.

For the competing crews there was little time, except between races, to truly enjoy the sight of Capri bathed in sunshine with Ischia and Vesuvius looming in the distance, but frankly they were probably having too much fun to care. For those with more time on their hands, watching yacht racing in these conditions, in this location is a privilege.

Back to the action. All classes took on two windward/leeward courses set into a freshening breeze from the south-east. The big boys raced over 8.1 miles and then 9.3 miles, whilst the two smaller boat classes raced twice over a 6.6 mile course. Wind was generally in the 8-12 knot range, but occasionally hit fifteen. The courses were laid with the windward mark in the Bocca Piccolo, the narrow channel between Capri and the mainland. This gave rise to the odd shift, and plenty of lifts and headers, helping to ensure the tacticians justified their positions in deciding which side of the course was favoured.

In the Swan 45s, Earlybird (GER) put their first day set back behind them, scoring two bullets and as a result head into the final day six points ahead of WISC (GBR). Vertigo (ITA) was midfleet both races and slips to third, fifteen points off the pace. In the Maxis, Neville Crichton's presence was seemingly missed on Alfa Romeo (NZL), as Favonius (BVI) took honours in the first race, whilst Cuordileone (ITA) won the second. Roel Pieper's Favonius now leads the Maxi Class by three points from Alfa and Spirit of Jethou (GBR). In the Comets, early pacesetter Agora (ITA) suffered an off colour day and now lies third six points behind Libertine (ITA) and two behind Fra Diavolo (ITA).

In the Swan 45s, Earlybird, with Karol Jablonski onboard, has truly put her first day woes behind her and, today, put the sword to the fleet in a truly Tiberian manner. Two races, two first places. No problem. Glynn William's WISC is holding onto second overall, but could only muster a 7,4 scoreline, whilst Marco Salvi's Vertigohad an even worse day posting two eleventh places. Fever (GBR) lies in fourth place overall, swapping spots with Yukihiro Ishida's Yasha (JAP), which has Tony Rey on tactics. A six-point gap is not enough to feel comfortable in this group, but Earlybird's owner, Hendrick Brandes, is understandably happy to be in first after a difficult start to the series, if a little surprised, as he explained, 'to be honest, we saw this regatta more as a practice for the Sardinia Rolex Cup, where we are part of the German team. We could not imagine that everything would work so fine for us here in Capri and of course, now we are trying to do our best. Today, everything was just perfect compared to the first racing day, where we had a man over board, whom we had to get back on board.'

Tomorrow is another day and at least for Brandes once the gun goes for the final race, it should all be in his hands whether his wins through or falters at the last.

In the Maxi Class, Alfa did her standard job of leaving the fleet trailing in her wake, but perhaps in the absence of Crichton, who had other commitments, the foot was not as firmly on the gas. In the first race, Favonius beat her by 2 minutes on corrected time and in the second she was only 35 seconds behind Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuordileone, still a sufficiently big enough gap for Favonius to slip into second place. With only one windward-leeward race planned for tomorrow it will take something especially bad from Favonius for Alfa to overhaul her, even if the rocketship returns to her early event winning ways.

Further back in the fleet, Grey Goose the Swan 82 of Tobias Konig was enjoying a fine day's sailing. She is struggling to hold her own in this class and has been the perennial bridesmaid to the Swan 601s and the well-campaigned Swan 80 Favonius on corrected time. Spirit on the boat is good and with sights set on the Rolex Swan Cup in September as well as the inaugural Rolex Swan Maxi Circuit, Konig is keen to use every race as an opportunity to build skills and teamwork, 'It was a wonderful day, excellent weather conditions. sun and calm sea, wind between 8 and 10/12 knots, perfect conditions for us. We made good speeds, big improvement over the last days. We're quite happy with good boat handling, good speed performance, close racing and competition with Favonius, which I'm very happy about. The results after rating are as they are on corrected time, but we have the feeling that we did as well as we possibly could, commented Konig.

With a long season ahead it is extremely important on a boat this size to keep morale high and the crew in harmony, and Konig makes sure this element is not overlooked in preparing the boat for racing, 'We have been working on building this team for quite a time. We have a few professional sailors and semi-professionals, and, also enthusiasts who mingle very well. You have to constantly motivate, you have to tell people where they can improve and also tell them if they did improve. The difficult thing is to criticise without someone feeling they are being criticised. It's important to keep the upward angle and if you have to make changes and bring somebody else to do a job you have to explain it in a way that the other one does not feel offended or downgraded, and still keeps his team spirit up.' Quite why anyone sailing on a Swan 82 would lose motivation is puzzling. She is a beautiful yacht, impeccably maintained and with a relaxed, but disciplined atmosphere. No shouting, no histrionics even when the chute blows up just after a windward mark. No drama, 'bring up the A2, let's get on with it' and by the end of the leg all lost ground is recovered.

Konig clearly enjoys his sailing. He enjoys being on the helm when racing, freely admitting that his adrenaline pumps on the start line and approaching the windward mark. Equally, though, he deserves respect for parking the boat after a long day steering. No thought of passing the wheel to the hired hand for the tricky bit. This hands-on approach probably helps with morale too.

In the Comet fleet, Maurizio Biscardi and Libertine could not repeat their scoreline of the previous days where they posted 1,3 both times. Today they posted a 1,5. Still this was enough to jump to the top of the Comet pile, as rival Agora collapsed to third after a poor day in comparison to the stellar performances previously. Vincenzo Addessi's Fra Diavolo has been in the top four every race and was rewarded today by moving into second overall. It will take an extremely poor race from Libertine for either of her closest competitors to catch her tomorrow. But if the fifth place today could be considered a sign of weakness, there is a glimmer of hope.

Racing continues tomorrow, with an earlier start time of 1100. Only one windward leeward race is planned.

CURRENT PROVISIONAL STANDINGS

Place Boat Name Owner Nation, R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-R6-R7-Points

MAXI
1. FAVONIUS Roel Pieper BVI, 2-2-4-3-1-2-14.00
2. ALFA ROMEO Neville Crichton NZL, 1-1-1-9-2-3-17.00
3. SPIRIT OF JETHOU Sir Peter Ogden GBR 3-4-2-1-3-4-17.00

SWAN 45
1. EARLYBIRD Hendrick Brandis GBR 2-17-5-3-2-1-1-31.00
2. WISC Glynn Williams GBR 6-1-3-9-7-7-4-37.00
3. VERTIGO Marco Salvi ITA, 1-2-12-1-8-11-11-46.00

COMET
1. LIBERTINE Maurizio Biscardi ITA, 1-3-1-3-1-5-14.00
2. FRA DIAVOLO Vincenzo Addessi 4-2-4-1-4-3-18.00
3. AGORA Marco Franco c/o Emmeffe Sail Srl ITA, 2-1-2-2-6-7-20.00

For more information about the Rolex Capri Sailing Week including entry lists and results please visit www.yccapri.com