Libertine wins IMS division in Giraglia Rolex Cup Race

Libertine wins the IMS division in the Giraglia Rolex Cup race © Carlo Borlenghi / Rolex

"Beginner's Luck" for Libertine, Overall IMS winner of the Giraglia Rolex Cup race

Maurizio Biscardi's sailing experience is not very extensive by his own admission, but that did not stop him and his crew onboard Libertine from taking home the top position in this classic Mediterranean regatta. "My sailing experience is really recent- it basically started with the launch of Libertine this year," said Maurizio Biscardi, owner of Libertine (ITA). "But ever since I stepped into the sailing world I had a dream to win the Giraglia and I can not believe that this really happened." Maurizio Biscardi's Comet 45s, with a corrected time of 28:42:29, became the IMS category winner with a lead of more than an hour and ten minutes over Ernesto Gismondi's Edimetra VI.

For the Giraglia Rolex Cup, Biscardi's brand new boat performed beyond expectations. "The boat sailed great and that gives us a lot of satisfaction," said Biscardi. "We were aware of her potential after the second inshore race in St. Tropez, despite the 41st position we took due to a lack of wind in the last miles of racing. But since that moment the boat sailed so well and we had the feeling that she could even do better. We had a nice race and everything went well on board from the start of the Giraglia race. We always found the right wind conditions."

Libertine raced very closely with Bcube up to and just after the Giraglia Rock, always keeping the opposition's position in mind in order to control their race on corrected time. Even though Libertine arrived an hour and twenty minutes ahead of Bcube, the final corrected times were separated by only three minutes. "The last 80 nautical miles were very exciting as we had a taught battle with Bcube," said Biscardi. "They passed us before rounding the Giraglia and then we moved ahead of them just after the rock. We tacked quite a lot and then they got caught in a dead calm and we got first at the finish line."

Libertine had an excellent start on Wednesday in St. Tropez that allowed them to clear up their position among the fleet and stabilize their navigation. The first tactical decisions came in on Wednesday night when Libertine moved close to the coast and sailed on a stable wind of 6 knots. " We tried to maintain our navigation in stable wind conditions," said Lorenzo Bodini, skipper of Libertine and Tornado Olympic sailor in Sydney. "The crew really worked well and was always ready with the right sail for any shift of wind. And that really paid off as we got the best from every situation. At 16 miles to the Giraglia rock we sailed with a south-easterly wind of 22 knots which gave us a good advantage to sail the last part of the race with a lack of wind," Bodini added.

In the IRC class, it was nine full hours after Alfa Romeo that the second boat of the class arrived at the Yacht Club Italiano in Genoa. Quinta Santa Maria was second to arrive and Damiani Our Dream followed, only two nautical miles behind, taking 2nd place overall in the IRC Class on corrected time. Third place in the class went to K2Wind who came in on corrected time 10 minutes before Quinta Santa Maria, who was 4th and last overall in the class.

It was actually Atalanta II that arrived first in Genoa for the IMS Class Group A. Carlo Puri Negri had a strong lead on his opponents when he had reached the Giraglia, with a lead of an almost an hour on Edimetra VI, and almost two hours ahead of Aleph and Silandra VI. But the calculation for corrected time did not play in the favour of the Italians and Atalanta II finished with a 5th overall. In spite of a good time and a perfectly managed course, Edimetra VI did not succeed in taking the top spot on the podium and finished 2nd overall on corrected time.

Libertine will take home the Rolex Challenge Trophy and the Bellon Challenge Trophy for being the first yacht classified overall in corrected time in the most numerous group. Biscardi also took home the top position in the Comet 45s Class in the Rolex Capri Sailing week, which took place May 16-19 in Capri, Italy. It was only at this event that Biscardi first took his boat and crew to the water in a international sailing event for a trial run.

At the time of writing, almost 50 boats are still on the course and the handicap system could still change the present provisional results. The time limit for arrival in Genoa is tomorrow at noon.

Provisional Results on Corrected Time: Giraglia Rolex Cup

IRC Class (Top 3)
1. Alfa Romeo, Neville Crichton (NZL), Super Maxi, 42:17:21
2. Damiani Our Dream, Claudio Uberti (ITA), Prototype, 47:10:47
3. K2 Wind, Nicholas Wrigley (GBR), Wally 77.2, 49:48:55

IMS Class Group A (Top 3)
1. Libertine, Maurizio Biscardi (ITA), Comet 45s, 28:42:29
2. Edimetra VI, Ernesto Gismondi (ITA), Wally 65, 29:52:03
3. Bcube, Andrea Siano (ITA), 29:55:18

Racing for the Giraglia Rolex Cup is organised by the Yacht Club Italiano under the supervision of the Federazione Italiana Vela, the Fédération Française de Voile, with the collaboration of the City of Saint Tropez, the Yacht Club de France and the Société Nautique de St. Tropez, the deputed organizer in France. For more information, entry list and results please visit www.yci.it or www.snst.org