2018 Rolex Giraglia: Fickle wind in the Gulf of Saint Tropez
by Yacht Club Italiano 11 Jun 2018 19:08 PDT
2018 Rolex Giraglia © Rolex / Kurt Arrigo
Only the big Wally 100s finished the day's race. Races were cancelled for the other Classes on the second day of coastal racing. An unusually grey day and unstable weather made it impossible for the other groups in the Rolex Giraglia to finish their races. Winner of the day was the Wally 100 Tango
The Rolex Giraglia continues tomorrow, with the third and last day of inshore racing and increasing concentration – especially on weather models – in the run-up to the long race on Wednesday 13th.
The only class that managed to cross the finishing line was that of the big Wally 100s, which thanks to their speed managed to stay ahead of the caprices of the wind. The days when I was the brand-new Tango, with on board two legends, Marc Pajot and Thierry Peponnet, ahead of Magic Carpet Cubed, which can count on a monumental afterguard with champions of the calibre of Jochen Schuemann, Tom Whidden and Marcel Van Triest, and in third place Galateia, with talented Briton Jeremy Robinson on board.
In addition to the action on the water, the Rolex Giraglia is increasingly proving an event of international importance, a privileged setting for world news; this was in fact the case yesterday when BMW presented the new 5 Series at the headquarters of the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez, while this evening it will be the turn of the much awaited ClubSwan 36 from Nautor, the small and aggressive one design created by Juan K.
For the Class ClubSwan, the Rolex Giraglia coincides also with the third leg of The Nations Trophy Med League (after the first leg in Montecarlo and the second in Palma de Maiorca).
Wednesday June 13, at midday the starting gun will fire for the offshore race that will lead the fleet to round the iconic Giraglia rock in Corsica, then head back to the finish line in Genoa for a total of 241 miles.
For more information and updated rankings visit www.rolexgiraglia.com or YCI Facebook and Instagram pages.