Please select your home edition
Edition
C-Tech 2021 America's Cup 728x90 TOP

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Day 2: Windward-leewards begin in Porto Cervo

by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 6 Sep 2022 14:03 PDT 4-10 September 2022

While coastal races around northeast Sardinia's Costa Smeralda are among the most attractive in the world, the possibility of passing lanes and more regular shifts are greater when sailing windward-leewards on open water. So today among the 50 boat Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup fleet it was the turn of the J Class and Mini Maxi 1's former Maxi 72s to sail these. The southeasterly wind reached the low teens and occasionally dropped to 6-7 for the other classes racing coastals.

Among the former Maxi 72s it was again the turn of the 'less pimped' examples to prevail - of the two races sailed today George Sakellaris' Proteus won the first by 10 seconds on corrected time from Hap Fauth's Bella Mente, while yesterday's winner, Jim Swartz's peppermint-coloured Vesper, claimed the second and now leads Mini Maxi 1 by three points from Proteus with Dario Ferrari's heavily modified Cannonball holding third.

"We had a good start and the boat likes wind," explained Sakellaris. "The crew handles the boat very well - sometimes it all comes together and sometimes it doesn't. It is a great sailing venue here." A great joy for Sakellaris is being able to sail Proteus with his daughter Christina, who hopes to represent the USA in the ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) at Paris 2024.

On board Michael Menninger was calling tactics, Ben Lamb strategy with Will Oxley navigating. The Aussie nav legend commented: "We had a really good start, did well on the left and George did a great job driving and Christina was able to be relief helm. The boat is going well. I feel that we can do quite well in this regatta." In the second race Proteus was fourth, losing a place to Peter Dubens' North Star by just seconds on corrected time.

Also sailing two windward-leewards today were the four Js and it was again Svea, steered by a former two time Rolex Mini Maxi World Champion on these waters, Niklas Zennström, that prevailed to maintain the Swedish J's perfect scoreline. Under the J Class rule Svea finished 2 minutes 18 seconds ahead of Velsheada in the first race and 1 minutes 39 second in front of Topaz in the second.

"It was a really good day for us - the starts were dictating how you got around the course," explained Svea's tactician Bouwe Bekking. "In the first we could have tacked straight away and would have crossed everyone. We maybe got a bit lucky, but Niklas does a good job with those things. We were making good manouevres - we dared to hold the kite a little longer and that momentum carries you round when you are doing the turn. With these boats it is easy when you are ahead, so the start is very important."

Meanwhile all the other classes sailed a long windward-leeward, up and down Bomb Alley with the faster yachts rounding the island of Spargi, while the slower boats had a turning mark just south.

In the Super Maxi class that was another Swedish victory for yesterday's winner, the Swan 115 Shamanna, her time correcting out to 1 minutes 2 seconds ahead of the Spirit Yachts 111 Geist.

Meanwhile in the largest class competing, the 13-strong Maxi class, there was upset when initially it appeared that Claus Peter Offen's Wally 100 Y3K had won, only to lose out to Massimiliano Florio's Southern Wind 82 Grande Orazio following a protest over a start line infringement. Nonetheless Y3K won the unofficial 'battle of the 100s' of which there are five racing here.

"I just called the shipyard to stop the build of the new boat!" joked Offen, who has a new Wally 101 due for delivery next year. "These wind conditions are better for us. Upwind Y3K has always been good, but when there is 17-18 knots of breeze the other boats fly and we don't see them downwind." Y3K was also helped when the breeze shut down for the boats ahead allowing her to take avoiding action.

Tactician and former Match Racing World Champion Karol Jablonski added: "It was a bit tricky - we were little bit lucky and brought more breeze on the downwind to Spargi while the boats ahead were slower. Yesterday we sailed as well and made no mistakes but we came ninth. So we are happy to take this. It keeps a good spirit in the team." Leading the Maxi class overall is Lord Irvine Laidlaw's Reichel/Pugh 82 Highland Fling XI which finished third today.

The tightest leaderboard after two days is in Mini Maxi 2 where one point separates yesterday's leader, Sven Wackerhagen's Wally 80 Rose, from Alessandro Del Bono's ILC maxi Capricorno and Luciano Gandini's Mylius 80 Twin Soul B, winner of last year's 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar. The jet black Twin Soul B seems equally comfortable inshore as she won today's race. "It was a splendid day of racing - very good wind and sea and nothing went wrong," commented Gandini, President of Mylius Yachts. "We don't race every week so we needed to have a day to practice. Tomorrow we will be better still!"

Twin Soul B tactician Tommaso Chieffi added: "Today we had a good start. We managed to stay in front at the top mark and had good speed downwind - we did everything well. I know the area well and when the wind is shifting we took full advantage of it. At the bottom of the leg Capricorno was close, but not close enough. Then on the big upwind our length came into play. We stayed in front and never looked back."

There was a repeat winner too in the combined Mini Maxi 3 and 4 class where again it was the turn of the regal-looking silver Vallicelli 78 H20 of Riccardo de Michele to come out on top. However on the ascent is the 1976 vintage Swan 65 ketch Shirlaf of Guiseppe Puttini, which now lies second overall, one point ahead of Luca Scoppa's Dehler 60 Blue Oyster, having finished second today.

Shirlaf has been highly successful under Puttini having previously won her class here. As to today's racing, navigator Stefano Pelizza commented: "It was a very easy sail as the wind was more constant. We have very little sail, so if we are in the 15-25 knot range we can have fun. Today with 14-15 knots it was at the lower limit, but we can go well, if we don't make any big mistakes, go the right way with the right sails well-trimmed and everyone concentrating!" On board all the crew are amateurs at present but from Friday will be joined by Gabriele Bruni as tactician.

Roberto Lacorte and FlyingNikka sailed the correct course today and having set off last achieved their ambition to sail up the fleet to finish in the middle of the Maxi class (which started 45 minutes before them). "The important thing is that this was in the worst case scenario with no reaching but we are happy," said Lacorte, adding that FlyingNikka's top speed today was 34 knots.

Tomorrow the wind is forecast to be from the southwest and slightly lighter than today. The Maxi class is scheduled to race windward-leewards with everyone else on coastal courses.

Results here and J Class results here.

For more information on the International Maxi Association visit www.internationalmaxiassociation.com

More information on the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup here.

Related Articles

IMA Maxi Europeans overall
Bella Mente successfully defends her IMA European Championship title The 20 remaining yachts competing in the IMA Maxi European Championship, organised by the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia in conjunction with the International Maxi Association, took part in a final coastal race today in a 8-14 knot southwesterly. Posted on 22 May
IMA Maxi Europeans day 3
Maxi Grand Prix class turns up the pressure as courses go to windward-leeward Following an overnight offshore race and two days of coastal courses, the IMA Maxi Europeans, run by IMA and Naples' Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia out of Sorrento, for its penultimate day staged two windward-leeward races on the Gulf of Naples. Posted on 22 May
IMA Maxi Europeans day 2
Small boats to the fore after formidable coastal course The second coastal course of the IMA Maxi European Championship in Sorrento, Italy was an action-packed affair, taking the maxis on a complex course visiting local hotspots including the Amalfi Coast and lapping Capri. Posted on 21 May
IMA Maxi Europeans day 1
Jolt takes the lead The International Maxi Association's European Championship, run by Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia out of Sorrento, began its second phase today with four days of windward-leeward and coastal racing on the Gulf of Naples. Posted on 19 May
Record falls in Regata dei Tre Golfi
The tone was set with a magnificent downwind spinnaker start in 15 knots of wind While summer time Mediterranean offshore races can often be windless affairs, this was not the case for the 70th Regata dei Tre Golfi, the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia's 156 mile offshore race that formed opening part of the IMA Maxi Europeans. Posted on 18 May
IMA Maxi Europeans gets underway
70th Regata dei Tre Golfi starts the offshore stage The fourth edition of the International Maxi Association's Maxi European Championship sets sail today with the start of its offshore component, the Regata dei Tre Golfi. Posted on 16 May
IMA challenges resume with Sandberg PalmaVela
The event has traditionally started the Mediterranean maxi yacht racing season There was huge anticipation from within the maxi community with Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' new Verdier 100 Magic Carpet E making her debut at Sandberg PalmaVela that concluded yesterday. Posted on 5 May
First time wins for Yoru and Six Jaguar maxis
As Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez concludes Inadequate winds meant no racing on Friday for the maxis competing at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez. However today there was more success for the concluding races laid on by the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez. Posted on 5 Oct 2024
New faces at the top at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
All change on the Bay of Pampelonne Following Wednesday's layday it was all change on the Bay of Pampelonne for the third day of maxi racing at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez organised by the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez, with the competition between the 41 maxi yachts. Posted on 4 Oct 2024
More perfect conditions & perfect Maxi scorelines
At Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez After two days of racing at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, the final event of the International Maxi Association's 2024 Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge, the leaders remarkably hold perfect scorelines in all four classes. Posted on 1 Oct 2024
Cyclops Marine 2023 November - FOOTERSea Sure 2025Switch One Design