Record falls and Bella Mente collects Maxi class honours in Regata dei Tre Golfi
by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 18 May 22:14 AEST
16-22 May 2025
The maxi fleet sets sail from Naples with Mount Vesuvius in the background © Tre Golfi Sailing Week / Studio Borlenghi
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 the opening part of the IMA Maxi European Championship.
The tone was set with a magnificent downwind spinnaker start in 15 knots at 1630 on Friday from off Porticciolo di Santa Lucia, where the CRVI's clubhouse is located in Naples. Chris Flowers and David M Leuschen's 100ft Galateia shot out of the blocks and was first past Ischia and into the Gulf of Gaeta followed by the catamarans Lord Irvine Laidlaw's Highland Fling 18 and Adrian Keller's 84ft Allegra and the previous year's line honours winner, Furio Benussi's 100ft ARCA SGR.
It was then a case of hooking up with the stronger northeasterly breeze on what was the fastest part of the race, broad reaching in 25 knots to the northerly turning mark of Ponza. Galateia reached here at around 2000, ahead of Highland Fling 18, Sir Linday Owen-Jones' new Magic Carpet E, Pier Luigi Loro Piana's 80ft My Song and Karel Komárek's V.
Heading back was mostly a fetch still in the stiff northeasterly taking the frontrunners well south of Capri. The four front runners, including line honours favourite Seng Huang Lee's SHK Scallywag had to tack, reconverging with the rest of the fleet south of Capri. Here another four to the north and more lifted - Peter Dubens' North Star, Sir Peter Ogden's Jethou, George Sakellaris' Proteus and ARCA SGR - did well passing to the north of Capri, catching up the bulk of the frontrunners with the exception of Galateia and Magic Carpet E which had stayed further offshore to reach the turning mark of Li Galli islands off the Amalfi coast. Still ahead, Galateia reached this at around 0400 with Magic Carpet E second on the water and Hap Fauth's 74ft Bella Mente impressively third. Galateia then roared west, passing Punta Campanella at the tip of the Sorrento peninsula around 0430, concluding with a fast reach across the Gulf of Naples reaching the finish at 05:54:42. Her elapsed time of 13 hours 19 hours 42 minutes was record breaking - an average speed of 12.75 knots, substantially faster than the 9.7 knots Jethou set on the shorter course in 2023.
"There was a northeasterly gradient wind coming from the land, but how it came off the valleys and hills was tricky - the devil was in the detail," commented Galateia's navigator Simon Fisher of this year's challenge. "Obviously there was a couple of boats [Scallywag and ARCA SGR) that were supposed to be a lot quicker, especially with a lot of reaching, so it was a nice result for Galateia."
Hap Fauth's Bella Mente had an exceptional race and was third home on the water, just 6 minutes 23 seconds astern of Magic Carpet E. They had managed to stay up with the leaders but had lost out south of Capri allowing Peter Harrison's Jolt to overhaul them. However becalmed off the Amalfi coast, Bella Mente had nosed into breeze first and was away.
"We kept reminding ourselves that it wasn't the first battle we needed to win, it was the last," mused Bella Mente's Mike Sanderson. The most breeze they saw was en route to Ponza when in 24 knots they had hit 26 knots boat speed sailing triple-headed. In the big conditions early on they were taking on substantial amounts of water that affected their electrics. "It's remarkable, given how hard you work on the waterproofing as a whole, you lose the battle..."
After arriving it was clear Bella Mente had won the Maxi Grand Prix class and once the back markers finished, she was declared the overall winner of the Maxi class - a great start for the US team in defending their IMA Maxi Europeans title and a fine 80th birthday present for owner Hap Fauth.
Peter Harrison's Jolt was second overall with previous IMA Maxi European Champion, Peter Dubens' North Star third.
"We sailed pretty well," said Ian Walker, stand-in tactician on Jolt. "We were good on the upwind, but got buffeted up behind Belle Mente. Then we ended up sailing into no wind - head to wind with the Code Zero up going backwards. Otherwise it was an awesome race with a downwind start and four hours flat out at the perfect reaching angle, doing 20-25 knots. That was fantastic." They had also had a few hydraulic issues on board that had caused their trim tab to deploy on the unfavoured side forcing them to stop for 20 minutes to free it.
In the Maxi Alpha class, the 2024 IMA Maxi Europeans class winner Paul Berger's Swan 80 Kallima came out on top ahead of Carlo Puri Negri's Farr/Felci 70 Atalanta II and Guido Paolo Gamucci's canting keel Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X.
Kallima's tactician Romain Mouchel said of their race: "It was great - so interesting and complicated. The first part to Ponza was challenging with a lot of breeze where it was clearly not our favourite conditions and all of the planing boats just set off. But we kept it simple and clean. We knew our time would come. The second part to Capri was straight line upwind and for us our strong point where we can get our waterline length to do its job. The leg to Li Galli was a lottery - very frustrating and long. Finally on the leg to the finish we had another shutdown and we were not confident we were going to beat Atalanta II. We are very happy with the end result."
The 2024 winner Giuseppe Puttini's Swan 65 ketch Shirlaf won the Maxi Beta class ahead of Luca Scoppa's Dehler 60 Blue Oyster and Vincenzo Addessi's Mylius 18E35 Fra Diavolo.
In the multihull competition Highland Fling 18 was first home, crossing the line off Naples among the Maxi Grand Prix class, however it was the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup winner Riccardo Pavoncelli's Gunboat 68 Gaetana that won under ORCmh.
"We had a good time," commented Ned Collier Wakefield, tactician on Highland Fling 18. "To Ponza there was a bit more breeze and it was a bit further forward than forecast, so we took two reefs and just sent it. On the upwind we struggled a bit against Allegra because they're heavier and can carry full sail." Off the Amalfi coast there was some major compression and they had come back into the Maxi 100s while the Maxi Grand Prix class had come into them. "There was this massive parking lot just under the headland, which was quite fun. Then we worked our way up the coast, hugging the shoreline and had a beautiful reach back across, toasted sandwich in hand..."
The inshore/coastal portion of the IMA Maxi European Championship begins tomorrow (Monday, 19 May) out of Sorrento and will run for four days.
Defending champion Hap Fauth commented: "The Bella Team is excited to be back in Italy racing. This regatta draws the best of the best in Maxi yacht classes and our Maxi Grand Prix class is very impressive and competitive. Conditions look to be brisk and variable so our week should be filled with excitement."