Raffica At Rolex Capri Sailing Week (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Clear blue skies and crystal clear water typify the sailing grounds around Capri.
The first day of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week was blessed with sublime conditions. A warm breeze of eight to twelve knots from the south to southeast was a little more than forecast.
There was spectacular racing today for all classes on windward leeward courses in the strait between Capri and Punta Campanella. The majestic island of Capri acted as a perfect back drop but also created some tactical nuances requiring forward thinking and high precision sailing.
“The great thing about the Bay of Naples is that you can sail here all year, it is never cold,” explained one of Napoli’s most famous sons, Francesco de Angeles, tactician on Andres Soliano’s Mini-Maxi Alegre. “Capri is 18 miles offshore and has more current than Naples, also the wind can be more tricky. For me it is a wonderful place to sail. I grew up here sailing dinghies in the Bay of Naples. There is a lot of history in and around Capri, each cape has its own story, the volcano Vesuvio, Pompeji… there are many more. It is a multi-cultural place, the Greeks, the Normans, the Spanish have all been here…
I hope that all of the sailors who have come to Capri enjoy some great sailing.”
Jethou (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
It was all smiles on the Mini-Maxi yachts, fully powered up in little breeze, sailing as fast as the wind. The powerful boats seem to glide effortlessly through the water. Andres Soriano’s Mills 68, Alegre sailed with precision and guile to win both of today’s races. Alegre were a class act but they had to be at their best.
“The pressure is always on,” explained Alegre’s navigator, Will Best. “One mistake in this class and you are unlikely to recover. Capri is a complex place to sail and it is easy to get caught in a spot without breeze and in this fleet; they will take full advantage. Leading from the front, you are always looking over your shoulder, you always have to be on your toes.”
Peter Ogden’s Jethou was extremely well sailed today, crew work and boat handling were both impeccable. Jethou had a great tussle with Benjamin Brian’s Maxi Dolphin 65, Aegir. Although the two yachts were far apart on the water, on corrected time there were two very tight finishes, Aegir beating Jethou in both races by just seven seconds.
This is the first regatta for Alex Schärer’s Marten 67, Caol Ila, but Alex has sailed in Italian waters many times before in previous boats, including the Giraglia Rolex Cup. Calling tactics on Caol Ila is one of Ireland’s finest sailors, Gordon Maguire, who has been involved in some of the most prestigious sailing campaigns worldwide. Most recently as helmsman on Mike Slade’s Maxi, ICAP Leopard.
“We have come to Rolex Capri Sailing Week to launch a new boat,” explained Maguire. “ And what a great place to start a campaign. Alex and his crew are new to this level of sailing and it is really important that he gets the right guidance. That way they will truly enjoy the experience, even if at first they are not winning every race. It gives me as much satisfaction to see the smiles on board Caol Ila, as it does winning a grand prix event. Our priority this week is to enjoy sailing the boat but to do so to the best of our ability.”
The X-41 Class provided the closest racing of the day. The one design class produced some adrenalin pumping action, especially at mark roundings where close encounters were a regular occurrence. Starts are always important and especially so in light air. A clean get away puts the leader in undisturbed wind whilst the competition is literally struggling for air behind.
X-41, Raffica is owned by Orofino Pasquale’s. He hails from Ischia and knows these waters well. Raffica had an excellent day winning two races and lead the class. The boat has an excellent crew including Andrea Trani, who represented Italy at the Athens and Beijing Olympics in 470, and veteran yachtsman, Paolo Semeraro who is calling tactics. Paulo also represented Italy at two Olympic Games and has won countless World and National titles.
‘We had a bad start in the first race and it was a real struggle to fight our way back to third but the boat speed and crew work were good, we felt we could come back. I have been coming to Capri since 1985 and it is a great place to visit. I think that the racing will be very close all week, especially with WB Five.”
The most exciting finish of the day came from the Comet Class. In the first race of two of the pre-race favourites crossed the finish line within a boat length of each other. Reigning class champion, Alessandro Nespega’s Fral 2 taking the gun from Marco Franco’s Libertine by the narrowest of margins. After three races, Fral 2 is in first place with Libertine second. Massimo Guardigli is one point behind in third.
Addessi Vincenzo’s Fra Diavolo is the over night leader of the Mylius Class, winning two of today’s races. Vittorio Landolfi’s Pithecusa is currently second overall with Luciano Gandini’s Twin Soul Five in third place.
After returning to the Grande Marina, the Yacht Club Capri provided refreshments for all of the competitors. Racing at Rolex Capri Sailing Week continues tomorrow and local weather expert, Filippo Petrucci is confident that the competitors can expect even more wind than today, which should provide more exciting action from Capri.
Alegre (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Provisional Standings after 3 Races
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Nation, R’s-Points
Mini Maxi
1. ALEGRE Andres Soriano GBR, 1-1-1-3.00
2. JETHOU Sir Peter Ogden GBR, 3-2-2-7.00?2. AEGIR Brian Benjamin GBR, 2-3-3-8.00
COMET
1. FRAL 2 Alessandro Nespega ITA, 1-2-1-4.00
2. LIBERTINE Marco Franco ITA, 2-4-2-8.00
3. ALLURE Massimo Guardigli ITA, 3-3-3-9.00
X-41
1. RAFFICA Pasquale Orofino ITA, 3-1-1-5.00
2. WB FIVE Gianclaudio Bassetti ITA, 1-2-3-6.00?
3. MALAFEMMENA Giovanni Arturo di Lorenzo ITA, 2-3-2-7.00??
Mylius
1. FRA DIAVOLO Vincenzo Addessi ITA, 1-2-1-4.00
2. PITHECUSA Vittorio Landolfi ITA, 3-1-3-7.00?
3. TWIN SOUL 5, Luciano Gandini ITA, 4-3-2-9.00
Capri by Night (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Following a successful introduction in 2005, the sixth edition of Rolex Capri Sailing Week returnst to the turquoise waters of Capri from the 26 to 29 May 2010, offering an opportunity for some spirited competition early in the Mediterranean racing season. The strikingly picturesque island
located in the Bay of Naples provides a stunning backdrop to the on-the-water action and a perfect setting for the off-the-water social activity.
Hosted by the Yacht Club Capri, the regatta comprises four days of highly competitive racing for a range of classes including Mini Maxi, Farr 40, Comet 45, Comet 41, X-41 and Mylius 14E55 yachts. Rolex Capri Sailing Week is hosted and organised by the Yacht Club Capri (YCC) with
the support of the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV), the Unione Vela Altura Italiana (UVAI) and the international Maxi Association (IMA). The Title Sponsor of the regatta is Rolex.
Swan 45 Chrisma (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)
The regatta headquarters, including the Race Office and Media Centre, will be at the Marina Grande in the main port of Capri. This fully equipped, modern harbour also provides perfect berthing for the fleet. The racing area will be on the waters around the island.
All classes will sail a maximum of nine races. The Farr 40s and X-41s will sail only windwardleeward
(W-L) courses; whilst the mini maxis, Comet 45s, Comet 41s and Mylius 14E55s will sail
W-L courses and one coastal race.
The current entry list is made up of 34 entries from six different classes, two of which are one-design models, including the respected Farr 40s that will see Massimo Mezzaroma’s (ITA) Nerone, fresh from their win at the 2010 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, competing on the water. With the mercurial Vasco Vascotto in the hot seat, Nerone has a reputation to uphold and will certainly capture a fair amount of attention as the current class favourite.
JIm Richardson's Barking Mad (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)
The Farr 40 Class also welcomes other international “top guns” such as the German-American architect Helmut Jahn, who will be racing on Flash Gordon and American Jim Richardson on Barking Mad, joining the rest of this international fleet that also features teams heading to Capri from Germany, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The other one-design class participating in the 2010 Rolex Capri Sailing Week is the X-41. Launched by X-Yachts, this class consists primarily of Italian competitors and sees the 2009 World Champion Pier Vector Grimani as one of the strongest in the fleet. The focus will also be on Alberto Signorini, co-helm of Nerone at the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, who will be at the helm of Gianclaudio Bassetti’s WB Five, and Maurizio Pavesi at the helm of Coq Hardy, both contenders for victory in this class.
The Mylius 14E55 and the Comet 41S and 45S will race under the ORC International Rule, a system of measurement for “handicap racing,” designed to allow different sized boats to compete against one another. Handicap racing proves time and time again that a well-honed amateur crew with a competitive and well-maintained boat can upset the expected results. More information about the ORC handicap rule can be found in the Rolex Capri Sailing Week 2010 Press Pack on the regattanews.com event page.
For the Comets all eyes will be on Athanor, winner of its class in the 2009 edition of this event, and Libertine, frequent winner in Capri and overall winner of the 2007 Giraglia Rolex Cup. This year, Libertine’s Italian owner Marco Franco, member of the Yacht Club Capri, and Conny Vuotto, head of the YCC Sailing School, will be sailing onboard to defend the Comet 45S title.
The event this year also welcomes the participation of the Mini Maxi fleet for the first time. This class will include entries such as Andy Soriano’s (GBR) impressive 68-footer Alegre, overall winner at the 2009 Rolex Middle Sea Race, Peter Ogden’s (GBR) Jethou, Brian Benjamin’s (GBR) Aegir and Robertjan Zonneveld’s (ITA) Swan 601 Cuordisole among other massive beauties that complete the entry list.
Farr 40 Fleet During Capri Sailing Week 2009 (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)
Flash at the Start of Transpac 2009 (Photo courtesy of Transpac 2009)
Tom Akin had a lot to say about sailing Flash, a TP 52, to Hawaii. His initial comments were, “I found out what is its like to be in a TP52 for seven days. You sit in water, you eat in water, and you sleep in water. It’s wet. The beast is not as luxurious as my Santa Cruz 52. I was looking for a creature comfort and couldn’t find one.”
Akin, his crew and Jeff Thorpe, Criminal Mischief’s navigator, worked non-stop over a very short period of time to get Flash into racing condition. From the time the boat arrived in Long Beach, two weeks before the start, until the evening before they took off, the deck was strewn with rigging materials, sealants and tools. The work that they did paid off. With more than half of the Transpac fleet safely docked in Honolulu, Flash sits second in class and second in fleet.
Flash held the lead on corrected time for much of the race while Samba was “zigzagging all over the place,” said Paul Cayard. “We were pleasantly surprised to be in the lead. During the last two days, they got it sorted out and put on the afterburners and put 40 miles a day on us.”
Flash at the Dock (Photo courtesy of Transpac 2009)
Allie Cayard, the youngest and the only female on board said, “There was never a dull moment. There was always something to be fixed.” Allie sailed with her brother and father, Paul. She also noted how calm it was dockside compared to out on the Pacific Ocean sailing the world’s most enduring and greatest ocean race
Alpha Romeo (Photo Courtesy of Alpha Romeo.com.au)
Crichton, who lived in Hawaii for a period of time and sailed his first and only Transpacific Yacht Race prior to this one 30 years ago. Crichton’s sailing program has changed considerably since 1979 when he raced in a 42-footer and finished eighth in a 22-boat fleet. Crichton and his fleet of Alfa Romeo sailboats have taken line honors in 171 races. Crichton’s wins include races considered the Holy Grail of offshore racing – the Fastnet and the Sydney Hobart. Crichton looking forward to the Sydney Hobart Race said, “There will be six 100-footers in the race. Five are certainly are capable of winning the race.”
Following the win when Team Manager, Murray Spence, was asked to elaborate on what it took to prepare the boat and team for the race, Crichton stole the microphone and responded, “Money.” Everybody laughed and no one could argue. Crichton said that he was very happy with the race. “We had no mechanical problems: not one.”
Crichton’s team included Stan Honey, Ben Ainslie, Michael Coxon, David Endean, Ryan Godfrey, Stan Honey, Andrew Hutchinson, Phil Jameson, Lance Jenkins, Gavin McPherson, Peter Merrington, Murray Spence, Craig Sattherwaite, Joao Signorini, David Rolfe, Tony Mutter and Alfa’s shore crew, Ian Goldsworthy.
Honey, who has a 50% batting average when it comes to winning the Transpac. He boosts his Transpac wins to 11 with Transpac 2009. Among the Transpac records that Honey set are the fastest corrected time of any singlehanded sailor in a monohull (set in 1994 on Illusion, a Cal 40 and superseded), the fastest Transpac passage in a monohull of any singlehanded sailor; and the fastest passage in a monohull (set in 1999 on Pyewacket, a Santa Cruz 70, in 1999, also superseded.) Honey has also been aboard fastest passage and fastest 24-hour runs in the Atlantic as a crew on ABNAmro One, a Juan K VOR 70 and Playstation, a Morrelli & Melvin catamaran. Those records have been superseded. Honey is on call with Franck Cammas and Groupama to go for a ’round the world record.
Honey’s comment on his Transpacific crossing aboard Alfa Romeo and the weather conditions that enabled the team to break the previously set 24-hour run record in the Transpac, established in 2005 by Morning Glory , was “We had steady winds. We never had a slow spot.” During Transpac 09, Alfa Romeo had a 399-mile day, a 423-mile day and a 393-mile day.
Transpac 09 was the first distance race in the open ocean that America’s Cup helmsman, Ben Ainslie, has sailed. Ainslie got the team off to a roaring start when he nailed the pin at the start of the race on July 5 off of Point Fermi, the southernmost point in Los Angeles.
After the team received their leis and were chauffeured in vintage Alfa Romeo cars from a dock at Aloha Tower, romantic island gateway for the steamships that delivered travelers to Hawaii in the early 20th century.Tom Garrett, Vice Commodore of the Transpacific Yacht Club welcomed the sailors by saying, “It’s one thing to beat a record, it’s another thing to obliterate it.”
Mark Hazlett, the Chair of the 600-member Honolulu Committee from three clubs gave Crichton and his crew a genuine Hawaiian Aloha welcome when he said,”Welcome back to Waikiki Yacht Club.” Crichton, who lived in Hawaii for a number of years was a member of the club. Garrett introduced Crichton and the crew to the newly deeded Merlin Trophy and invited Crichton to visit Newport Beach for a formal presentation of the Clock Trophy. The several hundred pound trophy permanently resides at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum.
Following a press conference, the team and the well-wishers kicked off the first Hawaiian Aloha party of Transpac 09. Cades Schutte LLP and Jimmy Buffett’s Restaurant & Bar hosted the party at Waikiki Yacht Club.
Among the many trophies that Crichton’s Alfa Romeo team, also the top foreign entry in Transpac 09, will claim are: The Merlin Trophy for the fastest elapsed time for the Unlimited Class of yachts competing in the Transpac Race. The Unlimited Class yachts are RSS 51 and 52 waiver yachts (exempt from the Racing Rules of Sailing limitations on movable ballast and/or stored power) up to 100 feet with the shortest elapsed time. These boats are ineligible for the Barn Door Trophy. The trophy, built by Ken Gardiner, is a scale model of Merlin, the famed Bill Lee-designed 68-footer.
Crichton will have the honor of setting back the Clock Trophy, or the Transpacific Yacht Club New Course Record trophy. The Clock Trophy was donated by Roy E. Disney and is awarded to any monohull yacht that establishes a new elapsed time course record. Tradition calls for the winner of the trophy to reset the clock to show the new course record. Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory established the current course record of 6:16:04:11in 2005. Unlimited Class yachts are eligible for the Merlin Trophy and the Clock Trophy, but are not eligible for the Barn Door Trophy.
The remaining 46 boats in the fleet are racing toward Hawaii and hoping to win elapsed time and corrected time honors within their divisions in addition to numerous other awards for completing and competing in the world’s most enduring and greatest ocean race.
Division 3,4 and 5 Start Line July 2nd (Photo Courtesy of Transpac 2009)
Lynx, the heavy tall ship, has only chipped about 220 miles off of the vast 2,225-nautical mile journey.
Gib Black’s thirty-year old Santa Cruz 52, Roy’s Chasch Mer is leading Division V and is just a few miles out in front of Passion. Black and the crew discovered that their shaft strut had cracked wide open hours before our starting gun. They went through our limited parts and tool kits, found dive gear, parts and even machined some others to repair the problem. Says Black, “(We have) a bit more drag at the prop now, but we are moving AND we made our start. Nice start at that.”
Estimated arrivals for the boats are anywhere from 14 days to 30 days.
Tachyon III, Kanzunori Komatu’s Santa Cruz 52, with members of the Japanese Olympic Sailing Team on board, led the parade out of the basin. Like each of the 18 Transpac 09 race boats that followed, Tachyon III was escorted out of Rainbow Harbor’s entrance by paddlers from the Kahakai Canoe Club. Free Range Chicken, Bruce Anderson’s deluxe Perry 59, was the final Transpac race boat to leave the pier. As she streamed away from the dock, the crew showered their escorts with fresh fuschia-colored leis. Long Beach added more pageantry to the send-off by having Navy seals sky dive from a blimp and splash down in between the end of the pier and the Queen Mary.
The 19-boat fleet of 45 to 60-foorters rushed the starting line. They were amped up with anticipation and testosterone and shot out of the blocks on their way to Ala Wai and Transpac Row. The pin was the coveted spot and Criminal Mischief, the grey-hulled boat with a crimson-shirted team roared past the pin. Thinking that they were a bit too early, they bore away and returned to the line to exonerate themselves. Just up off of their starboard hip was Wasabi, one of the Mexican entries, and Bengal 7, one of three Japanese entries. Cipango, Relentless and Passion, all US boats, were just to weather of the pack at the pin. The rest of the fleet was spread out evenly across the starting line all the way up to the committee boat.
Transpac 2009 (Photo courtesy of Transpac 2009)
In Division 6, Relentless, the One-Design 35 being doublehanded by Tim Fuller and Erik Shampain, has a ten-mile lead over the crew on Narrow Escape.
After sailing through wind ranges of 8 to 15 knots immediately following Monday’s start and making a number of headsail changes, Divisions 6 and 7 Transpac crews went over the top of Catalina Island and settled into steadier conditions. Relentless leads and is 2,100 nautical miles from the finish line off Diamond Head and Lynx, the 114-ton tall ship, is finding difficult to get the momentum going. Lynx has 2,165 nautical miles left to go on the 2,225 nautical mile racecourse.
Alumni from the 2007 Transpac Morning Light crew are sprinkled throughout the 51-boat Transpac 09 fleet. Two of them, Kate Theisen and Graham Brant-Zawadski are up for another once-in-a-lifetime experience during this Transpac. They have joined the Lynx crew. America’s Privateer, Lynx, a 122-foot square topsail schooner, travels 7,000 nautical miles each year to ports along the West Coast and Hawaii, serving as a living history museum and classroom for the study of early maritime history and its role in establishing America’s freedom, as well as earth, life and physical science.
Charisma, one of nine foreign yachts in this year’s Transpacific Yacht Race, is off to an early lead in Division 7. Alejandro Perez Calzada and his crew of 11 are racing this 57-foot Sparkman & Stephens design. Aside from one German, the entire Charisma crew is Spanish. All crew members are sailing their first Transpac. Their goal is to have a good time and have a respectable finish within their division.
Between the Sheets, Ross Peralman’s, Jeanneau 50, which won the Aloha A division in the 2007 Transpac, is approximately 15 miles behind Charisma.
Nineteen boats comprising Divisions 3,4 and 5 start on Thursday, July 2nd at 1300 off of Point Fermin. Five Santa Cruz 50’s, including hull #1, Roy’s Chasch Mer, constitute Division 5. Half of the boats in Division 4 are Santa Cruz 52’s. Reinrag2, the overall winner on corrected time for the 2007 Transpac, is also in Division 4. Division 3’s entries include two Japanese and one Mexican boat and Bruce Anderson’s comfortable and fast, Free Range Chicken.
With 44 races starting in 1906, the Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii is well into its second century as the longest of the two oldest ocean races in the world. The first race was the year of the great San Francisco earthquake, which literally altered the course of the event.
The race was inspired by King Kalakaua, the revered Hawaiian leader of the late 19th century who believed that such an event would strengthen the islands’ economic and cultural ties to the mainland. But it didn’t happen until Clarence MacFarlane, a Honolulu racing sailor, invited several contemporaries in San Francisco and Los Angeles to race to the Hawaiian Islands. The race was scheduled to start in the early summer of 1906, but when MacFarlane sailed his 48-foot schooner into San Francisco Bay he realized there would have to be a change of plans. The city lay in ruins following the great earthquake 27 days earlier.
But MacFarlane wasn’t easily discouraged. He simply changed the starting point to Los Angeles, and except for one nostalgic return to San Francisco for the start in 1939, the race has started in Southern California ever since. The starting line is now off the bluffs of Point Fermin in San Pedro at the southern edge of the City of Los Angeles. The finish is off the Diamond Head lighthouse just east of Honolulu, establishing a distance of 2,225 nautical miles.
The 2009 race will be the 45th Transpac. It has been sailed by 1,700 boats from 17 countries, including 124 foreign competitors. The race is run biennially in odd-numbered years, alternating with the Newport-to-Bermuda race that also started in 1906.
Fastest elapsed time (monohull): 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds, Morning Glory (Reichel/Pugh maxZ86 maxi sled), Hasso Plattner, Kiel, Germany,2005.
Fastest elapsed time (multihull): 5 days 9 hours 18 minutes 26 seconds, Explorer (86-foot catamaran), Bruno Peyron, 1997.
