The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup began on testing day for all competitors with 3-metre waves outside of Porto Cervo Harbour and 20 - 25 knots of northeasterly wind for the 42 maxi yachts to race in.
The Race Committee chose a 35 nautical mile course, for day one, that took the fleet on a beat to a windward mark, followed by a fetch to the rocks at Monaci, where the yachts bore off onto a run down into the main channel between the Maddalena Islands and mainland Sardinia. At Secca di Tre Monti the fleet hardened up for some upwind work in flat water to the top mark of the course at Barrettinelli di Fuori. Then it was back out into the lump and bump of the open sea and a fast reach down to the finish off Porto Cervo. Of the Swan fleet, that are split between their respective Maxi Racer Cruiser and Mini Maxi Racer Cruiser Classes, the Swan 90 had the most successful day battling the waves in Porto Cervo. In the combined Racing and Racing/Cruising Class, Danilo Salsi’s Swan 90, DSK, registered a third place score finishing just one second behind Roma-Aniene on corrected time. The Swan 100, Varsovie, competing alongside DSK had to settle for 5th in Class for the first race of the week. In the racing Mini Maxis, Torben Grael and Olympic maestro Robert Scheidt brought Luna Rossa (ITA) home first of the fleet. Jean-Charles Decaud's J One (FRA) was the fortunate one in the Wallys, while Velsheda (GBR) and tradition got the better of modernity in Cruising. The luck of the Irish was evidenced in the Racing/Cruising Mini Maxis as Whisper (IRL) quietly went about her business and in the combined Racing/Cruising division, and Karl Kwok's Beau Geste (HKG) also tallied a race win.
Racing continues tomorrow, with the first signal scheduled for 11.30 CEST.
The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from 6 to 12 September. The prize giving on Saturday will be the culmination of an intense week of big boat racing. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to the most advanced monohulls afloat today, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is nothing if not an astonishing line up of sailing power.
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