20th Rolex Swan Cup: Stefan Heidenreich's "OneGroup" wins first ClubSwan 50 World Championship

110 yachts from 17 countries competed for titles and positions in the 20th anniversary edition of the Rolex Swan Cup. Leonardo Ferragamo, President of the Nautor Swan Group, said after the final in Porto Cervo: "This was a Rolex Swan Cup that was even better than all previous editions, and I hope that it exceeded the expectations of all participants." Over five intense days of racing, the participants were challenged in mainly light winds. Two new world champions were crowned with the crews of Stefan Heidenreich's German ClubSwan 50 "OneGroup" and the Spanish Swan 45 "Porron IX". The European Championship title in the ClubSwan 45 went to the Italian "Mela" crew.

The clip shows the exciting races on the final day and the winners

In the still young ClubSwan50 class, a World Championship title was contested for the first time. Twelve yachts, crewed by prominent tacticians such as Ken Read ("Cuordileone"), Bouwe Bekking ("Niramo") and Olympic champion Xabí Fernandez ("Stay Calm"), competed for the crown. On the final day, three yachts - Heidenreich's "OneGroup", "Mathilde" and "Cuordileone" - were tied ahead of the final race. "OneGroup" tactician Cameron Dunn said: "Nothing seemed to go right for us in the first race of the day. In the second and final race of the World Championship we had a terrible start. The other two yachts("Mathilde" and "Cuordileone", the ed.)have decided in favour of a more extreme stroke - which worked out well for us. We were able to control the race, even though 'Cuordileono' kept attacking us. A brilliant gybe helped us to win by a boat length in the end." It was the closest title decision in this series. The beaten "Cuordileone" owner Leonardo Ferragamo said: "The amount of adrenaline and tension was impressive! This is one of the best competitions I have ever experienced. Congratulations to 'OneGroup'. They were well prepared, well trained and deserve this World Championship title." For owner Stefan Heidenreich, it was his first major victory in one of his first regattas as an owner.

In the Swan 45 class, the Spanish title defenders on "Porron IX" prevailed against the German "Elena Nova" in the battle for the world championship title. Together, the two dominant teams won eight out of ten races. However, because the Spaniards were slightly faster than the Germans in light conditions, they were able to win the duel in the lighter breeze on the final day. In the Grand Prix class, the German Swan 53 "Crilia" was only narrowly defeated by her sister ship "Solte" by two points.

Click here for the results.