21st Rolex Swan Cup: Half-time at the Swan Cup off Porto Cervo

At the halfway stage of the Rolex Swan Cup, several of the 13 Swans flying the German flag have secured good starting positions. After two days of racing and the third day of the regatta, which was cancelled in humid thunderstorm conditions, Christian Kliger's "Tango" and Marcus Brennecke's class sister "Hatari" with tactician Markus Wieser were in a promising second and fourth place in the one-design ClubSwan50 division after four races so far.

13 German swans enjoy the regatta show off Porto Cervo

The Belgian "Balthasar" with Louis Balcaen took the lead among the ClubSwan 50 racers after the first half of the regatta. The third place of the Austrian "Stella Maris" of August Schramm is also striking. With the five-time Olympic medallist Robert Scheidt from Brazil, it seems that the team has made it into the upper echelons of the high-performance class with a broad front. The team on Hendrik Brandis' runner-up world champion "Earlybird", which started the series early without its owner, who was ill but has since recovered, has now worked its way up to seventh place in the large field of 15 yachts. Mark Bezner's "Olymp", which made a promising start to the series on the Costa Smeralda with third place, was in eleventh place after four races, hungry for better results.

The German Fifties fight for victory in the Nations League

Together with the other German crews in the one-design classes, the regularly successful German fifties in particular are also fighting for victory in the Nations League. In the nations ranking, which always includes the best two results of Swan yachts in all one-design divisions according to their placings and fleet size at the regattas, the German team is already in a commanding lead after four of five regattas with 102 points, ahead of Italy (87 points) and Monaco (53 points). Victory in the nations' competition is now virtually out of reach for the teams flying the black, red and gold flag in the final of the Rolex Swan Cup. Click here for the Results of the one-design classes at the Rolex Swan Cup.

Parallel to the one-design competitions, 48 very different Swans from all over the world are competing for podium places and good placings in the A-Maxi, A1-Mini-Maxi, B-Classic S&S and C-Swan Grand Prix remuneration classes. In the A-Maxis, the Spanish Swan 80 "Plis-Play" was in the lead at the halfway point. In the A1 boats, Steven Cucchiaro's Swan 601 "Flow" was the front runner after two long races. In Class B, the Swan 38 "Mascalzone Latino XXXIII" (built in 1974) of former America's Cup competitor Vincenzo Onorato led the field.

"Crilia" leads the Grand Prix classification at the halfway point

The strong German participation in the Grand Prix Class C was reflected in the lead of Gerd Heinz and Christoph Stein's Swan 53 "Crilia". Jan Opländer's Swan 54 "Katima" from Flensburg was in seventh place after the first two races. Dietmar Penning's Swan 46 "Fixation" followed in eighth place in the largest field of 22 Grand Prix Swans. The Swan 40 "Kju", owned by Klaus Wirbel, Jörg Will and Uwe May with skipper Kalle Dehler, was tenth at the halfway point. Click here for the Results of the remuneration classes.

The 21st Rolex Swan Cup continues and ends on 18 September with the last races. This will be followed by the award ceremony on the legendary piazza of the host Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS). YCCS Commodore Michael Illbruck will once again address the participants at the farewell gala. Michael Illbruck had already got to know the dream area off Porto Cervo as a child while sailing with his family. His "illbruck" team won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001/2002. As an honorary member of the YCCS, Illbruck will remain loyal to the sport of sailing on the prominent regatta stage.