Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup: Tough conditions and a lot of breakage off Sardinia
Sören Gehlhaus
· 06.09.2023
Day two of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup brought challenging conditions. The onshore breeze of the night was still creating a sizeable sea, which was thrown back by the cliffs. The result was a nice mess. In addition, the wind was blowing at 20 knots from the north, with a decreasing tendency. Nevertheless, the race committee sent the 45 participants on medium-distance courses with lengths of 38 to 46 nautical miles. They started with a cross, followed by a downwind course to the south around the islands of Mortorio and Soffi, then back to the north-west to smooth water and the weaker wind of "Bomb Alley" and on to round La Maddalena.
It was challenging, some had breakages and others even had fun, like Pier Luigi Loro Piana on his ClubSwan 80 "My Song". His race summary: "My crew was fantastic and we made very few mistakes," said Loro Piana. "It's always very exciting when you're doing 20 knots, but with 1.5 to 2 metre waves you had to be very careful. It wasn't scary, but everyone has to do the right thing at the right time. This boat is designed for about 11 knots, but a boat that doesn't do well in 20 to 25 knots is no good." On the Juan-K design, which has only been sailing for a year, 400 kilograms were removed from the keel bomb, the canard was refitted and the inclination of the keel was increased to 45 degrees. The crew size was also increased to 24.
Foil advantage fades in big waves
The monohull foiler "Flying Nikka" triumphed once again after the real time sailed, crossing the line after 2 hours 55 minutes 56 seconds. The conditions seemed to suit "Black Jack" and the Sydney Hobart veteran reduced the gap to a good 25 minutes today. Accordingly, the lead was once again not enough for first place in the corrected ranking. Some of the waves were simply too high for "Flying Nikka" and forced the hull to make contact with the water; the maximum flight height from the bottom of the skeg to the water surface is 1.20 metres, beyond which the wings lose their airflow - which the automatic foil control system knows how to prevent. However, "Flying Nikka" did lie on its side, which again looked like the sun shot of a foil-less yacht. "Leopard 3", yesterday's Maxi A winner on corrected IRC time, finished in second place after the A-sails of David M. Leuschen and Chris Flowers' Wallycentos "Galateia" and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' "Magic Carpet Cubed" both hung in tatters from the masts.
In the Super Maxi class, a three-way battle is developing at the top between Juan Ball's Swan 115 "Moat", Claus-Peter Offen's Wally 101 "y3k" and Marco Vögele's 108-foot Baltic "Inoui", after "Moat" won today with a lead of almost two minutes over "Inoui" and "y3k". Vittorio Moretti's 36 metre long "Viriella" had to retire.
The ex-Maxi 72 gave each other nothing
One of the closest finishes was achieved by the former Maxi 72s in the Maxi B group, with George Sakellaris' "Proteus" in the lead and "Bella Mente" by Hap Fauth 19 seconds behind. Peter Dubens' "North Star" retired with problems on the bowsprit and "Pepe Cannonball" blew a spinnaker. "We had a difficult start, but we fought our way back into the race with a good first downwind. After that, everything went smoothly," said Christina Sakellaris, the daughter of the "Proteus" owner, who is an Olympic Laser sailor and divides her time on board between steering or trimming the traveller and mainsail on the wind. "The conditions were pretty tough for the first part of the day, with high seas, but it was super fun - that's what sailing athletes love."
The 84-foot cat "Allegra" was able to boast the largest calculated gap in the Maxi-Multihull class; the crew around owner Adrian Keller achieved a time cushion of 40 minutes on the Gunboat 68 "Convexity2". "Highland Fling 18" did not compete. "Allegra" tactician Paul Larsen was delighted: "These were our conditions. The swell was official, so we started with one reef, which we took out later - all with the owner at the helm." Concentration was required the whole time, as "Convexity2" kept approaching: "We probably flew the hull higher than ever before and they were only one boat length behind us. We sailed them like F18s and wanted to win both on the water."
Breakage for large and small
"Spirit of Lorina" continued her winning streak in the Maxi C class. After finishing last overall in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2022, the 65-foot-long Botin design by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Barjon is also showing its offshore strengths on land this year: "We had perfect conditions today," said boat skipper Benjamin Enon. "We've learnt how to handle this boat over the last year and a half and it's paying off. Yesterday and today it was a bit windier and we know that our boat runs better downwind than some of the other boats." Former IMA President Thomas Bscher did not compete today with his new Baltic 68 Café Racer "Open Season", nor did Tara Getty's S&S classic "Baruna from 1938".
There were two retirements in Maxi C: The Baltic 65 "Re/Max One 2" crashed into a rock at La Maddalena at around twelve knots, and the "Yoru" behind it was unable to prevent ramming despite an evasive manoeuvre.
The Js also suffered material damage: "Topaz" had to abandon the race with damage to two spinnakers. Once again, "Svea" won ahead of "Velsheda". "Svea" tactician Bouwe Bekking: "We were lucky with the start: 'Velsheda' came close to us and 'Topaz' tacked early. Before the wind, the breeze dropped to twelve knots and we had our S4 (symmetrical spinnaker) up, which was not ideal. But when you have a light A-sail up, these boats have so much power that the sails can explode."
The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda together with the International Maxi Association (IMA). There will be three more days of sailing off Porto Cervo, with Thursday being used as a rest day or alternative day in the event of a calm.
Here are the results after day two:
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