The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup off Porto Cervo was once again the highlight of the Maxi season, as the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship was sailed for the first time. The organisers of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) and the International Maxi Association (IMA) accepted entries from yachts with IRC ratings between 1,700 and 2,200 that are longer than 30.51 metres.
But it was not meant to be, or so it seemed. The capricious weather continued in the World Cup year of all years. After the first two days had already fallen victim to the mistral, the first Race day with changeable conditions, initially an unstable weather situation with squalls and another lay day due to 40-knot gusts. Only the last day of the event brought the 43 crews the desired conditions with wind peaks of between 20 and 30 knots and rides through the natural sailing arena of Bomb Alley. This passage between the north of Sardinia and the La Maddalena archipelago, which is a good ten miles long and lined with rocks, regularly provides spectacular images and navigational challenges.
Perfect conditions at last for the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup
After a beat to windward, the starters from Maxi 1 and 2 headed south to round the islands of Mortorio and Soffi on a 42.5-mile course. They then headed north to join the other classes, which sailed a 34.5-mile clockwise course around La Maddalena. While Wendy Schmidt's 85-footer "Deep Blue" was still in the lead in Maxi 1 after day one, Botin Partners' 85-footer had no chance. The crew had to repair a defect on the batten pocket and fought their way to the finish, but were unfortunately out of the race. Other favourites such as "Capricorno", a brand new 82-footer from Judel/Vrolijk computers, and "Magic Carpet 3" with Jochen Schümann had to abandon the coastal race.
Instead, Dutchman Joost Schuijff's "Leopard 3" came out on top and won the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship with a three-point lead over the 82-foot Wally "Django HF". Third place went to the Wallycento "V", which was level on points with "Deep Blue" and "Bullitt", owned by the new YCCS commander Andrea Recordati. "This is a dream come true," said a delighted Schuijff. "We have worked hard for years on the boat, the team and the quality of my steering performance. We trained a lot and had a training week in July where we were able to iron out a few problems. Last year we struggled with some of the big sails, this year the quality of our equipment is good and nothing has failed."
Maxi-1 world champion with Baird and Sanderson
Under her previous owner Mike Slade, "Leopard 3" won the Maxi Racing class off Porto Cervo in 2016. Last year, the Farr design from 2007 was heavily modified and slimmed down by around ten tonnes. This season, the America's Cup winner and multiple world champion Ed Baird and the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race, Mike Sanderson, joined the team. "Leopard 3" was optimised for coastal and ocean racing and coped well with the difficult conditions. Schuijff's summary: "Up-and-down is not our strength. We had hoped that the weather would develop as it did today, with a higher proportion of reaching."
In the Maxi 2 group (the former Maxi 72s), George and Christina Sakellaris' "Proteus" was in first place, just 20 seconds behind the IRC-corrected time, but won by back-calculating Peter Harrison's "Jolt". "It was a great race in excellent conditions. This boat likes wind and heavy weather as long as it's not more than 30 knots," said Sakellaris, who took turns at the helm with his daughter. This is the first time the Sakellaris' have won this title after many years of trying. The successful US Maxi 72 "Bella Mente" was not at the start.
Zennström came out on top with "Svea"
After the first race on Wednesday, Juan Ball's Swan 115 'Moat' led the Supermaxi class, but a win today by Niklas Zennström and Filip Engelbert's 43.6m 'Svea' ensured that the Swedish J won the Super Maxi class in the standings. It was the third consecutive triumph for 'Svea' and the seventh for Zennström personally (including his four previous Mini Maxi wins).
"It was very exciting and a lot of fun," said Bouwe Bekking, tactician on "Svea". "Today was really nice. We had 18 knots in Bomb Alley and about 22 to 23 knots on the reach - it wasn't hammering." "Svea" had a close race with "Moat", which made up miles, especially on the reach sections. The German Wally 101 "Y3k" did not cross the start line on the final day and finished in fourth place behind the second J, "Velsheda".
Similar to "Proteus", "Oscar 3" all too often had to settle for second place in Maxi 3. But this year, Aldo and Elena Parisotto broke the spell with their Mylius 65FD, albeit with a minimal lead over last year's French winner Jean-Pierre Barjon with "Spirit of Lorina". Riccardo de Michele took his sixth Maxi Cup victory with his "H20" in the Maxi 4 classification. In the second appearance of the multihull class, the Gunboat 66 "Gaetana" was ahead of Adrian Keller's "Allegra" and Lord Irvine Laidlaw's Gunboat 80 "Highland Fling 18" on its debut after corrected ORCmh time.
