Rolex Capri Sailing Week
Capri, Italy
The Action Continues at the Rolex Capri Sailing Week
May 16, 2007
Day two of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, sailed in the Gulf of Naples, saw the 51 boat fleet set out with very unstable wind conditions. Erratic southeast winds dominated the first race of the day only to suddenly change into southwesterly winds during the second race, making it incredibly difficult for all the tacticians who had to deal with the shifting wind of 50 degrees.
The race committee decided to sail the same courses as yesterday for each class.A windward-leeward course of approximately 8 nautical miles kept the Farr 40 and Swan 45 fleets busy, while the Comet and Mini Maxi fleets sailed approximately 13.5 nautical miles around the buoys positioned to the north of the island of Capri.
Among the Farr 40s, Gianluigi Serena's Enfant Terrible - with Paolo Cian calling tactics -and Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone - with tactition Lorenzo Bressani - respectively won the two regattas of the day. The good performance of Nerone, who dominated the second part of today's last regatta, brought her a 3rd place in the provisional ranking. "I risked the right side of the course," said Bressani, commenting on Nerone's second successful race. "All the boats were going left believing it was a paying tactic, but I choose the wrong side and we passed the first upwind buoy in fourth position. I decided to maintain the same position after the leeward buoy and this time the tactic paid off," he added. Nerone passed the second upwind buoy in 1st place and maintained leadership of the race until the finish line, crossing it with good distance between them and Calvi and Cannonball, who followed in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
The overall results for this division after two days of racing and five completed regattas sees Barking Mad (USA), of owner Jim Richardson, dominating overall with a 2nd and a 5th place today, followed by Lang Walker's Kokomo (AUS), who fell behind yesterday's top position after a disappointing 13th place in today's first race and a 9th in the second.
Calvi (ITA), owned by former president of the European Farr 40s Association Carlo Alberini, performed well in the two races. Calvi fought against Struntje Light, who is coincidentally owned by the actual European Class Association president Wolfgang Schaefer, in the first race to take 3rd place while leading in 2nd place just ahead of Cannonball (ITA) in the following one.
For the Swan 45 division, composed of fifteen boats, two windward-leeward races were completed which both counted in the official scoring for the event after the two warm-up races competed yesterday. Atlantica Racing (ITA), owned by Carlo Perrone, dominates overall and is followed by Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuoridileone (ITA). In the first race Atlantica came in 1st ahead of Visconti-Orombelli's Mandolino (ITA), while taking 7th in the second race. Cuoridileone, with Nico Celon calling tactics, came in 8th in the first race and took the top spot in the second race ahead of Bellerose-Duvel (BEL) and Danilo Salsi's DSK Comifin (ITA).
"Today's wind conditions were very unstable," said tactician Celon. "The wind was shifting all the time and it didn't allow us to make any clear predictions. In the first regatta, the wind suddenly shifted to the right but I didn't believe in it as seven boats of the fleet did, and we paid for that packing in the last part of the fleet. We slowly tried to recuperate from a tenth position but we couldn't do very much and we concluded in 8th position. Again, in the second race we had to face difficult wind conditions. This time the wind shifted to the left, so I decided to maintain my position to this side of the course and under the entire fleet. We rounded the first upwind buoy in fourth position and then the leeward mark in first, taking the lead until the finish line."
The all-Italian Comet division saw Maurizio Biscardi's Libertine (ITA) - with Russia's Serghei Chevtsov at the helm - taking the top position overall with two 1st places in corrected time. Last year's division winner Nur (ITA), owned by Guido Morisco, came in 2nd place in the provisional ranking after having crossed the line in 3rd in both races. 3rd place overall in corrected time went to Wing Song (ITA) owned by Tasselli Rodolfo.
The Mini Maxi fleet saw Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II (ITA) cross the finish-line 1st in both of today's races before moving to 3rd place overall on corrected time behind Massimo Violati's Ops 5 (ITA), who is actually leading the ranking, and Giorgio Ruffo's Aleph (ITA) who took 2nd overall.
Tomorrow's weather forecast predicts winds of approximately 11 to 15 knots coming from northerly-northwesterly directions, while conditions will be overcast with intensification in the afternoon and a shift to northerly-northeasterly winds.
Racing is due to start at 12 mid-day.
Rolex Capri Sailing Week 2007 - Provisional Results after 2 Days (Top Three)
Farr 40
Position. Yacht Name, Country, Owner, Points
1. Barking Mad, USA, Jim Richardson, 19 (8- 3- 2- 2- 4)
2. Kokomo, AUS, Lang & Sue Walker, 29 (1- 1- 5- 13- 9)
3. Nerone, ITA, Massimo Mezzaroma, 31 (7- 17- 1- 5- 1)
Swan 45
Position. Yacht Name, Country, Owner, Points
1. Atlantica Racing, ITA, Carlo Perrone, 8 (1- 7)
2. Cuordileone, ITA, Leonardo Ferragamo, 9 (8- 1)
3. Charisma, NED, Nico Poons, 11 (3- 8)
Mini-Maxi
Position. Yacht Name, Country, Owner, Points
1. OPS 5, ITA, Violati Massimo, 6 (1- 2- 3)
2. Aleph, ITA, Ruffo Giorgio, 7 (2- 3- 2)
3. Atalanta II, Puri Negri Carlo, 10 (8- 1- 1)
Comet S
Position. Yacht Name, Country, Owner, Points
1. Libertine, ITA, Biscardi Maurizio, 3 (1- 1- 1)
2. Nur, ITA, Morisco Guido, 9 (3- 3- 3)
3. Wind Song, Rodolfo Tasselli, 13 (7- 2- 4)
To receive daily reports about the Rolex Capri Sailing Week and to download high-resolution images, copyright free for editorial purposes, register online at www.regattanews.com, the press-specific website for all Rolex yachting events.
|
