Sweden dominates as H20 is undefeated
Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Overall: Sweden dominates as H20 are undefeated
by James Boyd / International Maxi Association Sep 10 2:05 PM PDT
4-10 September 2022
The final day of racing at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, the highlight of the International Maxi Association’s racing season looked marginal due to a well forecast Mistral.
Nevertheless, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda race committee, led by Peter Craig, made a valiant effort to hold a final short coastal race for 46 maxis, moving the start by two hours to 1000 and moving the starting area south of Costa Smeralda’s strongest. winds. Unfortunately, it was to no avail: When the gun went off for the Maxi class start, the AP flag was raised and the race was abandoned.
Andy Beadsworth, strategist on Velsheda, a J class with a 52m mast, observed: “When we raised the mainsail the wind was 28-29 knots. In the end it was a steady 25-26 gusts of 30. It was a good effort and we were all in, but it was the right call.”
Yesterday, Svea had won the J-class competition with a day to spare, as had the Swan 115 Shamanna in the Super Maxi class. Coincidentally, both are Swedish-owned. The owner of Shamanna was pleased: This was the first time he won a race with his Swan 115 (although he has his Spirit Yachts 100 Gaia at home in Sweden). “We’ve been training quite a lot and it came together really nicely this time with good crew work. This is a great regatta with all these powerful boats and the scenery is beautiful. I like the coastal races – there’s a lot going on in them and there’s a lot of interaction when the boats come together.”
Shamanna’s crew is a mix of the owner’s friends and professionals led by British former America’s Cup and world racer Guy Barron. With several Super Maxis retiring with gear failures, the Super Maxi class was a war of attrition. “When you come to Sardinia, your boat has to get around the course – that’s one of the big things,” Barron said as the party began on Shamanna’s aft deck. “A big hand to the crew and skipper Chris Brand for putting this together and not breaking anything. This is my fourth time winning in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and my first time in the Super Maxi class. We will definitely come back and do it again. ”
The toughest competition came in the largest class, Maxis (LH: 24.09-30.50m). Heading into the final day, Lord Irvine Laidlaw’s Reichel/Pugh 82 Highland Fling XI was seven points ahead of David M. Leuschen’s Wallycento Galateia with Andrea Recordati’s Wally 93 Bullitt a further four points behind in third.
These results came as a relief to Lord Laidlaw, who, while leading last year, saw victory slip through his fingers due to a broken fore stay. “I decided to stick with the boat for one more year just to finish with this wonderful boat on top. This event has been really perfect – great competition, with great racing. The Maxi fleet is very high quality – of all years like I’ve come to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, this is the finest fleet, so it’s especially good to win against them. As always, Porto Cervo has proven to be the best place in the world to race.”
In fact, if racing had taken place today, it may have proved difficult for Highland Fling XI as their J4 foresail was torn during hoisting. “We would have loved to race today, but it would have been difficult to set up the J3 in so much wind. At 28 knots at the start and 30 knots at Charlie and Uniform’s marks, Peter [Craig] made the right decision.”
After 13 years this was Highland Fling XI’s last regatta with Laidlaw as she will race at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez under new ownership while Laidlaw turns her attention to multihull racing with the launch of her new Gunboat 80 catamaran due next year.
While Jim Swartz’s Vesper clinched the deal in the Mini Maxi 1 class for the previous Maxi 72s, the leaderboard was closest going into the final day in Mini Maxi 2 with Alessandro Del Bono’s Reichel/Pugh ILC maxi Capricorno one point ahead of IMA’s 2021 Yacht of the Year Luciano Gandini’s Mylius 80 FD Twin Soul B, with Sven Wackerhagen’s Wally 80 Rose three points behind, tied in turn with Jean-Pierre Barjon’s Spirit of Lorina.
With the race abandoned today, Capricorno defended her title from 2021. “It has been very close with Twin Soul B, who sailed very well,” admitted tactician Flavio Favini. “It was a good race – a bit of everything, light air and windy, but unfortunately no race today. It would be very interesting to see the performance in the strong wind.” Her victory this year marks the 25th anniversary of when, as Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory, she won her first Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Today, as an ILC maxi, she lacks beam and range potential compared to her newer rivals. Winning this year’s race, with plenty of coastal courses and range conditions, is testament to her highly experienced crew, many of whom raced with Del Bono’s father Rinaldo in his 1996 Admiral’s Cup winning team.
Conversely, Mini Maxi was 3-4 with Riccardo de Michele’s H20 taking the biggest win, the only yacht to have a perfect scoreline. Much of the reason behind the H20’s extraordinary performance is due to a tight grip: Her tenacious owner has entered the H20 in every edition of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup since 2007. De Michele’s competitive touch paper was ignited when the H20 finally won the final 2014 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Since then, the silver Vallicelli 78 has been series class winner here – in 2015, then 2017-2019 and finally this year, finishing third in 2016, 2019 and 2021.
“I am very proud of my team and my boat,” commented de Michele. “This week was really lovely and very interesting from a sailing point of view. I think the jury made the right decision when they canceled today’s race – the wind was getting too strong. But otherwise we enjoyed winds typical of Porto Cervo in September, which we like a lot.”
At the afternoon awards ceremony, held in the Piazza outside the YCCS clubhouse in Porto Cervo, the class winners received their Rolex watches while the owner of Wallycento Galateia, David M. Leuschen, was awarded the trophy for the best placed IMA member.
In conclusion, Andrew McIrvine, General Secretary of the event’s co-organizer International Maxi Association, commented: “This event, the highlight of the maxi year, continues to bring together the world’s most impressive and diverse collection of racing maxis. We have seen a near record level in numbers but have surpassed all past records in terms of quality, including the very latest designs, such as Nautor’s ClubSwan 80 to the most extreme, exemplified by FlyingNikka.
“Competitors continue to return for a variety of reasons: Excellent race management; close racing within a testing area of courses, often in narrow inter-island channels with spectacular scenery. Although we have strict rules for owner-drivers, these owners are supported by the world’s very top sailors , tacticians, navigators and crews.”
Next year the IMA and YCCS intend to abandon the Maxi and Mini Maxi classes and their 80ft length division. Instead, yachts of 60-100 feet will simply be grouped together with similar IRC TCC ratings. “This will help improve the fairness of racing and the enjoyment of all competitors,” concludes McIrvine.
Full results available here and J grade results available here.