No wind off Sorrento means no play on opening day of the IMA Maxi Europeans

Sadly high pressure and a bright but hazy sky over the Gulf of Naples meant that there was no sailing on the opening day of the IMA Maxi European Championship supported by Rolex as Official Timepiece. Monday was supposed to have been the first of four days of racing that Naples’ Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia (CRVI) has hosted for a third consecutive year out of Sorrento, racing this year once again supported by Loro Piana. Following the dramatic Regata dei Tre Golfi offshore over Friday-Saturday, Monday to Thursday this week will see 20 maxis competing for the second part of the IMA Maxi Europeans over a mix of windward-leeward and coastal courses on the Gulf of Naples, possibly including the popular lap of nearby Capri.

PRO Stuart Childerley explained today’s call: “We postponed ashore and waited and waited and eventually it was AP over A as there was just no wind. We had a boat out on the bay and were also making observations from land. It was pretty much in line with the forecast.”

Ian Moore, navigator on Hap Fauth’s 74ft Bella Mente commented: “It is obviously tricky and we were all hoping that the forecast was going to be wrong. There was a chance of a localised sea breeze, but it just didn’t happen. The gradient is out of the east and there is so much haze and cloud cover that it stopped development of the sea breeze.”

 

Jef Cuzon, navigator on Karel Komárek’s Wallycento V agreed that there was nothing marginal about the decision: “It was definitely too calm – the water was glassy. There might have been a small puff for a few seconds. It is cloudy, so the sea breeze effect isn’t taking place. We knew it was going to be very very light and that was the case.”

Fortunately tomorrow the outlook is much more promising with 10-15 knots from the southwest. The PRO has already confirmed two windward-leewards will be sailed on the Gulf of Naples.

Of tomorrow’s racing Moore, a past Volvo Ocean Race winner, commented: “It is from a different direction - the southwest - which is a much better direction here. So we are hoping for two races tomorrow and we are excited about that. Hopefully we can to stretch our legs in a bit of pressure.”

Cuzon, a former 470 World Champion, added: “Tomorrow will be the best day of the week. We will have perhaps 15 knots, thermal effect and we will have two windward-leewards.”

Racing is scheduled to start on time at 1200 tomorrow. Meanwhile tonight, competitors will get to enjoy a cocktail party hosted by the International Maxi Association at the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria overlooking Sorrento’s Marina Piccola, where the Maxi Europeans fleet is moored.

(Report by James Boyd/International Maxi Association9