LONG DAY AT THE MAXI YACHT ROLEX CUP

September 5, 2007

Wild Oats XI loses rig just after start

Race two of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup was a day of high drama. The 65 nautical mile Coastal Race took all four divisions all the way up the outside of the Maddalena Islands to Lavezzi and the southern tip of Corsica, returning back down the channel and beyond to the islet of Mortoriotto before a final return leg to the finish off Porto Cervo. This time the critical moment in proceedings was shortly after the start. But, once again, it involved the 30-metre supermaxi, Wild Oats XI (AUS). Within a few minutes of the start, her mast was seen to explode into three pieces. Four crew were launched into the water as the 12-tonne canting keel, then at maximum tilt and with nothing left above to balance it out, rolled the yacht violently to windward. All crew were safely recovered and, fortunately, only one crew was slightly injured during the catastrophe that brought to an abrupt end Bob Oatley's quest for victory and the continuation of the duel with her near sistership, Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo (NZL).

Conditions at the start were uncomfortable, but not treacherous. A northeasterly Grecale at 15 knots had replaced the Mistral of yesterday. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Race Committee had set the start inside the Maddalena channel to afford some protection from the far lumpier sea state directly outside Porto Cervo harbour. Most relieved with this decision were the numerous spectator, support and media vessels whose task of holding station with the line was made far easier in the moderated waters within the channel.

The Racing Division start was uneventful - initially at least. Alfa Romeo grabbed the pin end - owner/skipper Neville Crichton rightly convinced they could lay the first mark of the course at Monaci. Wild Oats was inside her, with Favonius closest to the Committee boat in the 7-boat division. Just as it seemed that watchers would be treated to an enthralling drag race to the Monaci rocks, Wild Oats suffered her unfortunate demise. Best guesses suggest the mast suffered a rigging failure. Why so is a mystery to experienced helmsman Mark Richards, "We've never had anything like this happen in ten years of offshore campaigning. We could understand it more easily if we were pounding upwind in rough seas and strong winds, but that wasn't the case here." If anyone needs reminding of the Wild Oats XI pedigree, she completed the treble (course record/line honours and overall handicap win) at the Rolex Sydney Hobart in 2005 - so both boat and crew could rightly be assumed to be well within their comfort zone for the conditions experienced at the start of this race.

As is often the way in yacht racing, the remainder of the fleet appeared to pay little heed to Wild Oats' distress and carried on the business of getting around the course. To simplify their attitude in this way would be a complete disservice to the other participating crews who know full well that mishaps occur to even the most carefully prepared boats - and certainly Wild Oats would be in that category.

To begin with, the rest of the race unfolded as the first day. In the Racing Division, Alfa Romeo pulled away gradually from Morning Glory and was the first yacht to reach the Monaci rocks. By Lavezzi, the furthest point from Porto Cervo, Crichton reckoned they had 20 minutes on Morning Glory and had every chance of winning the race on the water and handicap. It was not to be. As she launched out of the channel at Capo Ferro on the leg to Mortoriotto she stalled. Crichton takes up the story, "we came out of there and parked up. We did about 2 knots for probably twenty minutes. Morning Glory all but caught us up. As soon as we got the breeze we opened up 10 minutes on them but it wasn't enough to win the race. So I'd say we were probably last on handicap." Crichton was upbeat despite this, "it was a good race. We were happy the way we sailed. Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not. We ran out of the wind and there's nothing you can do about that. I don't think there is anything we could have done different. If it had finished in the channel we would have won it. We had our time at the top mark (Lavezzi) and at the bottom of the channel. But that's yachting and tomorrow is another day."

The story, regarding the wind and the advantage for the smaller boats, was similar on Morning Glory. Tactician Morgan Larson was philosophical too, "about three-quarters of the way through the race as we came out through the gap (at Capo Ferro), cloud covered in and dropped the windspeed down quite a bit. The left side of the race course got quite light, but we were able to sneak up a little on the right, staying close to the shore and dodging the rocks and the reefs. We closed up quite a bit on Alfa Romeo.. Then they did a beautiful job getting back into the wind and stretching back out on us. I guess it wasn't enough for them and, at the end of the day, the smaller boats did the same to us and it looks like Loki won and Titan was second." It never seems to amaze how the crews on the first yachts home know the results before the organization can confirm them - but Larson was correct.

Tommaso Chieffi, tactician on Rambler was also in the zone in this respect too, "it was a bit of a tough day for us today. Unfortunately, due to the conditions as we were coming upwind for the last beat to the mark at Mortoriotto the wind really dropped for the guys in front catching out the big boats including Alfa Romeo and Morning Glory but, at the same time, the guys behind were putting miles on us too. There was not enough for us to beat Morning Glory and we also beaten by Loki and Titan who were right behind us."

Stephen Ainsworth, the owner of Loki, was understandably delighted, "we made a real gain coming up between the islands. The work up that passage went really well. Chris Links (tactician) picked a few nice shifts and got us on the right side of the passage. We heard that the big boats when they came out of the passage parked up and that is where they got slowed down. The bigger boats had established a pretty good lead on us during the first run and we needed to pull some back, so we obviously did and then some!"

In the Wally Division the battle at the head of the fleet was between Magic Carpet Squared and Y3K. Lucas Brun, mainsail trimmer, on Magic Carpet described the first leg to Monaci, "we just tried to sail a little bit higher so we could clear the island (Monaci) which we had to round. We had Y3K to leeward of us, she is a bigger boat and she tends to sail faster than us. As we were close to the island we had a little header and the wind started heading about 20-35 degrees and because of that we were not able to make the island. Y3K tacked in front of us and we had to do two tacks to clear the island and with that we lost them. As we rounded, we hoisted our code sail, started building speed and getting closer to them."

The crunch time came towards the mark at Lavezzi, as Brun continued, "it was a very very tough downwind and the wind was shifting a lot. It was really, really light with a lot of chop and it made very hard to sail. But thank you to Mr Lindsay! He did a very good job and as we were closing down to the next mark we gybed closer to land and we had better wind pressure and better angle than Y3K. When they gybed back, they were already far, far behind, and they lost a lot of ground from us. That was the most decisive moment against Y3K."

For Lindsay Owen-Jones is was another good days sailing at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. He, too, had really enjoyed the contest with Y3K, "within the class we all are very competitive, but the two quickest boats are definitely Y3K and Magic Carpet and they are supposed to be even a little bit faster than us, but if we can pull out ahead and get line honours then obviously we are delighted." As for pulling out the winning lead on Y3K, Owen-Jones felt the downwind run to Lavezzi had been key, but felt their success had been a mix of good decision-making and luck, " when you are gybing downwind with a big spinnaker up (sometimes) you not sure whether to go left then right, or right then left. Then, just depending on what you do it either works out wonderfully or very badly. But we made the right choices and they (Y3K) perhaps made some less good choices and that left us ahead." On handicap, Magic Carpet finished third overall and Dark Shadow finished first, with Jean Charles Decaux' J One in second.

With the wind fading the wait for all the yachts to finish in the Cruising and Mini Maxi divisions is expected to be a long one. The race time limit is 2200 and at the time of writing there are two boats left to finish the race, one in Cruising and one in Mini Maxi. Unofficial, provisional results in Cruising put Arne Glimcher's Ghost (USA), first home on the water and on handicap. Velsheda (GBR) got the better of her J Class sister Ranger (CAY) both on the water and on handicap. Viriella (ITA) is the only finisher in the class, a number of retirements and non-starters. For the Mini Maxis, Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II looks to have won on handicap and on the water, with Out of Reach (MON) in second.

The wind for tomorrow is expected to be WNW at 13- 17 knots, increasing to 16-18 knots in the later afternoon.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup runs from September 2nd to September 8th. Racing continues tomorrow, Thursday, with the first start at 1140 CET. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to simply the fastest monohulls afloat today, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is nothing if not an astonishing line up of sailpower.

For more information about the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2007 including entry lists and results please visit www.yccsmaxi.it.

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CURRENT PROVISIONAL STANDINGS
Place Boat Name Owner Nation, R1-R2-Points

Racing
1. LOKI Stephen Ainsworth AUS, 2-1-3.0
2. MORNING GLORY Hasso Plattner GER, 1-3-4.0
3. RAMBLER George David USA, 3-4-3.0

Wally
1. J ONE Jean Charles Decaux GBR, 1-2-3.0
2. DARK SHADOW Antexis Ltd 5-1-6.0
3. INDIO Andrea Recordati ITA, 2-4-6.0

(Race 2 results unavailable for Cruising & Mini Maxi at the time of going to press)

Cruising
1. RANGER RSV Ltd USA, 1-1.0
2. VELSHEDA Turbat Inv. Ltd USA, 2-2.0
3. VIRIELLA Vittorio Moretti ITA, 3-3.0

Mini Maxi
1. OPS 5 Massimo Violati ITA, 1-1.0
2. ATALANTA II Carlo Puri Negri ITA, 2-2.0
3. AEGIR Brian Benjamin GBR, 3-3.0

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