Maxis in Tenerife, ready to start Transatlantic crossing

Six sailing giants have assembled in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain) for the start of the 2012 Transatlantic Superyacht & Maxi Regatta 2012. The regatta is scheduled to leave Santa Cruz in Tenerife on Monday, 26th November at 13.00 hours, destined for Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands) and the new winter base of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

The event, organized by the International Maxi Association (IMA) and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the collaboration of Real Club Nàutico de Tenerife, will see participating yachts cover approximately 2700 nautical miles and encounter varied wind and sea conditions. The passage on the NE tradewinds route usually takes between 10 to 16 days. The course record is held by last year’s line honours winner, Hetairos, which crossed the finish line off Virgin Gorda after 8 days, 10 hours, 58 minutes and 30 seconds.

After leaving Tenerife the boats will be looking to pick up on the northeast trade winds between approximately 30° latitude and the equator, which generally blow at a steady 11 to 15 knots. As the maxis near Virgin Gorda and the finish line,  the more gentle Alizé Caribbean trade wind will kick in and crews can expect to be accompanied by 10 to 12 knots of north easterly winds. The regatta is perfectly timed to tie in with the traditional transfers from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean for the winter season, and will have participants arriving on the other side of the Atlantic as the big boat racing season kicks off there.

Currently in its fifth edition and as always starting from Tenerife, the 2012 Transatlantic Superyacht & Maxi Regatta - reserved to maxi yachts (with a minimum LOA of 60 feet)  and superyachts (minimum LOA 80 feet) - will see a wide range of boats competing this year.

The largest boat in the fleet is the 55-metre three-masted schooner Shenandoah of Sark, built in 1902 for Charles Fahnestock by Townsend and Downey Shipbuilding of Shooters Island, New York, to a design by Theodore E Ferris. 

Representing Southern Wind shipyard is Cape Arrow, a Southern Wind 100, winner of the 2012 Southern Wind Trophy held during the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2012 in Porto Cervo. She has a highly-skilled Italian team on board including Guido Maisto (tactician), Claudio Novi (bowman) and Niki Mosca (tailer).

British pro Adrian Stead serves as tactician aboard Niklas Zennström’s  30.47-metre Farr 100 Rán Leopard. Zennström is one of the three IMA members who entered the race (together with the Peter Harrison’s 35-metre Sojana -  skippered by Marc Fitzgerald – and Nilaya. Sojana was also the winner (line honours) of the 2010 edition of the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Cup. 

The 32-metre Nilaya, owned by Filip Balcaen and  with Bouwe Bekking calling tactics, won Line Honours at the Rolex Volcano Race 2012 and dominated the Supermaxi division at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in September in Porto Cervo.  “Nilaya is a supermaxi that can deliver to the highest performance, with the comfort and flexibility to carry out world cruising,” said Bouwe Bekking. “The crew is a mix of friends of the owner and some professionals. We have raced very successfully for 10 years together on the owner's previous boats so we have a well oiled crew where friends have taken some crucial positions onboard. It will be the first race across the Atlantic for our owner, as well as for his friends who join us,  the permanent crew and some pros with heaps of experience. Together we have 17 round-the world-races under our belts, and I don't know how many Transatlantics”.
The 27.46-metre Med Spirit belongs to a French owner, but thanks to a partnership with the Russian Yachting Federation (RYF), the boat is dedicating the participation in the race to the centennial anniversary of the Federation. Med Spirit will be the very first Russian boat competing in the Transatlantic Race. Her Russian-French crew also raced in the  Rolex Middle Sea Race (2011 and 2012), RORC 600 and ARC 2011. Skipper Vladimir Kulinichenko, (Kuli) was part of the crew of the first Soviet Union maxi boat - Fazisi - at the Whitbread Round-the-World race 1989-90,) and was part of Team Russia VO70 crew during the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

A satellite tracking system, accessible online, will keep fans and supporters up to date on each yacht’s progress for the duration of the race.
Trophies will be awarded at the prize giving ceremony scheduled to take place at the latest on December 12 in Virgin Gorda. The YCCS Virgin Gorda Clubhouse was officially inaugurated last January, while the purpose-built YCCS Marina has been operational since March 2011.

For further information and live tracking please visit www.yccs.com, or www.internationalmaxiassociation.com.

Contacts
IMA Press Office - Maria Luisa Farris
Tel. +39 345 8257605
communications@internationalmaxiassociation.com
www.internationalmaxiassociation.com

YCCS Press Office
+39 0789 902200
Email: pressoffice@yccs.it
www.yccs.com

Provisional Entry List
Yacht name                          Owner                                        Type                                 Country
CAPE ARROW         Tuskar Shipping Ltd               Southern Wind 100                     IRL
MED SPIRIT              Oscar Konyukhov                          Prototype 90                          FRA
NILAYA                            Ficaya Ltd                                    RP 112                                  GBR
RàN LEOPARD       Niklas Zennström                           Farr 100                                 GBR
SHENANDOAH of SARK F., C., A. Micheli                      3 mast gaff schooner          GBR
SOJANA                      Peter  Harrison                              Farr  115                               GBR

About the event
The Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Cup was created in 2007 and then run in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The event was created by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in collaboration with IMA in response to requests from owners for a transatlantic race dedicated specifically to maxi yachts. The regatta is also part of the IMA’s efforts to establish a seasonal circuit for maxis that will allow owners to compete in summer offshore events in the Mediterranean and Europe before moving to the Caribbean for the traditional winter racing season.

About YCCS
The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda was founded in Porto Cervo, Sardinia in 1967 by current president H.H. the Aga Khan and a group of founder-members as a non-profit sporting association for fellow sailing enthusiasts. The YCCS is renowned for organizing international sailing events such as the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, the Audi Sardinia Cup and the Rolex Swan Cup as well as World and European championships for top one-design fleets. In recent years the Club has focused on promoting new superyacht events such as the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, the Dubois Cup and the Perini Navi Cup. The Club has also promoted international challenges such as Azzurra - the first Italian challenger for the America's Cup in 1983 which became a legendary Italian brand and was relaunched by the YCCS in 2009 with a victorious participation in the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice, the participation in the Volvo Ocean Race with a two boat campaign one of which had an all-female crew, and the motor yacht Destriero which to this day holds the transatlantic crossing record set in 1992. The YCCS continues to expand its activities and in 2012 inaugurated a winter base in Virgin Gorda overlooking the island’s new YCCS marina. (www.yccs.com)

About IMA
Racing activities for the Maxi as a separate class started in Porto Cervo in 1980 with the first Maxi Yacht Cup. Immediately afterward, by initiative of a group of owners, in a legal office in Geneva, the Association of the Maxi Owner was founded under the name
“International  Class A Yacht Association” (ICAYA) with the leadership of Baron E. de Rothschild elected the first President of the Class.
ICAYA organized the Maxi Yacht World Championship for many years in Porto Cervo, Italy, as its European base, as well in other venues in the USA  - Honolulu, Newport R.I., Miami, St. Thomas, San Francisco. When the IOR  rating system declined and the IMS rating handicap was introduced, the Maxi fleet was severely reduced and the activities of the Class decreased. When there was no more reason to call the association “Class A” (given that it no longer existed), at the Annual General Meeting in Miami in 2001 it was decided to rename the Class as “International Maxi Association” (IMA). After receiving international recognition by ISAF – IMA is an associate member of the IRC Congress – in November 2010 ISAF Council approved the Maxi Class as a full ISAF International Class. This means that the International Maxi Association  is now the only recognized Maxi Class association and is authorized to held annual World and Continental Championships. (www.internationalmaxiassociation.com)