Alfa Romeo Takes the Line but Not the Corrected Time

NEWS RELEASE

ALFA ROMEO TAKES THE LINE BUT NOT THE CORRECTED TIME

Day Four (5 September 2008) of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup saw the Racing Division, the 90-foot Rambler (USA) and her uber-maxi competition, the 100-foot Alfa Romeo (NZL), were given a day off their usual whistle-stop tour of the islands and undertook a windward/leeward course of six legs totalling 17.3 miles. The start was not straightforward with both yachts over early and George David's Rambler not realizing until she was some way down the track. Neville Crichton's Alfa meanwhile stole a march by going back quickly and it looked game over at this point. But it wouldn't be yacht racing if it were simple. Halfway up the third beat Alfa appeared to encounter real problems with her rig and Rambler was able to close right up to finish only three minutes behind on the water and 10 minutes ahead on handicap. With honours wholly even in this Division, both having posted two firsts and two seconds, tomorrow is 'Super Saturday' with everything to play for despite a discard coming into the equation.
All week the Mini Maxis have been having a tussle on the line. Hardly surprising with eighteen yachts of 60 feet and over, all charged up and raring to go. As the class approached the start line today, it was clear that a bunch towards the middle was going to find it difficult to avoid being course side when the gun went. The key question for the onlookers was whether this group comprised also-rans or favourites. As the sail numbers were called out by the Race Committee, the stomachs on Rosebud/Team DYT (USA) must have felt the proverbial lump forming as the crew realized they were the only front-runner in the class to be caught. By the time Roger Sturgeon's crew had cleared the penalty it looked game over here too. But you don't win the Rolex Sydney Hobart by giving up at the first difficult hurdle. Rosebud took the initiative, stormed the first leg and got herself back into the race. In the end it was too much to make total amends and although she finished fifth on the water less than eight minutes behind Numbers (USA), she was fifth on handicap.
Numbers cruised to victory one minute ahead of the Torben Grael-led Alfa Romeo 3 (NZL), having forced the pace in the race from start to finish. Irrespective of whether past performance is any indicator, she looks to have an unassailable lead in the Mini Maxi Division. With a discard coming into play today with five races now completed, the Ernesto Bertarelli-chartered master-blaster has a total points score of four, compared to Rosebud's nine. With her worst score a second, Numbers cannot be beaten even if she self-destructs before the start. Not bad, given she started the week by nudging the rocks.
In the Wally Division the 143-foot Esense came of age and took her first line honours of the week, beating Claus Peter Offen's Y3K (GER) home by six minutes. Esense clearly enjoyed the long course legs on offer today. Minimum of manoeuvres, maximum straight-line speed - easy. Irvine Laidlaw and Highland Fling X (GBR) posted an excellent first place and Lindsay Owen-Jones' Magic Carpet 2 (GBR) which finished 10 seconds adrift of Y3K took second on handicap. With owner Jean-Charles Decaux unable to take the helm today, J One incurred a 2% time penalty, plus one place under the class rules, which saw them finish a painful sixth on handicap. As a result, it could not be tighter at the top of this division, with the top four boats separated by two points. Trying to work out the discard permutations is a job for a mathematician.
The Cruising Division chose today to put on a great performance. The course looked pretty tame to start with, but held plenty of opportunities for those tacticians in tune with the variations in wind direction and strength present today, not to mention the depth of water available around the rocks. Viriella put on her best show of the week to lead the fleet around the course from start to finish, despite the best efforts of Charles Dunstone's Hamilton II (GBR) which came in second on the water. Once again the two J Class sloops did their best to steal the show finishing one - two on handicap after a ferocious scrap in the final phases. They finished 21 seconds apart on the water, with Ranger squeezing past just before the turn into Golfo Pevero.
Gerry Dykstra, yacht designer and the man charged with the restoration of Velsheda, was elated coming off the water, “our start was okay, but we were not helped by a wind shift afterwards, that made the start look different than it really was. After that, things became more lively and I think we raised the shares of the J boats quite a bit today!” Having been behind Ranger for much of the race, Velsheda (GBR) took advantage of an uncharacteristic error on Ranger to slip past at Soffi. Hamilton II hailed water at Ranger fearful of an unscheduled rendezvous with submerged rocks. Ranger had to overstand the turn and Velsheda managed to squeeze in. Ranger came back at Velsheda and the two fought tooth and nail to the finish.
Although Viriella ended up fourth on handicap Gigio Russo, the helmsman thoroughly enjoyed the day after a difficult start, “We took the start on the wrong end of the line, but we saw some boats up the course that got a quite an intense right hand shift. We tacked and crossed the fleet between the leaders and the losers and we got the shift. We managed to round the first mark ahead of Ranger and then we stretched away.
We made the right call to round the island of Soffi without using the gennaker for a little bit and that paid off because although we lost some distance to the guys following us, we managed to get around the island under control with just the main and jib.”
The overall standings in the Division see Ranger on top with just 4 points, and discarding a 1 tomorrow. Hetairos (CAY IS) is in second on 15 and Velsheda in third on 19.
On a happily upbeat note, reports from the crew of Andres Soriano's Alegre advise that crewmember Led Pritchard is expected to make a full-recovery from his traumatic lower right-leg fracture suffered during yesterday's racing. The crew are indebted to all those who helped in the transfer of Pritchard from the boat to Olbia Hospital and would like to express their appreciation. It is anticipated that Pritchard will spend a few more days in hospital in Sardinia before returning home to continue his recovery.
The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from September 1st to September 7th. Racing finishes tomorrow, Saturday, and the prize giving tomorrow evening will be the culmination of an intense week of big boat racing. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to the most advanced monohulls afloat today, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is nothing if not an astonishing line up of sailing power.
CURRENT PROVISIONAL STANDINGS Place Boat Name Owner Nation, R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-Points
Racing
1. RAMBLER George David USA, 2-1-2-1-6.0
2. ALFA ROMEO Neville Crichton NZL, 1-2-1-2-6.0
Cruising
1. RANGER, RSV Ltd USA, 1-1-1-1-4.0
2. HETAIROS, Rockport Limited GER, 4-4-4-3-15.0
3. VELSHEDA, Tarbat Inv Ltd GBR, 3-2-12(DNF)-2-19.0
Mini Maxi
1. NUMBERS, Meyers/Bertarelli USA, 1-1-(2)-1-1-4.0
2. ROSEBUD/TEAM DYT, Roger Sturgeon USA, 3-3-1-2-(5)-9.0
3. MONEYPENNY, Jim Swartz USA, 2-(5)-3-3-2-10.0
Wally
1. MAGIC CARPET 2, Lindsay Owen-Jones GBR, 1-4-4-2-11.0
2. HIGHLAND FLING X, Irvine Laidlaw GBR, 2-6-3-1-12.0
3. OPEN SEASON, Thomas Bscher GER, 6-1-2-4-13.0

(ENDS)

ALFA ROMEO II RESULTS

Skipper: Neville Crichton

Sept 2008 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup3 x Line Honours, 2 x Corrected time wins

June 2008 Boat International SuperYacht Regatta3 x Line Honours, class & event wins

June 2008Rolex Giraglia RaceLine Honours, new race record

June 2008Rolex Giraglia Cup3 x Line Honours, 2 x Handicap win

May 2008 Rolex Capri Race WeekMaxi Class Event Win, 2 x Line Honours

May 2008 Pirelli CupMaxi Class Event Win, 4 x Line Honours

Oct 2007 BarcolanaLine Honours, race record

Sept 2007 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup5 x Line Hons, 1 x Handicap

August 2007 Rolex FastnetRetired

August 2007 RYS Trophy, Scandia Race WeekLine Honours, Class win

June 2007Superyacht Cup1 Line Honours Win

June 2007 Rolex Giraglia Cup Offshore RaceLine Honours

June 2007 Rolex Giraglia Cup Regatta2 x Line Honours to take event

April 2007 Hublot Palmavela Regatta5 x Line Honours to take event

October 2006Rolex Middle Sea Race – offshore raceLine Honours

October 2006Barcolana RaceLine Honours

Sept 2006Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup4 Line Honours, event win

June 2006Rolex Giraglia Cup Offshore RaceLine Honours

June 2006 Rolex Giraglia Cup Regatta2 Line Honours, 1 Handicap win

April 2006 Hublot Palmavela4 x Line Honours wins

Dec 2005Rolex Sydney to Hobart2nd Overall

Dec 2005Rolex TrophyRegatta Win

Dec 2005CYCA Big Boat TrophyLine Honours

Dec 2005Savills Short Ocean ChampionshipLine Honours/Handicap win

Nov 2005CabbageTreeIsland RaceLine Honours

August 2005South Molle/Daydream Islands RaceLine Honours/Handicap win

August 2005EdwardIsland RaceLine Honours

August 2005Lindeman Island RaceLine Honours/Handicap win

ALFA ROMEO III RESULTS

Sept 2008 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup1 x Line Honours

Editor’s Note: Picture credits are contained in the file names for each picture.

For further information

Text and high resolution pictures:

Neville Crichton Edward Rowe

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EJR/ejr/2-83

23-Nov-18