Three out of Three: Alfa Romeo Crosses the Line First in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup Again!

NEWS RELEASE

THREE OUT OF THREE: ALFA ROMEO CROSSES THE LINE FIRST IN THE MAXI YACHT ROLEX CUP ~ AGAIN!

Alfa Romeo has taken line honours for the third time in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia, but narrowly missed out on the handicap win by just 15 seconds with Morning Glory taking the corrected time title.

The 39 nautical mile race started opposite Porto Cervo into a 15 knot WNW wind. The fleet raced upwind to a turning mark before heading into the main channel at the gap between the southern end of Caprera & Isola delle Bisce. The yachts then beat up the length of the main passage between mainland Sardinia and the Maddalena Archipelago to Lavezzi. Here the yachts turned east and spinnaker reached back along the outside of the islands, past Monaci, to the final turning mark in the Golfo Peverro, just before the finish at Porto Cervo.
Alfa Romeo ripped up the channel in 1 hour 45 minutes and she did the whole course in just 3 hours 22 minutes, reaching Lavezzi with Morning Glory hanging onto her coat tails, a touch over five minutes behind. Morgan Larson, tactician on the German maxZ86, was understandably pleased with the overall result, despite identifying some points in the race that did not go as well as they would have liked, "overall we did a really good job. Not the best start, but we really did a good job on the first half of the race.”

“Then, on the downwind, Alfa Romeo stretched the lead and Rambler was catching us so we didn't do a very good job there."

For Larson, the defining moment came right at the end, "at the last leeward mark coming through to the finish the crew did a exceptional job making a difficult manoeuvre possible. If they didn't make that happen we could have lost there, but instead we ended up winning by 15 seconds. That really was the pivotal moment of the race and we have to hand it to the crew for today's win."
The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup runs from September 2nd to September 8th. Racing continues on Friday, with the first start scheduled for 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.

(ends)

Photo:Rolex/Kurt Arrigo

For further information

Text and high resolution pictures:

Neville Crichton Edward Rowe

Tel: +61 (02) 9701 8000 Tel: +61 (02) 9701 8015

Fax: +61 (02) 9701 3555 Fax: +61 (02) 9701 3555

Mob: +61 (0)409 166 166 Mobile: +61 407 913 244

E-mail:

EJR/ejr/2-67

8-Dec-18