Racing started at the Rolex Swan Cup 2012 in very light winds and after two postponements. Racing finally got underway shortly after 13:00 and the conditions could not have been gentler. All four divisions will have come off the water having had a very satisfactory day’s racing in winds that did not peak over ten knots. Some will be delighted with today’s proceedings including Swan 60, Bronenosec who is leading the Maxi Class after day one. One day down. Plenty to play for.

The Swan Maxis were first off, undertaking a 28 nm course that will have stretched the legs and shaken out any cobwebs for competitors but Bronenosec were feeling confident after their Maxi Mini Cruising Division win at last week’s Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. A reach to the first mark was followed by a colourful run down between the islands, where the fleet gybed and reached into the channel towards Secca di Tre Monti. From here they continued up the passage all the way to Barettinelli di Fuori, before an upwind leg back to finish off Porto Cervo.

Tomasso Chiefffi, Coach, Bronenosec commented:

“So today was light south easterly. Probably the left hand side would have paid at the beginning but we didn’t want to put all our eggs in one basket so we started in the middle of the line with the aim of going left. Unfortunately we started near a big boat which went into 3rd position. And we got a bit pinched off the start line so it wasn’t a brilliant start and we were forced to tack away and go to the right. Two of our most dangerous competitors which were the Swan 601, Stark Raving Mad and the Swan 60, Emma were ahead at the top mark. Bit of local knowledge, the wind shifted to the right so we did an early gybe. Emma followed suit but by the time they gybed we were already in a strong position and they were forced to gybe away.”

“Anyway to cut a long story short we just managed to be ahead of them on the strait so they tried to attack and get to the right of us but they couldn’t do it as we were protecting our position. So we gybed 3 or 4 times and we extended our slim lead a bit and at the same time we were gaining on the American boat. It was very tight competition between the three of us because in fact at the island it was the black American boat just in front of us and Emma was in third. But it was all very close, we think the American boat was a bit late dropping their spinnaker so they went a bit wide on the corner and we cut the corner as did Emma so we were both in close contention for first place. But being ahead allowed us to stretch away from them and they eventually got caught by the American boat.

“So it was a very technical day, like I said we didn’t have a great start but we managed to come out on top and then we defended our lead very well. So we’re pleased with the day. Of course tomorrow is a different day and the next three days will be very breezy.”

Kate Holmes

See Yacht Racing - regattas images

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 September 2012 )