Porto Cervo, 13th September 1999

CONTRASTING VISIONS AND DEMANDING CONDITIONS

A fisherman sits silently watching as Tiketitan, the first of the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup fleet, sweeps by. He stirs, adjusts his position, and goes back to his fishing. Above, a Mercedes stops on the Capo d'Orsa, and an elegantly dressed couple step out - holidaying, perhaps from some northern industrial hub, on this perfect Mediterranean coast. Under the baking sun, they forsake for a moment the air conditioning, to watch in silence as Lindsey Owen-Jones' Magic Carpet approaches. A rustle of movement, light shudder as a headsail is eased, and with a single word she rolls into a tack. After the two Wally Yachts comes the first of the ILC Maxi's, Larry Ellison's Sayonara. Followed by two Whitbread skippers, Paul Cayard aboard Boomerang, and Knut Frostad on Nariida. And the khakis, golden oranges, greys and blacks of exotic fibres keep sliding effortlessly past the sun blasted green shrub, and sand fractured rock.

The spectator fleet is no less glamorous. Gianni Agnelli watching from his jet black motor yacht, F100, and finding the sporadic attention of the yachting photographers a welcome relief from the constant scrutiny of the paparazzi. The gleaming, spherical glass windows of Larry Ellison's superyacht, Katana, dazzle as she churns by, engines barely ticking over, a froth of azure blue wake in her trail. High technology and concept design are followed by the classic yachts of the Cruising Division, clouds of towering white cloth, traditional elegance from the age of sail. A much louder groan this time as the headsail aboard George Lindemann's Adela is eased, a rattle as she comes into the wind, and finally a huge bang as the fully battened mainsail flops onto the new tack. Technology, it seems, has reached all parts of this fleet. And, short-tacking past the Isola Santo Stefano - even in eight knots of breeze - the crews of these huge boats need all the help they can get from electric winches and fly-by-wire sail trimming. The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is a parade stopping sight, full of contrasts, as it wends its way over a twenty five mile course, through the bays and islands of the Costa Smeralda.

The regatta's contrasts extended to the mix of conditions and courses. Everything from eight to twenty knots, flat water to punchy seas, up and down windward/leeward buoy courses, and around the rocky coastline of the Costa Smeralda. It was a searching test of all aspects of racing these boats. Which began with an examination in the subtleties of sailing in light to moderate air. Sayonara had altered her configuration to a more established Mediterranean mode. Her Sailing Master, Chris Dickson, commented that they had added a little more sail area to both headsails and spinnakers, and taken some weight out of the boat. It seemed to do the trick, and after sharing the honours over two races on the first day, Sayonara shaded the second, for a one point overall lead from George Coumantaros' Boomerang. Normal service resumed, after their last place in the Fastnet.

The following day was a sixty mile 'offshore' which shifted the onus again. And left three boats with the wounds of a brush with Sardinia - and their navigators with the emotional scars of running their multi-million dollar charges aground. Afterwards, amidst the clinking glasses and happy chatter of the Clipper Bar, Boomerang's navigator, Steve Hayles, grimaced when he recalled the crux point of that race. 'It's a nightmare out there for the navigators. It's too hit and miss. Coming into the Ecueil de Lavezzi with Sayonara right behind us, we needed to know how close we could go, to within half a boat length. I've never been round it with a four metre draft before, and the chart doesn't give you enough precision to make the call. But if we let them cut inside us, and they got through safely, they had the race.' Hayles admitted to feeling the pressure of sailing in these exotic - and expensive - machines. Reckoning that the course setting doesn't allow for the intensity with which the top boats are sailed. But Boomerang judged that corner perfectly, and sailed to an ILC Maxi and an IMS Division win, that gave them the overall lead.

Two years ago, it was different. Boomerang clipped one of the ragged edges of the Costa Smeralda. The impact hurled the crew off their feet, injuring both the owner, George Coumantaros, and crewman Alby Pratt. And this year, shortly after Boomerang and Sayonara cleared the mark, My Song rounded the Ecueil de Lavezzi. Navigator Phil Wardrup was under less immediate competitive pressure, and perhaps more cautious with Pier Luigi Loro Piana's new boat. They rounded one hundred and fifty metres outside, where the chart said it was completely safe - and My Song went aground. Closer to Porto Cervo, Highland Fling suffered the same fate. 'Sometimes,' as Dickson commented earlier in the week, 'it's more important to be lucky, than good'.

The breezier conditions at the back end of the regatta, transferred the pressure again, this time onto the sailmakers, trimmers and foredeck crew. And on the Friday morning, it seemed that the wind was rattling hearts as well as halyards, as the fleet hesitated on the Porto Cervo dockside. There was a marked reluctance to leave the marina. Or perhaps that was just the cumulative effect of the fine hospitality, at the crew party and Rolex Gala Dinner, the previous evening. But by the time the big boats of the IMS and Cruising Divisions returned, any reluctance seemed entirely justified.

Knut Frostad and his combined crew of ex-Innovation Kvaerner and Olympic dinghy sailors, blew two spinnakers out on their thirty two metre Wally Yacht ketch, Nariida, now owned by Morten Bergesen. Simon Fry's thirty two metre Wally sloop, Wally 'B', fared no better - Peter Bateman and his largely British crew also picking up the pieces from two sails. And even the Wally Yachts guiding light, Luca Bassani, managed to blow out the big gennaker aboard his own Tiketitan. The classics topped it off, with George Lindemann's forty two metre schooner, Adela, ripping the clew off her small reaching spinnaker. Six sails in total, just under five thousand square metres of broken spinnaker in the Cruising Division. It didn't take a sailmaker to figure out that there was now more to sew up, than there were people, machines and time to do the sewing.

The three Wally's all had tenders waiting at the finish to rush the sails ashore, and cars revving on the dockside. It would have been interesting to see the expressions on the faces of the North sailmakers, when that lot came piling through the door of their service loft.

The final race on Saturday was nearly as breezy and almost as bad for the sailmakers. But they weren't the only people discovering that the loads imposed by hard racing in these yachts - up to forty two metres in length, and as much as a hundred and fifty tonnes in weight - can match the best that technology can offer. Levels of attrition on deck gear and fittings were high. Perhaps the most unfortunate was Pier Luigi Loro Piana's My Song. The Cookson built, Reichel/Pugh designed, twenty two and a half metre IMS cruiser/racer was new for the regatta. After running aground on the Wednesday, a broken topmast crane forced her to pull out of Friday's race, and couldn't be fixed for the Saturday. And even the ILC Maxi's, superbly prepared and fully worked-up, in the final leg of their three regatta 1999 ICAYA championship, weren't immune to breakdowns - as Sayonara was to find out, in the winner takes all finale.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup ended as it opened, with a battle for ascendancy between Sayonara and Boomerang. And with Whitbread winner Paul Cayard aboard Boomerang, up against the reigning Maxi World Champions, neither boat was likely to give an inch. Sailed in blistering sunshine, a moderate sea and fifteen knots of north-easterly breeze - the denouement had plenty of drama. Sayonara took control early, but then broke a headsail sheet and a halyard on consecutive upwind legs, to give Boomerang the opportunity to attack. But George Coumantaros's crew never quite had enough to get past. Sayonara took the race, and both the ILC Maxi and IMS Divisions. But it was disappointment for Irvine Laidlaw's British crew aboard Highland Fling. After holding a solid third place overall for most of the week, a final race win from the Italians in Rrose Selavy took them past the British boat, to snatch third place in the IMS Division behind the two ILC Maxis.

Overall, the Cruising Division was dominated by the high technology of the Wally Yachts. Combining luxury accommodation with fly-by-wire sail trimming and futuristic looks, the twenty four metre Genie of the Lamp, owned by Gianlucca Vacchi, beat her fractionally smaller sister-ship, Marco Tronchetti Provera's Kauris II. With the twenty nine metre Wally, Marco Levi's Yam, overcoming gear failure earlier in the week, to come through and take third. But they were followed by the first of the classic yachts, and one of the biggest in the thirteen boat fleet. Steve McLaren's stunning forty one metre Alejandra. With this fabulous mix of professional and amateur, technology and tradition, intense competition and relaxed atmosphere, the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup can only continue to grow in size and prestige.
Written by Mark Chisnell, for The Strategic Organisation