A prolonged Mistral may have restricted racing this week at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, but the Costa Smeralda saved the best to last, with a dramatic adrenaline-fuelled final day that saw winds reaching the mid-20s. After a windward leg west, Maxi 1 and 2 headed south to round the islands of Mortorio and Soffi on a 42.5 mile course, then heading north to join the remaining classes which were sailing a 34.5 mile clockwise lap of La Maddalena.
The pinnacle event of the maxi calendar was organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association and this year, for the first time, featured the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship, for yachts with a 1.700-2.200 IRC rating and <30.51m (100ft) LH.
Wednesday's two windward-leewards - won respectively by Karel Komarek's 100ft V and Alessandro Del Bono's brand new 82ft Capricorno – had left Wendy Schmidt's 85ft Deep Blue overall leader. However today Deep Blue's chance evaporated after they suffered batten pocket damage. They effected a repair and finished but were sadly out of the running.
Coming into her own today was Joost Schuijff's Leopard 3. Victory today for the Farr 100 saw her win the Rolex IMA Maxi 1 World Championship by a clear three points from the 82ft Django HF with V third (but tied on points with Deep Blue and YCCS Commodore Andrea Recordati's 93ft Bullitt).
Leopard 3's Joost Schuijff receives his winner's Rolex time piece. Photo: Studio Borlenghi
“This is a dream come true,” commented a delighted Schuijff. “We have been working hard for years on the boat, on the team and on the quality of my helming. We’ve trained frequently and had a training week in July when we ironed out some problems we had. Last year we had issues with several of the big sails, which we didn’t have this year. Now the quality of our equipment is good and nothing failed…”
Under previous owner Mike Slade, Leopard 3 won the Maxi Racing class here in 2016. Last year dramatic upgrades were made to this 2007 Farr design, shedding roughly 10 tonnes. This season America’s Cup winner and multiple World Champion Ed Baird and Volvo Ocean Race winner Mike Sanderson have joined her afterguard. Optimised for inshore and offshore racing, Leopard 3 enjoyed the big conditions. Schuijff concluded: “Windward-leeward is not our strongest spot. We were hoping the weather today would develop, as it did, with more reaching.”
Mike Sanderson added: “Today was really good - the pressure was funnelling down through Bomb Alley so we wanted to go right and we started by the race committee boat. Ed did a good job at getting us off the line and it all went really well. We broke a furler and couldn’t deploy from the top mark, but the team knows the boat so well and Joost drives the boat really nicely.”
In Maxi 2 (for the former Maxi 72s), first place today, by a mere 20 seconds under IRC corrected time, for George and Christina Sakellaris’ Proteus left them tied, but winning on countback from Peter Harrison's Jolt. “It was a great race in excellent conditions. This boat likes wind, heavy weather, provided it doesn’t get above 30 knots,” said Sakellaris, who shared helming with his daughter. Ironically while this title last year was won by Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente, perhaps the most upgraded of the former Maxi 72s, Proteus remains in Maxi 72 trim. This is the first time the Sakellarises have won this title, after many years of trying.
Proteus’ strategist, round the world veteran Stu Bannatyne added: “There are a lot of relieved and happy people! It was a fun day, but very challenging for the crew. We made it hard for ourselves: early on we made a few mistakes, but everyone dug in well and we clawed our way back…”
