Alfa comes out on top

Finally the breeze picks up for final day of racing at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, ended with a beautiful day of sailing and one last race for all divisions, in a building northwesterly breeze that reached 15 knots creating a choppy sea. The Spirit of Tradition and Cruising fleets sailed on a coastal course, while the remaining divisions sailed once around the cans on a windward-leeward course.

The week-long match in the Racing division between the two competing 98ft super maxis ended with New Zealander Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo claiming the title and Australian Bob Oatley's Wild Oats finishing third overall, on equal points with Morning Glory, which finished second thanks to a series of consistent results. While Alfa Romeo sailed into the last race with the certainty of having already won the championship with a four point lead over Wild Oats and six points ahead of Morning Glory, Wild Oats still had to fight to secure the second spot on the podium. In the end it all came down to the final run of the final race.

Wild Oats had a brilliant start at the pin end of the line, while Alfa Romeo chose the Committee Boat, with Morning Glory sticking to the centre. Wild Oats was able to seize an early lead, rounding the top mark approximately three boatlengths ahead of Alfa Romeo. At the first leeward mark, Alfa's crew hit problems with the take down, while Wild Oats then struggled with their spinnaker hoist at the second windward mark.

Further down the final run, the Aussie crew sailed to the less favoured right hand side of the course where they executed a less than perfect gybe. It was as if the pressure of the aggressive match-racing duel between the two boats and the added stress of knowing that today's conditions perfectly suited Morning Glory, were conspiring to undermine the confidence on usually exemplary Wild Oats. Although Wild Oats led around the course throughout today's race, claiming line honours, it wasn't enough to stop Morning Glory from claiming the top spot on handicap.

Neville Crichton, who was unaware of the problems on Wild Oats, summed up the last race of the series, describing what went wrong on Alfa: "We had a halyard jam at the bottom mark and that unsettled us quite a badly. We couldn't get the kite down and that was the difference between winning and losing probably. We got a second on handicap and we're quite happy about that. We had already won the series, but it would have been nice to get another line honours win and that's what we were going for today. The bottom mark killed it. Wild Oats pulled out, we reeled her in. She went around the second top mark a minute and two seconds ahead of us and in the end she finished 38 seconds ahead, so we pulled quite a bit out; we ran out of time to get her back." Of the overall series win, he was understandably delighted, "It's been a fantastic week of sailing, there have been enjoyable competitors and this is the best sailing in the world in my book".

Olympic and America's Cup sailor Morgan Larson from the USA, sailing on Morning Glory, explained how stronger winds throughout the week would have been better for their yacht: "Our boat was definitely set up for stronger breeze, which is what we normally have here in Porto Cervo. We couldn't make the changes to the rating in the small time we had before the regatta, so we were kind of stuck. It hurt in the light wind, but in the stronger winds we were okay. It felt good to end the series on a good note."

American Olympic Star gold medallist, round the world and America's Cup veteran Steve Erickson, also sailing on Morning Glory, cannot remember exactly how many times he's sailed here in Porto Cervo: "I bet I've sailed here almost 20 times, the first was in 1988 with the maxi Il Moro di Venezia, which back then had the world's biggest mainsail - I think if it was sailing here now it would be one of the smallest."

Regarding their hard-fought struggle to claim the second spot on the podium, Erickson commented: "We knew that we couldn't win the regatta. In order to finish second we had to get a boat in between us and Wild Oats, which was a little hard to do because it hasn't happened this week. In the end we had a good race against the big boats, which was interesting because it was the one day when it was windy. We beat both boats, so I think we far exceeded our expectations. We were all pleasantly surprised."

In another pleasant surprise, Hasso Plattner discovered on the dock that a business commitment would not after all prevent him from attending the Rolex Middle Sea Race in October, and Plattner appeared delighted at the opportunity to engage once more with Alfa Romeo, Maximus and ABN AMRO One.

The final outcome of the series within the Cruising division was also decided on this last day of racing, with Filippo Faruffini's Roma eventually claiming the overall victory over the magnificent J Velsheda. Gunter Herz's Allsmoke finished third. Roma, a cruising yacht camouflaged as a racing machine, sailed into the last day with a one point lead over Velsheda and came in second both on the water and on handicap. Arne Glimcher's Ghost sailed brilliantly, earning the coveted double win on real and corrected time. Velsheda's crew, having misinterpreted the course thinking that there would be an initial upwind leg to a mark, lost a lot of ground with an unnecessary tack to the extreme right of the course, and finished today's race in third, thus ditching their chance of winning the series.

Italian former Olympian Paolo Semeraro, skipper of Roma, praised his crew for this week's striking series of consistent results, 2,1,1,3,3,2: "Today we sailed a perfect race, the crew made no mistakes and we pushed to our limit, starting right on the edge of an OCS." Semeraro feels that today's race was particularly challenging: "It was very hard, we had a strong 15-16 knots breeze but very few tacks and gybes, therefore it was really difficult for us to make big gains on Velsheda. We were lucky that they [ Velsheda] made that mistake after the start. The match with Velsheda, a J-Class boasting a carbon fibre mast and sails, has been very interesting, as they come from the past while we are probably the most modern cruiser/racer Maxi on the scene - but in the end it all came down to a delta of a few seconds."

The Italian Farr 70 Atalanta II confirmed its reputation as one of the toughest competitors to beat in the Mini Maxi division, claiming the overall title with a 6-point lead over Ernesto Gismondi's Edimetra. Owned by Carlo Puri Negri, General Executive Manager of Pirelli Real Estate Atalanta II took line honours and won on handicap in the last race of the series. To her credit, Atalanta II has the overall victory of 2005 Rolex Middle Sea Race and the Mediterranean Championship of Offshore Racing. Massimo Violati's OPS 5 came in third in the overall scorings.

Great Britain's Magic Carpet Squared owned by Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, Chairman of the Board of Directors of L'Oreal, won the overall title in the Wally division with an impressive record - 2,1,4,1,2,1 - and another double victory, on the water and on handicap, on the last day of the series. Dark Shadow finished second overall, ahead of Carlo Sama's Tango, steered by Wally boss Luca Bassani.

Owen Jones was extremely happy and relieved to finally end a regatta here without damage: "We're thrilled. We've had some tough experiences here, one year we hit a rock and last year we broke the mast. So it's often been very difficult. We worked very hard to get it all ready and perfectly practiced, and it just all went right for us. When she's just right she's a dynamite boat."

Owen Jones also thinks that a feminine touch on board was a key factor in the good result: "Emma [Westmacott] is one of the key figures in our team. She has sailed with us a lot. She's very good. She just keeps the boys a little bit less noisy and quarrelsome. Having girls on the boat definitely keeps the atmosphere cheerful, everyone a little bit more careful about what they say. That's very good for a good amateur boat, a key issue. Ian [Budgen] has been our tactician this week and he's done a fantastic job, too."

The beautiful dark blue-hulled Hetairos won the series among the Spirit of Tradition fleet, ahead of Dutch entry Annagine. One of the pre-series favourites Adela, the world famous schooner owned by American gas and media tycoon, George Lindemann, this time found its match on the water, ending the championship in third. The largest yacht of the fleet by some 15m, with a LOA of just over 55m, Adela is a regular competitor at this event and usually dwarfs the other yachts at the event.

During the final Prizegiving Ceremony, which took place in the Piazza Azzurra, the heart of the Race Village, the overall winners of each Division were awarded with the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and Rolex gold and steel Submariner timepieces, along with IMA Special Trophies to the winners of the IMA Championship and additional special trophies to the winner of each formalised group.

Final results:

Pos	Boat	Owner	Sail No.	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total
	Racing IRC
1	ALFA ROMEO	Neville Crichton	NZL80	1	1	1	2	1	2	6
2	MORNING GLORY	Hasso Plattner	GER5386	3	2	2	3	3	1	11
3	WILD OATS	Robert I. Oatley	AUS10001	2	4	3	1	2	3	11
4	Y3K	Claus Peter Offen	GER5294	4	3	4	4	4	4	19
5	MAXIMUS	EBS Yachting	NZL99999	6	5	5	5	5	5	25
6	OPEN SEASON	Thomas Bscher	GBR94.3	5	10	10	10	10	10	45
7	ALEXIA	Alberto Roemmers	GBR28R	10	10	10	10	10	10	50
7	NEW ZEALAND ENDEAVOUR	Maxisails	NZL0	10	10	10	10	10	10	50
7	STEINLAGER 2	Big Red Challenger Ltd	KZ2	10	10	10	10	10	10	50
	Wally
1	MAGIC CARPET SQUARED	Lindsay Owen Jones	GBR94R	2	1	4	1	2	1	7
2	DARK SHADOW	Antexis Ltd	W100	5	3	1	4.5	1	4	13.5
3	TANGO	Carlo Sama	MON7777	3	2	2	2	5	7	14
4	J ONE	Jean Charles Decaux	GBR7077	1	5	6	4.5	3	3	16.5
5	TIKETITAN	Galeazzo Pecori Giraldi	W88	4	4	3	6	4	2	17
6	DANGEROUS BUT FUN	Michele Perris	W80	7	7	5	3	6	10	28
7	INDIO	Andrea Recordati	ITA3108	6	8	7	7	7	6	33
8	NARIIDA	Morten Sig. Bergsen	NOR105	8	6	8	9	8	5	35
9	AORI	Marilia Ltd	AOR1	9	9	9	8	10	10	45
	Racing VOR
1	ABN AMRO ONE	ABN Amro Brand	NED1	1	1	1	1	1	1	5
2	AMER SPORT TOO	Giovanni Marangon	EUR2	2	2	2	2	2	2	10
	Cruising IRC
1	ROMA	Filippo Faruffini	ITA535	2	1	1	3	2	0	6
2	VELSHEDA	Tarbat Investments	K7	1	2	4	1	3	0	7
3	ALLSMOKE	Gunter Herz	GBR9170	3	3	3	2	4	0	11
4	FANTASTICAAA	Lanfranco Cirillo	ITA15185	4	4	2	4	7	0	14
5	GHOST	Arne Glimcher	1	5	5	5	5	1	0	16
6	UNFURLED	Harry Macklowe	2	6	7	6	6	12	0	25
7	KETURAH	E.Llwyd Ecclestone	IVB99	7	8	9	7	5	0	27
8	VIRIELLA	Vittorio Moretti	ITA1746	8	9	8	8	6	0	30
9	SOJANA	Fast Cruising Ltd	GBR115	9	6	7	12	12	0	34
10	WIZARD	Sevi Fruscella	ITA15333	12	12	12	9	8	0	41
11	ADESSO	Adesso Yachting Ltd	ITA15336	12	12	12	12	12	0	48
	Mini Maxi ORC
1	ATALANTA II	Carlo Puri Negri	ITA204	4	3	1	3	1	0	8
2	EDIMETRA	Ernesto Gismondi	ITA1811	3	6	6	1	4	0	14
3	OPS 5	Massimo Violati	ITA15555	2	5	5	4	5	0	16
4	CHIPPEWA	Clayton Deutsch	IVB6821	5	4	4	5	3	0	16
5	ALEPH	Giorgio Ruffo	ITA15227	7	7	7	2	2	0	18
6	FLYING DRAGON	Paolo Scerni	6770R	7	2	3	7	6	0	18
7	SEI TU 2	Antonello Morina	ITA14906	9	7	7	6	7	0	27
8	CHARIS	Fabio Mangifesta	ITA277	6	9	9	8	8	0	31
9	AEGIR	Brian Benjamin	GBR9605T	8	8	10	9	10	0	35
10	GOOD JOB GUYS	Antonio Castello	ITA18000	10	10	8	10	9	0	37
11	BLADE	Itt. Srl	ITA11511	11	11	12	11	12	0	45
	Mini Maxi IRC
1	ALEPH	Giorgio Ruffo	ITA15227	1	2	2	1	1	0	5
2	FLYING DRAGON	Nicola Celon	6770	2	1	1	3	3	0	7
3	CHIPPEWA	Clayton Deutsch	IVB6821	3	3	3	2	2	0	10
	Spirit of Tradition
1	HETAIROS	Rockport Ltd	3	1	2	1	3	1	0	5
2	ANNAGINE	C.E. Van Asbeck	NED26	2	1	3	2	5	0	8
3	ADELA	George Lindemann	27	3	3	2	4	2	0	10
4	ASCHANTI OF VEGESACK		24	4	4	4	1	3	0	12