All to play for in finale-Rolex Capri Sailing Week

by KPMS on 19 May 2007 Day three of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, organized by the Yacht Club Capri in collaboration with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, brought unpredictable conditions with the fifty-one strong fleet waiting most of the day for the 5 to 6 knot breeze to pick up, only to see a north easterly wind of approximately 20 knots, with gusts of up to 24 knots, arrive in the late afternoon.

Once again the Race Committee set a windward-leeward course of approximately 8 nautical miles for the Farr 40 and Swan 45 divisions while the Mini Maxi and Comet divisions sailed approximately 14 nautical miles around the buoys. Today's strong winds proved challenging for the One-Design fleets in particular and victory is not assured for any of the competitors in the four participating divisions as they head into tomorrow's final day of racing.

The Farr 40 fleet saw Helmut Jan's Flash Gordon (USA) take first place after a string of erratic results over the previous five races including two fifteenth places and a second. Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone (ITA) added a second place to yesterday's first while Matt Allen's Ichi Ban (AUS), runner-up at the 2006 Farr 40 Worlds, took third place, appearing in the top three for the first time in the event. Jim Richardson's Barking Mad came in sixth place, enough to hold on to first place overall but reducing their lead over Nerone to 8 points. Massimo Stefano Leporati's Kismet sits just a further three points behind in third leaving all to play for in tomorrow's final day of sailing with a possible three regattas to be run tomorrow.

Among the Swan 45s Charles Swingland's Piper at the Gates of Dawn (GBR) crossed the finish line ahead of the pack. Japan's Yasha, owned by Yukihiro Ishida and with a mainly American crew, came in second and was followed by Paolo Scerni's Kora 3 (ITA). This division, which at the close of yesterday's racing saw the top three competitors separated by just three points, now sees an even closer situation as Carlo Perrone's Atlantica Racing sits in first place on 13 points while both Yasha and Kora 3 have 14 points with Yasha's second place today assuring her second place overall.

'It was a tough day' admitted Hamish Pepper, tactician on board Yasha. ' We struggled a little bit downwind with our manoeuvres and it didn't quite come off and we didn't quite win the race but overall we're pretty happy. As a team, we just got together just prior to this regatta so we only had a couple of days together, so it has been good. We're here and the owner's here to enjoy himself and to have a bit of fun and we're going to go out there and do the best we can. There's a lot of good boats out there and the points are very close so if we have a bad race the others will win the regatta, so it's going to be tough.'

The Mini Maxi division saw Carlo Puri Negri's Atalanta II (ITA) dominate once again, bringing the Italian team to a total of three consecutive firsts. Not sufficient, however, to take first place overall after an OCS in race one led to disqualification: Puri Negri sits in second place overall behind Massimo Violati's Ops 5 and ahead of Antonello Morino's Sei Tu 2.

Guido Morisco's Nur, last year's division winner, took first place on corrected time in the Comet fleet closely followed by Antonio Roncone's Andromeda. Maurizio Biscardi's Libertine, which up until today had an unbroken run of firsts, came in fifth today but still holds the top spot in the overall classification followed by Nur and Rodolfo Tasselli's Wind Song Among the Comet fleet Maurizio Biscardi's Libertine (ITA) gained two more victories for an unbroken run of three firsts leaving them six points clear of Guido Morisco's Nur (ITA) in second. Rodolfo Tasselli's (ITA)Wind Song is in third.

Racing is scheduled to begin at 12 midday tomorrow and the final prizegiving ceremony will take place on Capri's Marina Grande at 6pm.

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