Classic Swan 65 claims IMA Volcano Race

Jochen Schümann is presented with the Volcano Race's line honours trophy by IMA Secretary General Andrew McIrvine © IMA / Gianluca Di Fazio

The International Maxi Association's Volcano Race, organised in conjunction with the Yacht Club Gaeta EVS, this year saw the full course sailed with a worthy win on handicap by one of the smaller, older yachts competing.

After a delay waiting for the wind to fill in on Wednesday, the race committee chose to 'reverse the course', sending the fleet off from Gaeta on a 391 mile anti-clockwise lap of the Aeolian Islands to the north of Sicily. The boats first rounded Alicudi in the west, continuing on to Vulcano and Stromboli and its tiny neighbour, Strombolicchio, before returning north to Gaeta, leaving Capri to port.

In a Maxi fleet ranging in size from 60 to 100ft, it was Igor Simcic's 100ft Esimit Europa 2 that led the charge, reaching the Aeolian Islands in the early hours of Thursday morning. In fact the royal blue-hulled maxi's progress was dogged all the way to the Aeolians by a front. This she kept running into, causing her to lose the wind, while those astern continued to make good speed. As a result, Esimit Europa 2's German three time Olympic Gold medallist skipper, Jochen Schümann, said that they had been unable to break away.

At around 1530 on Thursday, Esimit Europa 2 passed Stromboli, one of Europe's two active volcanoes, but, according to Schümann, its top was obscured by cloud and they were unable to see any lava erupting. Returning north they faced a beat in 20-23 knots, a headbanger ride that only relented at dawn when they reached the gap between the Sorrento Peninsula and Capri. From here, across the Bay of Naples, and on past the islands of Ischia and Procida off Naples, the wind became 'capricious', as Schümann summarised: "We had the breeze, then the land breeze, and then that died again, so it was much more complicated than you thought. 0-3 knots and then 12 knots..."

Esimit Europa 2 eventually crossed the Gaeta finish line at 10:37:24 local time on Friday, first home in 1 day, 21 hours and 2 minutes.

"We tried to sail our boat perfectly and we did," commented Schümann, acknowledging that this was a fine start to a season that marks the 20th anniversary of Igor Simcic's EU-supported campaign, that uses a sailing yacht as an icon for European consolidation.

The bulk of the fleet arrived back in Gaeta over the course of Friday with the Hungarian canting keeler Wild Joe second home at 16:26 local time, 19 minutes ahead of the brand new Southern Wind 82, Grand Orazio.

Wild Joe's owner Marton Jozsa commented: "It was a hard race, but we enjoyed it a lot. We experienced all types of weather, from strong wind to no wind, sunshine and rain. I think we used all of our sails."

The Volcano Race is the only offshore race the International Maxi Association stages in the Mediterranean and Jozsa is an enthusiastic supporter: "We like long races and this one comes at a good time in the season."

Massimiliano Florio, owner of Grande Orazio concurred: "It was a wonderful race with some very tough moments. We had great time, but it was not a relaxing race as there were so many sail changes, a rough sea and very changeable weather conditions. Last night the sea was so rough we did not sleep at all."

Annually in the Volcano Race, the Gianfranco Alberini Challenge Trophy is awarded to the crew showing the best 'sportsmanship'. This year it was won by Yacht Club Gaeta President, Vincenzo Addessi, whose Mylius 60, Fra Diavolo, arrived home fifth on the water late on Friday night.

"I am proud of my team that did a very good job, even if the boat was so new that we only had a couple of days to test her beforehand," said Addessi. "From my point of view it was a success and I thank the IMA for again choosing Gaeta, continuing the tradition of this offshore race. This was the first time Gaeta was used as both the start and the finish, so I consider this as 'year zero', marking a new start for the event."

Overall victory in the 2015 Volcano Race went to the heavyweight Swan 65, Shirlaf, of Italian Giuseppe Puttini, which arrived in Gaeta at 02:17:11 local time on Saturday morning. After correction under IRC, the time of the classic Swan – with a crew including former America's Cup helmsman Paolo Cian - ended up a substantial two hours 19 minutes faster than the second-placed Wally 60 Good Job Guys of Enrico Gorziglia.

Shirlaf owner Giuseppe Puttini, with Paolo Cian (right), is presented with the trophy for overall handicap honours in the Volcano Race - photo © IMA/Gianluca Di Fazio

Giuseppe Puttini commented: "We are honoured to have won the Volcano Race overall. The race was indeed tough, but we enjoyed it a lot – the colour of the sea and the volcanic islands are beautiful and we saw dolphins. We changed sails many times and the crew worked hard and barely slept for the three days. When we got to Gaeta [at 2am] we were surprised and very happy to find people from Yacht Club Gaeta and IMA waiting for us with hot food and beer."

The Volcano race, owners and crews and the International Maxi Association expressed their thanks for the hospitality shown by the Yacht Club Gaeta EVS and Base Nautica Flavio Gioia.

Secretary General of the International Maxi Association, Andrew McIrvine, commented: "This race has great potential to grow as it combines unpredictable weather with sudden changes thereby working both crews and tacticians to the limit. Add to this spectacular scenery and warm water and you have a magic formula."

The International Maxi Association's 2015 season continues with Menorca Maxi taking place next week over 26th-31st May in Mahon for the Wally and Maxi72 classes.

Full results can be found here.