Rolex Swan Cup at Porto Cervo, Sardinia - Day 2
by Rolex Media Centre 11 Sep 2008 08:30 BST
9-14 September 2008
Fanfare for Favonius
Day two of the Rolex Swan Cup was reminiscent of a family day at the park where different age groups take part in different activities. The Swan Maxis went on a hefty 30 nautical mile hike up and down Bomb Alley using the Island of Spargi as an oversized leeward turning mark, whereas the Classics undertook a shorter, 24 nm stroll only venturing into the channel as far as Secca di Tre Monti, but featuring a long beat to Mortoriotto. Meanwhile, the sprightlier Swan 45s and Club Swan 42s were given their own part of the park to play in and tackled two four-leg windward/leewards of 8 & 7.2 nm.
Continuing the park analogy, in the Swan Maxis the Swan 80, Favonius (BVI) played everyone off it once again winning both on the water and on handicap. The Swan 48 Zen (GBR) conceded her waterline length to finish third on the water, but still came first on handicap in the Classics. Swan 45, Earlybird (GER), was later to finish in her fleet than yesterday posting a 6, 5, but sufficiently good to still lead overall. Equally, Kora (ITA), the Club Swan 42, had a drop in performance to score two seconds, but again held onto first overall. So, no change at the top after the day's proceedings. All fleets face the prospect of the Long Island Race tomorrow, which will be designed to last 6 to 9 hours. Certainly time enough for someone in each division to have a tilt at the leaders, and stop them putting more distance between themselves and the pack.
The performance of Roel Pieper's Favonius in the Swan Maxi Division must have the opposition quaking in their sailing shoes. The Swan 80 hardly put a foot wrong as she slipped around the course in 3 hours 41 minutes, and seemed to extend her lead throughout the twisting course. Pieper and tactician Roy Heiner have plenty of experience racing these waters and, whilst ultimate success has eluded them in the past, if they keep up this standard no one else is going to touch them. Sir Peter Ogden's Swan 601, Spirit of Jethou, finished second on corrected time to stay in touch the on-song Favonius. Ogden and crew have their eye on two prizes this week: the Rolex Swan Cup and the Swan Maxi Circuit - for which another Rolex timepiece is the reward. Favonius is only one-point behind her in the circuit so reckon on the all-black Spirit continuing to take the fight to Pieper.
The race today was full of the tactical challenges usually presented by the passage between mainland Sardinia and the Maddalena archipelago. The first decision came early. North of the island of Bisce or south close Capo Ferro? Only a couple of yachts chose the southerly option and one was the custom Swan 78, Valkyrie (CAN), designed by Bill Tripp and owned by Will Apold, eventually second home on the water today. Was this the tactical decision that secured that spot? "We had a good start and were second at the windward mark. We then decided to go inside the island (Bisce) and that was a mistake," he laughs, continuing, "we probably lost twenty or thirty boat lengths as a result. We thought there would be more wind in there, but it turned out lighter." By the time those that went north had converged with Valkyrie she had slipped to fifth, with the Swan 90 White Lie (ITA), the Swan 100 Varsovie (USA) and the Swan 82 Astro (AUT) between her and Favonius. "We had about 14 knots of wind and it became a real boat race at that point," says Apold. "We had to get past Astro first, which was exciting since I reckon we were about six inches away from a collision as we rolled over her. Both crews had a moment of fear and then relief!"
With winter arriving in Canada, Apold is very happy to be in Porto Cervo, which continues to be warm enough, windy enough and friendly for him and his crew. "It's a great place to sail," he concludes.
In the Swan 45 division, the battle is on. Christian Nagel and Hendrik Brandis' Earlybird (GER) may be top tonight, but by a significantly reduced margin as first Marco Salvi's Vertigo (ITA) took the finish gun, followed by Carlo Perone's Atlantica Racing (ITA) in the second race. Elsewhere, Andrea Masi's Ulika (ITA) scored 2, 4 to close to within one point of the Germans. A disappointing ninth for Vertigo in the second race, leaves Salvi and tactician Vasco Vascotto back in third nine points off the lead.. Not as bad as 2007 Swan 45 World Champion, Plenty (USA). Alex Roepers crew has failed to find the magic of last year, and presently lie in twelfth. 2006 Rolex Swan Cup winner, Danilo Salsi and DSK Comifin, are equally failing to hit the high notes and are one place further back.
In eighth place is the Japanese Swan 45 Yasha, owned by Yukihiro Ishida. His tactician for the week is Tony Rey, America's Cup sailor and coach to the American Olympic Sailing team. In the first race today Yasha posted a third, "they were close, tight races today. We had the goal to get two good starts and we had two great starts, but we only convert it into one good finish. We were thrilled about the first result. In the second race we had a great start and sometimes the hardest thing to overcome is a good start! I managed get us back in the fleet again. It's tough in the Swan 45 fleet these days. Everyone is good."
According to Rey, Ishida does not have much English at his command. Is this a problem communicating? Rey says not, "I've been with the team since 2006. Mr Ishita doesn't speak much English, just a few words, and that's a quite an adventure coming into close situations! We've had to figure out some creative ways to get around it. We do have two other Japanese on the team. Takumi Nakamura is a young upcoming matchracer, one of the top matchracers in Japan. Kazuhiku Safuku, known as Fuku, is one of the best bowmen in the world. He's done three AC. Having those two onboard is just like a rock onboard, they are solid, dependable, fantastic, plus they can translate in the odd moments when its really necessary."
The Classic Division course involved plenty of tactical thinking too and the tussle at the top has a long way to go. The Italian crew on the Swan 56 Vanish II managed to finish first on the water again today, although at Monaci - about halfway round - that looked exceedingly unlikely. The Spanish Swan 56 Clem was way out in front and Vanish II could not seem to shake of the irritation of finding the Swan 48 Zen in front of her.
Clem is the only Spanish boat here this week and in spite of that owner Jaime Olazabal Fourquet has high expectations because whilst the crew is new to Porto Cervo, the yacht is a defending champion. Racing as Aqua Equinox, this particular Swan 56 won in 2006. Despite not hanging onto to win on the water, Fourquet was happy with today, "we began with a good start and the first upwind leg was not too bad, we rounded the mark in third I believe. Downwind we managed to move to the front of the fleet. We were close to Vanish II a few times, but we moved to the good side of the course and got the advantage." How many yacht races are lost by the leader losing the lead, rather than the tactics of the boat in second? Too numerous to ponder for long, but this seems to have been another, "instead of protecting our lead we went far from the land because we looked at Vanish II and it looked that she had more wind over there. We got that wrong, we went way too far, tried to recover and we dropped to second place and I think in real time."
With John Bainbridge's Swan 48 Zen (GBR) repeating yesterday's success she remains in front overall. Clem dropped to third, following a seventh on handicap today. Dream, the Swan 47 of Francesco Persio, moves up into second having gathered two thirds so far. A second Swan 47, Tortuga, lies in fourth.
The Club Swan 42s raced the same courses as the Swan 45s. Races did not go according to yesterday's extraordinary script. The American challengers had the temerity to take top slots in both of today's racing. John Hele's Daring's took the first race of the day and followed it up with a third. Austin Fragomen's Interlodge achieved the mirror of this with a third in the first race and first in the second. These results move Interlodge into second overall, four points off the lead and two ahead of Leonardo Ferragamo's Cour di Leone (ITA), in third.
Fragomen is another first timer in Porto Cervo and yet another to be drawn into the attractions of sailing here, "It's an absolute beautiful venue for racing. Today's racing was very competitive. The European boats are really fast and we really tried to concentrate on staying on the right side of the course and having very clean crew-work. The last race was amazing because 4 boats finished within about 15 seconds of each other, which shows how competitive the class is. So we had a thrillingly, enjoyable day." Fragomen is sailing with his usual crew of family and friends from Newport, Rhode Island. Despite, being less than halfway through the event, Fragomen is already looking forward to coming back.
The Rolex Swan Cup is renowned for its social programme and this edition is no exception. Today a lunch was organised for non-racing spouses and tonight the Swan 45 Class Owners have a dinner at Safina Restaurant at the Pevero Golf Club.
For more information about the Rolex Swan Cup 2008 including entry lists and results please visit www.yccsswancup.com