Rolex Swan Cup at Porto Cervo, Sardinia - Overall

MONEYPENNY OUTGUNS ARTEMIS

Four winners of the Rolex Swan Cup, from four nations. DSK wins battle of the Swan 45s and Moneypenny takes Swan 601 title, while Aqua Equinox tops the Grand Prix division and Jacobite the Classic division.

The hard-fought quest for overall honours in the 14th Rolex Swan Cup, organised by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, ended with a testing day of racing. With the legendary northwesterly Mistral gusting up to 30 knots and heavy seas outside the islands, the 99 entries tackled a 17-mile coastal course.

Moneypenny (USA) won on a tie-break in the Swan 601 fleet, while Italy's DSK Comifin was able to fend off a strong US contingent among the Swan 45s. Aqua Equinox (BEL) took overall honours on handicap in the Grand Prix division (21 entries) and Jacobite (GBR) came first among the Classic division (45 entries).

In the Swan 601s, for James R. Swartz's Moneypenny (USA) and Torbjorn Tornquist's Artemis (SWE), the final race was a classic winner takes all scenario. The two yachts have been locked together in a gladiatorial contest all week and with the discard in play after 5 races only one place separated them in the standings. The pressure was greatest on Moneypenny. She had to win; anything less would be insufficient to unseat Artemis.

Moneypenny did win, but Artemis finished second leaving the yachts tied on 9 points. With both holding three bullets and three second-places they were inseparable on countback. The tie-break rules came into effect and the last race result was critical. Moneypenny won the race and with it the title. Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuor di Leone (ITA), with Paul Cayard calling the tactics, ended the series in third.

James Swartz had had his sights set on winning the Rolex Swan Cup for a long time: "Ever since I took delivery of the yacht last year, I have been aiming to win this regatta and this is a dream come true - a truly magical day. This event has allowed us to have some of our best racing ever against highly skilled crews on the other 601s and they provided us with great competition.

"Today we welcomed the Mistral winds and we had a great start, breaking free of the other boats early on. We had several near perfect sail sets but it was tricky going through the straits. We were well prepared for this event and now we have achieved our goal." Swartz was aided in his quest by an all-star crew that included several current and former America's Cup and round the world sailors. Among them, Dee Smith was tactician and Mark Rudiger was navigator.

Despite losing the top spot, Torbjorn Tornquist, owner of Artemis, was gracious in defeat and had enjoyed the tough battle with Moneypenny: "I think this is one of the best places to sail in the world, with great wind and conditions, beautiful scenery and a fantastic yacht club which made sure everyone had a great time. I have really enjoyed sailing here."

Tornquist competed two years ago on a Swan 48, but this event was a step up that he had relished, continuing; "Today's racing was tough with the strong winds, but it was really interesting and demanding - we aimed high for this competition.

"Moneypenny worked really hard and had a very good crew, so did we, but I guess that's the way it goes. It was very close, they had three wins, we had three wins. Now we'll go home and think about what we can improve and we'll be back in 2008 for sure."

The 29-strong Swan 45 fleet from nine countries was led throughout the week by Danilo Salsi's DSK Comifin (ITA), who had to fend off a strong contingent of US entries led by Dick Weismann's Vixen. The Italian entry went into the last race of the series with a comfortable but still vulnerable 6-point lead over Vixen and the luxury of a ninth as worst result against Vixen's weighty 22nd. The greater pressure was on Vixen. Weismann had to finish in the top three and hope Salsi would have his worst day of the regatta, finishing at least 7 places adrift. In the end it was too much to ask. The Italian crew finished fourth in today's race and, despite a good start, Vixen faded in the tricky conditions coming home in ninth.

Tactician Pietro D'Alì, whose resume includes Olympics, America's Cup and the Whitbread Round the World Race, today had only one thought on his mind - keeping a close control over Vixen: "Today was a tough race. In 30 knots of wind, the Swan 45 is a challenging boat, and gybing becomes especially difficult as the full carbon mainsails are very light. My goal today was to lead Vixen around the course and get at least 5 or six boats in between us and them. I wanted to make sure that in case of technical failure on our boat we could still hold enough of a margin to stay ahead. This was my only thought from start to finish. We never let go of Vixen, tacking on their sails all along." Although confident with his team's scores, D'Alì did not take anything for granted: "In any regatta you can never guess, Vixen is a fast boat with a strong team and in such a big and competitive fleet it is always possible to make a big mistake or to suffer some sort of damage. Our crew did an excellent job, we have been working together for a year and half, and Danilo [Salsi] is doing a really great job at the helm."

DSK Comifin has a busy schedule ahead. The next event for the team will be Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez regatta, followed by the Rolex Middle Sea Race, one of the classics of offshore racing, and which will serve as training for Salsi's crew for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race later this year.

Despite falling at the last, Dick Weismann remained upbeat about his team's efforts: "The week has gone really well. We've enjoyed every day, even the rainy long distance race. We couldn't have been happier with our results. Obviously we would have been happier still with first place but we're thrilled with our overall performance.

Commenting on the last race of the series, Weismann added: "Today we just sailed it as a regular race. It was a little more pressured because we did have a shot at first place [overall]. But we made up our minds at the beginning to treat it as normal and sail against the whole fleet, and not just one boat, the lead boat. They [DSK] sailed a great race, of course; they're very, very skilled. One of the nicest things to happen was when we were coming in together we passed next to Danilo [Salsi] and our boat clapped, and they clapped. It was a really nice gesture."

With a victory on corrected time in the last day of the series, Filip Balcaen's Swan 56 Aqua Equinox (BEL), confirmed its leadership among the Grand Prix division, claiming overall honours with a comfortable 4-point lead. Massimo Dentice's Swan 70 Bugia Bianca (ITA) took the second spot on the podium, with a fifth on handicap in the last race of the series. Roel Pieper's Swan 80 Favonius claimed line honours in the last race and a third on corrected time, which was enough to end the series in third.

Filip Balcaen is at his third Rolex Swan Cup and feels that this has been his best event so far: "I must say it has been a fantastic regatta, it's the third time we have entered and this year we have had our best performance. We came tenth the first time, then 3rd and today first - it feels amazing. We have been lucky having such good sailing weather, with winds generally between 12 and 16 knots, making the conditions just perfect for racing our boat. The Swan 56 is a great model and proves that if you have the right crew, it can be possible for an older model to win such a competitive regatta. We have beaten some Swan 70s and other fantastic performers because we have the determination to win. The crew worked extremely hard and now it's time to celebrate."

America's Cup veteran Lorenzo Bortolotti from Italy, tactician onboard Bugia Bianca, commented on how a few mistakes compromised their last race: "We worked hard and sailed well in the first half but I am disappointed that we made a couple of errors later on and lost time, probably around three minutes overall. The windward leg was most challenging and we lost our advantage to the smaller boats. Our competitor was Aqua Equinox, it was very close and without the mistakes we could have won. The crew was working so well and the boat sailed perfectly. I am happy with the results and it has been a super regatta, very well organised."

In the Classic Fleet, Peter Simon's Swan 65 Monsoon Jaguar (GBR), the fastest boat on the water among the division, once again claimed line honours in the last race but was unable to reach the podium. With a third on corrected time in the last race, Stephen & Benedict James claimed overall honours with their Swan 48 Jacobite. William Kardash's Swan 44 Aura (USA) came in second, followed by Colin Buffin's Swan 44 Junkanoo (GBR).

Stephen James commented: "It is only the second time that we have competed in this event with Jacobite, in 2002 we came second and we had some unfinished business to settle. It was a very satisfying win and I feel like a very lucky man, with a superb crew. Aura and Monsoon Jaguar created the most difficulty for us but we really enjoyed racing against such a wide variety of models. It has been a great series and the format of this event was so well organised."

The 2006 Rolex Swan Cup ends today with the Final Prizegiving Ceremony, where the four division winners will be awarded with the Swan Cup Trophy and a coveted Rolex Submariner timepiece.

Overall Results: (top 3 boats)

Swan 45 (8 races)
1. DSK COMIFIN Danilo Salsi ITA, 1/4/3/4/1/(9)/6/5/24.0
2. VIXEN Dick Weismann USA, (22)/1/1/3/5/10/5/9/34.0
3. FEVER Klaus Diederichs/Grant Gordon GBR, 6/(14)/13/5/4/3/12/1/44.0

Swan 601 (7 races)
1. MONEYPENNY James R. Swartz USA, 2/(3)/2/1/2/1/1/9.0
2. ARTEMIS Torbjorn Tornquist SWE, 1/2/1/2/1/2/(2)/9.0
3. CUOR DI LEONE Leonardo Ferragamo ITA, 3/1/3/4/3/(4)/3/17.0

Grand Prix (5 races)
1. AQUA EQUINOX Swan 56 Filip Balcaen BEL, 2/1/(3)/1/1/5.0
2. BUGIA BIANCA Swan 70 Massimo Dentice ITA, 1/(7)/1/2/5/9.0
3. FAVONIUS Swan 80 Roel Pieper SWE, (5)/3/2/4/3/12.0

Classic (5 races)
1. JACOBITE Swan 48 Stephen and Benedict James GBR, 1/1/2/(4)/3/7.0
2. AURA Swan 44 William J. Kardash USA, 2/2/(7)/2/6/12.0
3. JUNKANOO Swan 44 Colin Buffin GBR, 4/5/3/1/(7)/13.0

For more information about the Rolex Swan Cup 2006 including entry lists and results please visit www.rolexswancup.com