Snakes and ladders around Capri at the IMA Maxi Europeans
by International Maxi Association 26 May 05:04 BST
22-28 May 2026
A dramatic anti-clockwise lap of Capri launched the opening day of inshore and coastal racing at the IMA Maxi European Championship, organised by the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia (CRVI) in conjunction with the International Maxi Association and supported by Rolex and Loro Piana.
Racing got under way in an ultra-light breeze at 1200 for the IMA Maxi Europeans classes followed by the three catamarans competing in Tre Golfi Sailing Week's Multihull Trophy. In today's patchy winds it again paid not to lead and even the final leg back into the Gulf of Naples culminated in a nailbiting contest with boats converging from opposite sides of the course.
Today's hero was certainly Franz Baruffaldi Preis and Silvia De' Longhi newly acquired 62 footer Manticore that was fourth home on the water, well ahead of Maxi 3 but remarkably finishing ahead of almost all the the Maxi 1 and Maxi Grand Prix fleet - a fine result for the boat launched 17 years ago as Sir Peter Ogden's Jethou.
Having acquired the new Manticore over the winter, this once in a lifetime result was perhaps beginners luck being only the second race with her new Italian crew after Friday's Regata dei Tre Golfi. Silvia De' Longhi, who only took up racing two years ago, observed: "It was tough conditions, a very tactical race but things went in our favour, so we're very pleased."
Franz Baruffaldi Preis added: "The good thing was that ahead the 80-100 footers showed us where not to go! On the Tre Golfi we had a lot of problems off Punta Campanella [the tip of the Sorrento peninsula], but today we said 'let's try'. That's what we did and it paid."
Among the front runners, it was a colossal game of snakes and ladders. Karel Komárek's 100ft V and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' Magic Carpet e led the fleet to Capri, but here V was devastingly becalmed; all but anchored for a whole hour. As she finally extricated herself, she found herself at the back of the fleet as her rivals were past Capri's Faraglioni rocks and half way to the Sorrento peninsula. Seeing her predicament those astern had given the west side of Capri a wide berth until the breeze shifted. First to exploit this was George Sakellaris' Proteus which cut Capri's southwest corner, and, sailing at twice the speed of her rivals, overtook Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's Django 7X to move into the lead overall approaching the Faraglioni.
After rounding Capri and returning into the Gulf of Naples, there was further drama as the leaders - at this point Chris Flowers and David M Leuschen's 100ft Galateia and Alessandro Del Bono's 80ft Capricorno - were becalmed close to the Sorrento peninsula shore. Seeing this, some of those astern rounded the mark off Punta Campanella and then turned northwest, to take a more offshore course. Here they found breeze. Eventually the breeze filled in inshore but not before the nimble Capricorno had rolled Galateia. At the finish line Capricorno not only won on corrected time but collected overall line honours too. "We were scared by the boats coming from the north that were really fast while there was no wind where we were," reflected Del Bono. "They did a good job and the guys had a fantastic race. The boat has really improved since last year. Downwind she is totally different [since twin rudders were fitted]. Torben [Grael, tactician] did an amazing job. He understood exactly where we needed to go."
Remarkably considering her delay, V finished less than four minutes astern of Capricorno. Event sponsor Pier Luigi Loro Piana's 80ft My Song, having taken the offshore route, finished five seconds astern of V to take second place on corrected time in Maxi 1.
V's story was very similar to that of Hap Fauth's 74ft Bella Mente in the Maxi Grand Prix class, which had got off to a blazing start only to fall foul of a shift that left them last. Tactician Terry Hutchinson explained: "That basically sealed our fate on the first beat but then we did a really good job around Capri and recovered a lot of distance. At the gate we were happy going straight but the breeze that we saw in the corner didn't materialise and we got absolutely caned there and were not in great shape at the last turning mark. But then we saw the old sea breeze halfway down Capri and said 'let's just go for that and see what happens. It's not going to get any worse...'"
Bella Mente led the offshore route to the finish, finishing just 14 seconds astern of Galateia to take first place in the Maxi Grand Prix class, her time correcting out to 19 minutes ahead of Proteus and Peter Duben's North Star.
Of Proteus' second place in the Maxi Grand Prix class, having led the entire fleet off Faraglioni, strategist Nicholas Heiner commented: "We knew beforehand about the big transition zones, especially on the corner of the Sorrento peninsula which is always super tricky. But we played it well."
In Maxi 4/5 the decisive winner was Vincenzo Addessi's Mylius 18E35 Fra Diavolo ahead of Luigi Sala's Vismara 62 Yoru with Luca Scoppa's Dehler 60 Blue Oyster third.
Fra Diavolo's navigator Alessandro Torresani commented: "At Punta Carena there was a big wind hole, so we stayed out and hoisted the spinnaker to get down to the Faraglioni. Then there was another big transition between Capri and Punta Campanella. We saw the maxis stuck by the land so we stayed out, got the wind and hoisted the kite again." Among her crew is new tactician Diego Fructuoso and British double Paralympic medallist Helena Lucas, racing on board as part of the Argo Challenge, to implant disabled sailors into the highest level of competition.
Three maxi multihulls took part in the Tre Golfi Sailing Week's Multihull Trophy where today Lord Irvine Laidlaw's Gunboat 80 Highland Fling 18 beat Adrian Keller's Allegra and the Nisbet family's Gunboat 72 Layla. "It was a mad race," commented Highland Fling 18's tactician Ned Collier Wakefield. "It was a reactive day and we benefitted from having the big boats ahead of us to show us the holes which allowed us to keep out of them. Given that we haven't raced for a year we didn't leave much out there."