Discards place fresh complexion on IMA Maxi Europeans
by International Maxi Association 27 May 22:22 BST
22-28 May 2026
On day three of the IMA Maxi European Championship out of Sorrento, the 27 maxi yachts and trio of catamarans competing in Tre Golfi Sailing Week's Multihull Trophy were sent off around the Gulf of Naples on coastal courses in a south to southwesterly wind that peaked at 14 knots.
Once again the racing, organised by the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia (CRVI) and the International Maxi Association and supported by Rolex and Loro Piana, started after a short delay but then had to be restarted when a shift in the final moments before the gun unfairly skewed the start line.
Maxi 1 and Maxi Grand Prix were sent on a 29 miles course as the smaller/slower maxis in Maxi 3 and 4/5 sailed a similar course, but of only 20 miles. Both courses comprised windward-leeward legs and two long reaching legs out across the Gulf towards Naples. A shorter opening beat for the Maxi 3-5 meant that the Maxi 1 and Grand Prix fleets then had a pick their way through the smaller boats en route to the leeward mark, located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
Today's racing was markedly different to Monday's coastal race that rounded Capri, as the wind was steadier with no shut-downs to allow the slower boats to catch up. This was particularly evident in the Maxi 1 and Maxi Grand Prix classes where the faster boats were for the most part able to sail to their IRC ratings with Karel Komárek's V, the second fastest in Maxi 1, leading the fleet around the race track.
"It was all about the start and the first upwind," commented V's strategist, Croatia's Olympic 470 gold medallist Sime Fantela. "We had a great start at the pin. The left side was really favoured and we came out from there nicely. After that it was basically kind of 'defend the lead'." Chasing V around the race track were Chris Flowers and David M Leuschen's Galateia (with Leuschen driving today) and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' Magic Carpet e, while the fourth 100 footer, Pascale Decaux's Tilakkhana II, remained on her back foot for race after being been called OCS and having to return to restart.
"The boat was going fast and the crew work was really good," Fantela continued. "We had a little hiccup on the leeward mark before the finish, when we couldn't furl the masthead Code 0 and had to perform a manual drop. That raised the temperature a bit. But we managed to defend well and finally won."
With discards applied, V now leads Maxi 1, two points clear of Galateia and another point ahead of Alessandro Del Bono's JV82 Capricorno.
Sir Peter Ogden's 77ft Jethou, substantially the highest rated in the Maxi Grand Prix class continued her winning streak, claimed today's race by almost two minutes from Peter Harrison's Jolt. As Ogden described it: "We were really powerful off the start and got going in a great position. Then after that, it became processional. It was one of those days where there were no holes on the race course, which was nice - when there are holes, it feels like you're going backwards..." Despite the sizes of the Maxi Grand Prix yachts, their crews throw them around like dinghies, as demonstrated by Hap Fauth's Bella Mente strongly attempting to luff Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's world championship-winning 71 footer Django 7X immediately after the first windward rounding, from which the Italian team managed to quickly escape. The reaching legs also challenged several of the more inshore-orientated teams less used to racing on these points of sail with Django 7X losing the top of her spinnaker and even Jethou struggling briefly to unfurl her gennaker following the reaching mark rounding.
In Maxi 3 Jean-Sebastien Decaux's crew on Sensei (one of two Wally 94s competing) sailed a fabulous race leading her class on the race track, finishing on the water more than two minutes ahead of Franz Baruffaldi Preis and Silvia De' Longhi's 62ft Manticore when the CRVI race team led by PRO Stuart Childerley, spotting the breeze slowly but steadily dropping, chose to shorten course. However under IRC corrected time Guido Paolo Gamucci's canting keel Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X scored her third bullet of the Championship. She, like Manticore, is now discarding a second, but Manticore must count her non-discardable 5th place from last Friday's Regata dei Tre Golfi, leaving Cippa Lippa X on 5 points to her 9. Paul Berger's defending champion on the Swan 80 Kallima currently lies third on 11.70.
"The race was long... but it was good," commented Gamucci. "We managed all the issues with the big boats passing by us and we flew under our Code 0. On both reaching legs, we used half a Code 0 and half an A1 [spinnaker], because the [wind] angle was increasing. When we saw the big ones get to the finish line, so we hoisted the gennaker and sailed low."
In Maxi 4-5 Vincenzo Addessi's Mylius 18E35 Fra' Diavolo scored her third bullet of the regatta and is also discarding a second. This leaves her in first place 4 points clear of Riccardo De Michele's Vallicelli 78 H2O with Luigi Sala's Vismara 62 Yoru a further 3 back. However the noteworthy performer today was Norway's Lasse Petterson and his Italian all-star crew on the Mylius 60 (and sistership to Fra' Diavolo) Why Not that finished the coastal in second.
Petterson has been a successful competitor on the Melges 32 circuit with Team Pippa and sails with a crew mostly from Yacht Club Torri on Lake Garda. This includes Italy's Soling crew from the 2000 Olympics tactician Nicola Celon, Why Not's tactician, and sailmaker Dede de Luca. The core crew has sailed together for decades on Melges 32s and 24s, J/70 and in various Olympic classes.
"We are new in the class," commented Celon, the youngest son of one of Italy's most famous sailing dynasties. "The race was nice because we were a little lucky, always in the right position, always in the good side of the area. We finished ahead of Fra' Diavolo in real time by three minutes, but we owe them time because we have bigger sails."
In the Multihull Trophy, Lord Irvine Laidlaw's Gunboat 80 Highland Fling 18 prevailed for a second time over Adrian Keller's Irens 82 Allegra and the Nisbet family's Gunboat 72 Layla.
The IMA Maxi European Championship concludes tomorrow with one final race. Conditions once again look set to be light but sail-able.