Following yesterday’s enforced rest caused by strong winds, the 27 superyachts competing in the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta were rearing to go on Day Three of the event, the Fitzroy Race Day.
2011 Loro Piana Regatta - Porto Cervo - Sardinia - Photo Credit to Carlo Borlenghi
Porto Cervo obliged by providing the kind of ideal superyacht racing conditions that the area is famous for: sunshine, blue skies and a brisk westerly breeze of 18 to 20 knots. The event, co-organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Boat International Media and taking place from 7th to 11th June, is now in its third edition and this year hosts sailing titans from 24 to 58 metres in length. With two races now completed, Irvine Laidlaw’s Reichel Pugh-designed Highland Fling XI leads the overall classification in the Performance division while the 34 metre Frers-designed Unfurled heads up the Cruising yachts. Andrea Recordati’s Indio has overtaken Y3K on the leaderboard among the Wallys.
Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2011 - Porto Cervo - Credits Carlo Borlenghi
Both divisions followed a course which took them from the start off Porto Cervo south to round the islands of Mortorio and Soffi before heading north to Monaci island where the two fleets parted company. The Cruising superyachts headed for the finish in the Gulf of Pevero, for a total course length of 27 nautical miles, while the Performance division rounded the southern tip of the island of Caprera, left the Secca Tre Monti rock to port and headed for home via the strait between the mainland and the Isole delle Bisce.
Both Highland Fling, which boasts US veteran sailors Mike Toppa and Peter Holmberg aboard, and Indio claimed victory in real and corrected time in today’s race. In the Cruising division it was Kora 5 that took first place on corrected time and the 27.7 metre Swan now sits just one point behind Unfurled in the overall classification.
Superyacht Twizzle - Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2011 - Credit to Carlo Borlenghi
“These were not the best conditions for Kora, but she still did very well.” commented Kora’s owner Paolo Scerni. “I saw that one of our competitors Thalima had a problem with the spinnaker, and without that they might have beaten us. We had no real problems and sailed a good course around the track. Our tactician Lorenzo Bortolotti has done a great job, and so did the crew.”
Owners will be dancing the night away at the Beach Party at Hotel Romazzino this evening while crews will be enjoying a party thrown by Sardinia Yacht Services in the Piazzetta of Porto Cervo Marina.
The final race of the series is scheduled to start tomorrow, 11th June at 11 a.m. and the forecast is for approximately 20 knots of westerly wind, increasing in the afternoon.
