Day Three of this year’s Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, marked by Fitzroy Race Day, was an absolutely classic Sardinia sailing day. The fleet of 21 sailing superyachts enjoyed blue skies, as well as a wind from the north of around 12 knots at the start, which continued to build during the day to make for an amazing tight run home to the finish.
Fleet - Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2013 © Jeff Brown/Superyacht Media
The event, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and co-organised by Boat International Media, was at the halfway point overnight with sailing yacht My Song, charter yacht Salperton and luxury yacht Bequia holding first in Classes A to C respectively. The race committee selected courses that sent the fleet upwind to the east of Monaci, Caprera and La Maddalena, with the Class C yachts continuing through bomb alley back to the finish off Porto Cervo and the Class A and B yachts looping around the islands of Spargi and Barrettinelli before blasting back down the east coasts of La Maddalena and Caprera. The start sequence reverted to slowest starting first, which led to some close boat-on-boat battles all the way round the course.
As Class C blasted through bomb alley, Classes A and B began to merge as the faster yachts, who started last, began to show their pace. As they came to the gybe point off Barrettinelli, ready for the reach home, the 45m superyacht Visione had snuck to the front, followed by Salperton on a delta of nearly three minutes. There was a further three minute gap back to Saudade, with charter yacht Bliss, superyacht Nilaya, My Song, Unfurled yacht, sailing yacht Firefly, luxury yacht Zefira and Aegir yacht coming through in quick succession.
The run back to the line was tight, with a stiff breeze at the top of the course pressing the yachts hard and propelling them at speed. The sight of 14 kites spearing down the coast was not to be missed.
Luxury yacht Aegir, Cruising Class A - Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta 2013 © Jeff Brown/SUperyacht Media
When the results on corrected time rolled in, My Song had taken her third bullet in three races, beating the 25m Aegir by just 17 seconds after three hours of high octane racing. The Fitzroy-built 45m charter yacht Salperton held on to take Fitzroy Race Day victory in Class B ahead of Bliss, who had recovered well from an overnight fix-it session after their mainsheet got chewed through by the sheeting system on Day Two. Class C had a new winner today, with sailing yacht Genevieve reveling in the heavier conditions to get the bullet, followed by superyacht Karibu and Bequia.
‘We did fantastic today, and had a really good day,’ beamed Tony Pullar, captain of Genevieve. ‘We got a good start, saw the shift up the track and went well inshore, managing to keep clear air. The wind hit 27 knots in bomb alley, and we had a good battle with Bequia – they overtook us at one point, then we got them back on the reach and run. We stayed inshore at every point we could and we got lifted all the way round the course.’
For Aegir, the pain of losing by 17 seconds was perhaps mitigated by a sparkling day on the water. ‘It was really close, and we had a really good race,’ enthused her tactician, Steve Benjamin. ‘We went left early and the wind shifted 20 or 30 degrees, so we took the advantage. After Monaci we found ourselves among all the big boats, which was very exciting – the radio hailing back and forth between yachts worked well. The most exciting part was up at Barrettinelli – we were able to gybe inside Zefira, and we had our 4A asymetric up, which is our biggest spinnaker. We were expecting the wind to veer, and we sailed through Firefly and took the lead. On the last leg it seemed My Song just had a little better wind and they were able to stretch out the 17 seconds on corrected. The racing was terrific!’
Tonight, owners and their guests will enjoy the legendary regatta beach party, which this year returns to the magical setting of Phi Beach. There might also be a few early nights tonight as the regatta rolls into its final day on Saturday for race four with all to play for.
Racing will conclude tomorrow, Saturday 8th June, with the first start scheduled for 12:00 and east- south easterly winds of 10 knots forecast.
