Rolex Capri Sailing Week 2007 - Day 1

The Farr 40 fleet start on day one of Rolex Capri Sailing Week 2007 © Kurt Arrigo / Rolex

The Rolex Capri Sailing week started in good sailing conditions with a west-southwesterly wind ranging from 8 to 12 knots and reaching up to 18 during the last leg of racing. Their was a cloudy sky in the first race but the sun broke through in the last leg and permitted the Race Committee to complete 5 races in this first day of competition.

All classes raced today with the fleet of 51 boats taking to the course prepared by the Race Committee in the waters in front of Capri. A windward-leeward course of 8 nautical miles was set for the Farr 40s and Swan 45s, while an initial 13.5 mile course was later reduced to 10 and set the stage for the Comet S and Mini Maxi regatta.

The Farr 40, with 16 entries, provided plenty of action with very close racing in the three windward-leeward races with contested, close, spectacular starts. Australian Lang Walker's Kokomo with Colin Beashel calling tactics led today's racing with two consecutive victories in the first races and a fifth place in the last, giving them an first place in the provisional ranking. "I'm naturally very pleased," commented Kokomo's owner Lang Walker. "The boat had plenty of speed and obviously the conditions of good winds throughout the day suited the boat. We had good crew work and you know, we had a bit of luck out there and it was a pretty good result. We'll be doing probably all of the European campaign and we're off to a good start."

Jim Richardson, in his Barking Mad (USA) with 2005 Volvo Ocean Race skipper Bouwe Bekking calling tactics, is second overall with a good performance today in two out of the three races. "Well the first race was very good," said Bekking commenting the 8th placing they got in the first of today's races. "I just did a bad job there early on, but the rest of the crew did a fantastic job today and they just kept me out of trouble. Tomorrow we will just keep sailing, and try not to make too many mistakes. Normally in the Farr 40 regattas when you finish in the top 8 every race you normally finish on the podium and of course, we like to finish on the podium, you like to win!"

Italian favorite Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone - who looks to establish a healthy scoreline in this event which represents the fist leg of the Farr 40 European Circuit - concluded the day with a first place in the third race, but fell behind the leaders with 7th and 17th places in the first two races. "We started badly," commented tactician Lorenzo Bressani, "but we finished well, and that's what really counts."

For the Swan 45s today's racing acted as warm up racing and did not count for the Swan 45 World Mediterranean Circuit, as the Rolex Capri Sailing week is an official leg of it. Looking forward to the arrival of all the Swans entries for the Rolex Capri Sailing Week, who were also enrolled in a previous event in Portofino, the real racing will start tomorrow even if today's races set as a perfect text for the 15 who had already arrived.

Among the Mini Maxis, Italian OPS 5 - a Baltic 60 owned by Violati Massimo, member of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda - led the 7 craft fleet in today's 10 miles course and took first place followed by 2006 Rolex Capri Sailing Week winner Giorgio Ruffo's Aleph, which crossed over the finish line first on the water. Third place went to Sei Tu 2.

Comet 45s Libertine won its class in today's race followed by Roberto Franchella's Aria Tx Active with a crew totally made up of sailors of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (Italian Air Force), while Guido Morisco's Nur arrived just third.

According to the weather forecast winds of approximately 8 to 10 knots from 290 to 300 degrees are expected for tomorrow and conditions will be overcast with a chance of rain in the morning, improving as the afternoon goes on but remaining variable.

Rolex Capri Sailing Week, which runs through Saturday the 19th of May is organized by the Yacht Club Capri in conjunction with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and is sponsored for the third consecutive edition by Rolex.

Provisional Results after Day 1: (Top Three)

Farr 40
1. Kokomo, AUS, Lang & Sue Walker, 7 (1- 1- 5)
2. Barking Mad, USA, Jim Richardson, 13 (8- 3- 2)
3. Twins, FRA, Erik Maris, 17 (4- 9- 4)

Mini-Maxi
1. OPS 5, ITA, Violati Massimo, 01:22:48
2. Aleph, ITA, Ruffo Giorgio, 01:24:56
3. Sei Tu 2, ITA, Morina Antonello, 01:25:54

Comet S
1. Libertine, ITA, Biscardi Maurizio, 01:32:25
2. Aria, ITA, Franchella Roberto, 01:33:10
3. Nur, ITA, Morisco Guido, 01:33:29