Giraglia Rolex Cup at St.Tropez, France - Day 1

Alfa Romeo sets the rhythm on day one of the Giraglia Rolex Cup © Kurt Arrigo / Rolex

Alfa Romeo sets the rhythm for Wild Oats XI

The first day of the Giraglia Rolex Cup finished with a beautiful real time victory for Alfa Romeo. Wild Oats tried but could not compete with the Kiwi boat's supremacy on the course. It was Pieper Roel's Swann 80, Favonius (ITA), that moved in to take the lead on corrected time in the IRC Class just ahead of Magic Carpet Squared and K2 Wind.

It may have been the first time that Wild Oats XI has appeared here in the waters of St. Tropez, but she did not disappoint. Wild Oats, face-to-face with all of her challengers, headed for the start line out of the harbour, no easy task with a draft of 4m50. In 2006, Alfa Romeo attempted this exact same manoeuvre and found herself stuck in the channel when the hull scraped ground.

After an initial delay, the wind finally stabilized in a south south-easterly direction and the race committee could go ahead with the two first starts of the 2007 Giraglia Rolex Cup just after 12:00 noon. Situated at the entrance of the Pointe des Sardinaux and west of Saint-Raphaël and Sainte-Maxime, the start line was the site of the first duel between the two super maxis, a confrontation that quickly turned to favour Alfa Romeo. The New Zealanders set the rhythm from the start, a rhythm that was only accentuated with every advancing meter. Only with the last few tacks was Wild Oats able to catch up to the leader and finally finish 46 seconds behind in real time. It was Favonius who finished this 29.5 mile course in first place for the IRC Class, just 2 minutes and 11 seconds ahead of Lindsay Owen Jones and his Magic Carpet Squared. Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats XI finished in 4th and 5th place respectively on corrected time.

"It was a typical Saint-Tropez day with the winds coming from all directions, so there was a little bit of gruelling sailing," commented Pieper Roel, owner and skipper of Favonius. "We were actually a bit surprised. We thought that we had at least one of the other boats ahead of us, so we were obviously very happy with the results. We just won against Alfa Romeo and so this looks like a good start."

There was nothing but good spirits aboard Lindsay Owen Jones' Magic Carpet Squared after the racing. "We love being here because we live here! This is where our boat is based so we really enjoy racing here. But we love when all the other boats come and race with us here and thanks to Rolex, this is a great, great occasion with lots of boats. We had a bit of a dangerous start because they mixed all of the big boats with the small ones and there was a bit of confusion at the start, but we didn't actually hit anything. We had a good race and I think we lost by just a few seconds so you can't really conclude, you just say, 'We had a good day, everyone enjoyed themselves and it was nice to see the boats that were quicker than us.' We are often the first boat home and today we had the pleasure of struggling to catch up with the others."

This year's edition of the Giraglia Rolex Cup is said to be characterized by the battle between the two super maxis Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats, as Michael Coxon, Alfa Romeo's tactician, commented after the race. "Well we have a couple of objectives and I would say that our first objective is actually to sail boat-on-boat with Wild Oats. I think we made that a higher priority than how we finished on handicap. We did more match racing so that gave others the chance to do better on handicap than we did. But if we have the opportunity, it's our first priority to beat her over the line."

"We were lucky enough to get the best of the start," Coxon continued. "Once we had a small lead we then just protected it. She was trying to break away from us all the time, so we were just really matching her, tack for tack and then jibe for jibe to keep the lead we had on her."

In the IMS Class Group A, Atalanta II's black bow continues to lead the way and this Farr 70, belonging to Carlo Puri Negri, celebrated a double success today with a win in both real and corrected time. Another loyal Giraglia Rolex Cup participant, Edimetra VI, took third and now finds herself in a good position to move to the top of the podium at the end of three days of inshore races. After having just barely lost in 2006 to Atalanta II, the renewed duel for 2007 promises to be something to watch out for.

Group B of the IMS Class, which took on a slightly shorter course than that of Group A and the IMS Class, saw Ala Bianca, a Polaris 33 from 1978, who is also a victor from the 2006 Giraglia Rolex Cup, come back this year at a higher level and place fourth for the first day of races. Javier Pujol took first in the class with his 1970 Calima (SPA), while third place went to Tortuga, a German Swan 47 from 1978. The success of these older generation monohulls proves once again that the Giraglia is a competition open to everyone and that any participant can hope to take the lead in both the inshore races and the great offshore regatta, which is set to begin this Wednesday.

Unfortunately, the sailors took their respective winnings too quickly to benefit from the good thermal breeze that came up at the end of the day. The conditions for tomorrow look to be stable with a south westerly wind of approximately four knots. According to wind conditions, the second inshore race is set to begin tomorrow at 11:00.

Provisional Results on Corrected Time (IMS System) - Giraglia Rolex Cup Race 1

IMS Class Group A
1. Atalanta II - Puri Negro Carlo (ITA) - Farr 70 - 03:14:48
2. No Problem - Baldo Claudia / S. Nautica Viveronese - Sintesi 45 - 03:17:11
3. Edimetra VI - Gismondo Ernesto - Wally 65 - 03:17:45

IMS Class Group B
1. Calima - Pujol Javier - Proto - 03:07:26
2. Lima Golf 3 - Gobbo Giorgio - Mescal 31 - 03:11:39
3. Tortuga - Sell Guenter - Swan 47 - 03:12:19

IRC Class
1. Favonius - Roel Pieper - Swan 80 - 04:37:39
2. Magic Carpet - Owen Jones Lindsay - Wally 94.2 - 04:39:50
3. K2 Wind - Wrigley Nicholas - Wally 77.4 - 04:49:10