Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship - Day One

CAM LOOKS SET TO CONTINUE HER WINNING WAYS

The IMS 50-footer Cam won the opening race in the big boat division of the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship in Valencia on Tuesday afternoon.

Skipper Fernando Leon and his professional Spanish crew took a commanding lead on the water ahead of one of the biggest gatherings of 50-footers that has been seen in a long time. After corrected time had been calculated under IMS rating, his lead translated into a victory by 32 seconds ahead of Pasquale Landolfi's Brava Q8.

Cam boasts one of the strongest afterguards in a fleet that is chock full of Olympic, America's Cup and round-the-world stars. Leon, who won Olympic gold in the Tornado in 1996, is racing with Kiko Sanchez who won a 470 gold medal at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

After hoping to build a 50-footer to his own design, lack of time forced Leon to buy Esmeralda, which was a proven performer on the American circuit last year. Whilst he might have had his doubts then, he has since steered the Farr design to two successive regatta victories already this year. Now the green and gold liveried Cam looks set for further success this week, although it would be unwise to predict victory on the basis of one result.

In a world where boats built more than a year ago are considered 'old', Landolfi will be delighted with the second place of his three-year-old Brava Q8. With one of the most international tactical teams in the fleet, including the British professional Eddie Warden-Owen and Kiwi supernavigator Andrew Cape, he has given his 'old' warhorse the best chance of success this week. But he will be thankful that the early sea breeze failed to build much beyond 8 knots today, as Brava's favourite conditions are at the lower end of the wind range.

While the other 15 IMX-40s have opted to compete in Class B with the smaller boats, America's Cup helmsman Pedro Campos has elected to race his IMX-40 Telefonica Movistar with the big boys. Most sailors would think that living in the dirty air of the larger boats would be a problem, but Campos's gamble certainly paid off in the first race, with his boat finishing in third place just 8 seconds behind Brava Q8 on corrected time. "We were second in our division at our last regatta, so I think we will do well this week," Campos commented, referring to his solid performance at the Trofeo de S.M. la Reina in Valencia last week. Despite being a production boat, the IMX-40 appears very well suited to the IMS rule in its current form.

After dominating his division in the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship last year in Newport, Rhode Island, Vincenzo Onorato got off to an inauspicious start with this brand new IMS 51-footer Mascalzone Latino. There is no doubt the blue boat shows enormous potential, but his team have struggled to get the boat ready for this regatta, and their 8th place is not the type of performance the shipping tycoon is accustomed to.

No one is going to write him off just yet, though, because Onorato has employed his America's Cup crew to extract the best out of the brand new Farr design this week. Vasco Vascotto and Paolo Cian share tactical duties, with Onorato also doing much of the steering. They remain one of the teams to watch this week.

Another favourite that found herself struggling today was Bribon, the successful Farr 50 frequently raced by Juan Carlos, the King of Spain. Despite the presence of Torben Grael, the talented Brazilian tactician who has won no less than four Olympic medals, Bribon could only manage a 16th place in the light winds.

Alexia, the lone Maxi yacht in the fleet, finished streets ahead of the fleet on the water but did not succeed in converting this to a victory on corrected time. Alberto Roemmers' Argentinian yacht was 11th under IMS handicap.

The bulk of the 72 entries in the regatta are in Class B for the smaller boats. After the overeager fleet forced a general recall, six yachts still broke the start line at the second attempt and were rewarded with disqualification for failing to return for a correct restart.

Along with Campos' success in the big boat division, it was a good day for the Movistar boats, as Gonzalo Araujo steered the IMX-40 Movistar Activa to a 36-second victory. In second place was Telepizza-Pepsi, the Sinergia 40 which had established herself as the pre-regatta favourite by winning her division in the Trofeo de S.M. la Reina. Double Olympic champion Luis Doreste is looking well placed to repeat that success with his young crew of amateur sailors.

His second place proved the only dent in an impressive score for the IMX-40s, which as well as winning also took third and fourth places on corrected time. German entry Salty Dog finished 12 seconds behind Telepizza-Pepsi, with the Spanish Fadesa a further 11 seconds adrift.

The fleet are due to set out on the long offshore race on Wednesday (4th July), and the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship 2001 concludes on Sunday 8th July.

Results - Race 1:

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com IMS Page