Waves of 2 m and an easterly/south-easterly between 15 and 20 kn. These were the conditions for the first day of racing in the Splendido Mare Cup in Portofino. At 11.27 this morning the race committee sounded the garden for the day’s race over a course of 19 miles between Portofino and Sestri Levante. There were 15 maxis on the start line and a completed the race in little more than two hours – 02h01m26s for the winner in real time Carlo Alberini’s Pendragon – and the yachts returned to their moorings in the early afternoon.
The final ranking after the calculation of compensated times saw the first victory for Rinaldo Del Bono’s R/P 78 Capricorno, second place for Luciano Gandini’s Mylius 80 Twin Soul B and third for Andrea Bianchedi’s Swan 98 Drifter Cube.
A really great performance by Capricorno (ex Morning Glory), a true thoroughbred Reichel Pugh 78 built by the McConaghy Yard in 1995. She was conceived as a robust and extremely avant-garde racing yacht built to dominate in ocean racing. In Portofino she had an exceptional crew, made up of many Italian sailing talents including Tiziano Nava, Alberto Fantini, Stefano Rizzi, Giovanni Cassinari, Matteo Plazzi and Angelo Romanengo.
The live TV coverage of the race was a great success with Roberto Ferrarese in the studio coordinating the services of correspondence on the water, some on supporting boats, others on board yachts taking part in the race.
Tomorrow will be the second day of racing with weather expected to be fairly tough with waves of 3 1/2 m and strong wind.
“Today we saw the very beginning of the 2021 maxi season in the Med – IMA Secretary – General Andrew McIrvine says – May I thank the Yacht Club Italiano, the shipyards and the sponsors and suppliers that strongly believed Portofino could host the first edition of the Regate di Primavera – Splendido Mare Cup, despite the difficulties still depending from the sanitary emergency. And thanks to maxi owners, that have been insisting on their desire to race leaving behind them the emptiness of last year”.
Organisation
The Regate di Primavera – Splendido Mare Cup are organised by the Yacht Club Italiano, Municipality of Portofino and the International Maxi Association under the aegis of the Federazione Italiana Vela. Belmond Ltd. is title partner, Rolex the official timepiece while Loro Piana and Veuve Clicquot are technical partners; completing the supporters is the Banca Passadore.
