Porto Cervo, 19th September 1999

Highlights

Innovision 7 wins big boat division in race five yesterday.
Winterthur Yah Man wins middle boat division in race five.
Today's final race (six) is a coastal course, starting in ten knots and finishing in fifteen, from the south-east.
Drake wins small boat division in race six.
Collision with Okyalos at first windward mark results in serious damage to Castellon Costa Azahar.

The Inside Story - The Final Reckoning

The sun was pouring itself into the mountains as the Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship fleet returned to Porto Cervo last night, race five complete - and for two divisions the regatta was already won and lost. The contest between Brava Q8 and Innovision 7 ended with a race to spare. Innovision 7 didn't look back from the moment that the first race yesterday, in which they had to return after an early start, was subsequently abandoned.

Innovision 7's Dee Smith commented, 'We thought there was a good chance of losing a race yesterday, which left us with only two races to close the points difference. And when the breeze filled in, we also felt that we could use our heavy air performance to hold Brava back in the fleet, but still have a chance of getting a result ourselves. They had to beat the fleet to correct out ahead on handicap, and we didn't. So we went for them on the starts.' The strategy worked, just - Kevin Shoebridge, trimming on Brava Q8, said, 'We got the best of the second start (the first completed race) and went right.' Innovision set-up to their left to clear her air. Shoebridge continued, 'Then this twenty three knot squall came through with a big left shift, and it was over. Once you're back in the pack, you're history.'

The second race yesterday proved, for Brava Q8, to be too much like a rerun of the first. Caught by another left hand shift, they found themselves buried in the pack again. And again, were unable to extricate themselves, while Innovision 7 sailed clear to win the race. Brava Q8 scored a sixth, and whatever happened today, Innovision had it by at least three quarters of a point. Brava's skipper, Flavio Favini, said, 'We had a bad day, and they had a good day. Sometimes it just works like that. Their boat is as fast as it was in Cowes (at the Admiral's Cup), except perhaps in very light air, but their rating is quite different, much better.' Dee Smith certainly wasn't denying Innovision 7's fortune, in being given the chance to settle matters in their best conditions. But no one can deny the style with which they took the opportunity.

Yesterday was also a good day for the ILC Maxi Alexia, sharing the honours with Innovision 7, both boats scoring a first and a second. That pulled them up to third overall, four and a quarter points behind Brava Q8, a quarter point ahead of Castellon Costa Azahar, and two and a quarter points ahead of both Moby Lines and Merit Cup.

A coastal course was set for race six, and in a ten knot south-easterly it got underway. It didn't take long for the drama to start. Merit Cup had a jump at the first mark, but the pack was tightly bunched, Castellon Costa Azahar arriving on port tack with Okyalos behind and slightly to windward. Brava Q8 were on the starboard layline, with Innovision 7 a length or so ahead of them. The Spanish boat was clear ahead of Brava Q8 and started her tack to starboard. Moments later Okyalos hit her ten feet forward of the transom. Both boats retired with damage. The protest will determine third place. Average points for Castellon Costa Azahar will give her third overall. But if she is disqualified, it will leave Vasco Vascotto's Merit Cup crew in third, after taking third in the race, behind Innovision 7 and Brava Q8.

In the middle boat fleet, Winterthur Yah Man had yesterday continued to show that she is a class above the rest of her fleet, adding another couple of firsts to record a scoreline of 1,1,3,1,1 - and also take the championship with a race to spare. That was despite a difficult start in the second race, when they had to extricate themselves from the fifty footers with a lot of extra tacks. They finally pulled clear to get their time on the last run.

Today saw more of the same, and after a superb start from skipper Tommaso Chieffi, and helmsman Lorenzo Bressani, Winterthur cruised away to a fifth race win. The action was behind them, as Wolfgang Schafer's Struntje Light fought to hold off the challenge of Piero Mortari's Silver Age. Her sixth place in race six was not enough, and Silver Age took second overall.

It was left to the small boats to put on the final show of boat racing. Going into race six, Raul Marinuzzi Ronconi's Drake had a three and a quarter point lead from sistership, Antonio Masi's Malinda Clarion. The two Beneteau 40.7's were locked together all the way round the course. Drake had the better of the start, and controlled the first beat. But Malinda Clarion came back at her on the run, and squeezed inside at the Isola Monaci. Both boats were jib reaching within feet of the rock, as Malinda Clarion matched every move that Drake made to go past to windward.

Clear of the island, the pair reached high of the course, until finally Drake put her bow down. She had the pace on the reach, and by the Secca de Tre Monti had driven through to leeward. Malinda Clarion never gave up, pushing the whole way up the final, dog-legged beat through the Pas delle Bisce. But Drake matched her tack for tack to the finishing line, eventually pulling clear.

Speaking afterwards, owner Marinuzzi Ronconi said, 'They are a very fast boat, a good team and sailed extremely well. Today was an amazing race for us, especially to come back after they were ahead at Monaci. But our boat is quick in this condition of wind and flat water. We are very happy with the boat's performance, and to win.' It tops off a good year for Drake, second at both the IMS European's in Punta Ala and at the King's Cup in Palma, they, like Innovision 7 and Winterthur, are now Rolex IMS Offshore World Champions.
Written by Mark Chisnell, for The Strategic Organisation