Sailing conditions were gentle for the final day of the Boat International Superyacht Regatta at Porto Cervo, Sardinia, but the competition remained hot until the final moments.
Two yachts had perfect scores: Neville Crichton’s maxi-racer Alfa Romeo won every race in the Performance Division while in the Cruising Division, Claudio de Eccher’s Southern Star also scored three bullets.
Following in Alfa Romeo’s wake, Claus-Peter Offen’s Y3K was fastest Wally but the immense Atlantic record-holder Senso One never managed to show her real speed in the fairly short races.
Southern Star was part of the strong fleet of Southern Wind yachts competing but was the only 78-footer and very well sailed. Competition was particularly strong among the SW100 class yachts, with Fado, Farewell and Rapture battling at close quarters throughout the race.
The battle that has been going on all week between the two ‘gaffers’ in the fleet, the modern schooner Borkumriff IV and the classic 1920 cutter Lulworth went right to the wire with Lulworth finishing ahead by one place in the final race but Borkumriff finishing a single point ahead in the series.
Best of the giant cruising yachts was Salperton which is more race-oriented than the mighty 52m Kokomo, also designed by Ed Dubois and built in New Zealand. Among the Perini Navis, the newer Heritage beat the older Heritage M, which retired from the final race when the wind died.
There has been enthusiasm among owners for this new event which seems certain to continue, perhaps with some adjustment of the Divisions.