REGATTA NEWS have been fighting and slowing themselves down and we have been just a click ahead of J One, so after the first five or ten minutes we have been able to sail our own race.” Lebanese American Charif Souki's Wallycento, Tango, claimed today’s first windward-leeward Wally race held in 12-13 knots, the wind increasing to 14 knots for race two. Tactician Thierry Peponnet explained, “We had a very nice first race - winning it from the start. We wanted to be to leeward of our opponents, because we were expecting the wind to go left and that was a good option. The second was all in the start and we had a fantastic one. We got better and better over the week.” A 1-2 for Tango enabled them to beat Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones’ Magic Carpet Cubed to the Wallycento overall win by a mere half point.
Lyra © Ingrid Abery
WINNERS OF THE 2018 MAXI YACHT ROLEX CUP By: James Boyd Costa Smeralda once again delivered for the concluding day of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and Rolex Maxi 72 World Championship, with brilliant sunshine and 10-15 knots westerly winds. Among the 41 competitors, the Wally classes got to race two final windwardleewards as everyone else sailed a course up ‘Bomb Alley’, with all but the slower Mini Maxi class rounding Spargi before returning back the way they had come past the La Maddalena Archipelago. Pinnacle event in the maxi yacht calendar, run by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association, the official body that oversees and promotes maxi
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yacht racing globally, the 2018 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup produced stand-out performances in most classes. The most remarkable victory was that of the Wally 77 Lyra in the Wally class, despite this being the first ever regatta for her owner-driver, Chinese Canadian Terry Hui. With her 2-1 today, Lyra’s scoreline comprised five wins and two seconds. Watch final day of action for the 41 competing teams at the 2018 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup and Rolex Maxi 72 World Championship: “It was a very pleasant surprise, a superb experience to be in Porto Cervo, one of the best harbours in the world, and sailing with some of the best sailors
in the world,” said Hui. “The Wally owners are an interesting, friendly group, so I’ve been very lucky. The real story is that all the crew compensate for all of my mistakes!” Hui only decided to start sailing two and a half months ago but bought the Lyra campaign from James Murdoch complete with the majority of her crew. “It’s not a bad way for Terry to start his sailing career!” observed Lyra’s tactician Hamish Pepper, adding that the ground work for the campaign had already been laid when they won Les Voiles de St Tropez last year. As to why the two Wally 77s (Lyra and JeanCharles Decaux’s J One) have done so well this week, Pepper observed, “The three Wallycentos
Wally Yachts President Luca Bassani was pleased with how the racing had gone, “It has been a lot of fun with very tight racing between the three Wallycentos. The big surprise was Lyra winning so many races that’s never happened before in the Wally class.” The J Class claimed the top three slots In the SuperMaxi class, with Topaz sealing the deal by one point, despite Ronald de Waal’s Velsheda winning today’s race. “I believe we punched above our weight,” said Topaz helmsman Peter Holmberg. “I’m really proud of our guys and I think, seeing as we were the underdogs, we did a great job to win the regatta.” However victory had nearly slipped through their fingers with Svea hounding them, on their transom, as they returned down