SARDINIA SERVES UP A CLASSIC FOR FITZROY RACE DAY
Day Three of the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta – Fitzroy Race Day – was an absolutely classic Sardinia sailing day. The fleet of 21 sailing superyachts were blessed with blue skies, and a breeze from the north of around 12 knots at the start 
which continued to build during the day to make for a spectacular tight run home to the finish.
The event, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and co-organised by Boat International Media, was at the halfway point overnight with My Song, Salperton and Bequia holding first in Classes A to C respectively. The race committee selected courses that sent the fleet upwind to the east of Monaci, Caprera and La Maddalena, with the Class C yachts continuing through bomb alley back to the finish off Porto Cervo and the Class A and B yachts looping around the islands of Spargi and Barrettinelli before blasting back down the east coasts of La Maddalena and Caprera. The start sequence reverted to slowest starting first under the medium windspeed rating bracket, which led to some close boat-on-boat battles all the way round the course
With Daima not racing today, the 37m Genevieve was first to start and she nailed it, hitting the line at speed and bang on time. As she sprinted up the first beat past Monaci, she chose to tack in, hugging the shoreline of Caprera and La Maddalena all the way to the top. It was a tactic that most followed, with just Class B overnight leader Salperton and the 44.7m Timoneer – whose crew have a combined age of 1,441 years – choosing to go right.
The tactic appeared to pay off, with most of the inshore boats being lifted around the course. But at the northern tip of La Maddalena it was the 37m Bliss that had the early advantage, with Salperton coming through in second followed by the Oysters Karibu and Sarafin, and Unfurled.
As Class C blasted through bomb alley, Classes A and B began to merge as the faster yachts, who started last, began to show their pace. As they came to the gybe point off Barrettinelli, ready for the reach home, the 45m Visione had snuck to the front, followed by Salperton on a delta of nearly three minutes. There was a further three minute gap back to Saudade, with Bliss, Nilaya, My Song, Unfurled, Firefly, Zefira and Aegircoming through in quick succession.
The run back to the line was tight, with a stiff breeze at the top of the course pressing the yachts hard and propelling them at speed. The sight of 14 kites spearing down the coast was not to be missed.
When the results on corrected time rolled in, My Song had taken her third bullet in three races, beating the 25m Aegir by just 17 seconds after three hours of high octane racing. The Fitzroy-built 45m Salperton held on to take Fitzroy Race Day victory in Class B ahead of Bliss, who had recovered well from an overnight fix-it session after their mainsheet got chewed through by the sheeting system on Day Two. Class C had a new winner today, with Genevieve reveling in the heavier conditions to get the bullet, followed by Karibu andBequia.
‘We did fantastic today, and had a really good day,’ beamed Tony Pullar, captain of Genevieve. ‘We got a good start, saw the shift up the track and went well inshore, managing to keep clear air. The wind hit 27 knots in bomb alley, and we had a good battle with Bequia – they overtook us at one point, then we got them back on the reach and run. We stayed inshore at every point we could and we got lifted all the way round the course.’
For Aegir, the pain of losing by 17 seconds was perhaps mitigated by a sparkling day on the water. ‘It was really close, and we had a really good race,’ enthused her tactician, Steve Benjamin. ‘We went left early and the wind shifted 20 or 30 degrees, so we took the advantage. After Monaci we found ourselves among all the big boats, which was very exciting – the radio hailing back and forth between yachts worked well. The most exciting part was up at Barrettinelli – we were able to gybe inside Zefira, and we had our 4A asymetric up, which is our biggest spinnaker. We were expecting the wind to veer, and we sailed through Firefly and took the lead. On the last leg it seemed My Song just had a little better wind and they were able to stretch out the 17 seconds on corrected. The racing was terrific!’
For Bliss, any sore heads after the guests enjoyed a private pirate party last night were soon blown away. ‘We had a corker day today,’ said her delighted captain, Andy Sheltrum. ‘We decided the real stars on board were our navigator, Nacho, and our tactician. Our tacking was perfect on the first leg, and it was generally down to good calls. We were umming and ahhing about holding the A2 on the last leg, but we decided to leave it up which was a good call. It’s the first time we’ve used it so we were a bit unsure of what it was capable of. But it got us to 16.5 knots of boatspeed in 26 to 27 knots of breeze – the owner is an excellent helmsman!’Tonight, owners and their guests will enjoy the legendary regatta beach party, which this year returns to the magical setting of Phi Beach. There might also be a few early nights tonight as the regatta rolls into its final day on Saturday for race four with all to play for. 
