| AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND-(10-2-2003) Pure racers stole the limelight
but performance cruisers took the trophies on a spectacular opening day
of racing in the New Zealand Millennium Cup Superyacht Regatta 2003
today.
In Division 1 for the biggest boats, Italy's Francesco de Angelis,
winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup aboard Prada three years ago, steered
the 105-foot Italian fast cruising sloop Ulisse to a corrected time
victory, ahead of American developer Harry Maclowe, racing his 112-foot
sloop Unfurled. Third was Louis Vuitton Cup winner Paul Cayard, steering
Briton Mike Slade's sleek 97-foot sloop Canon Leopard.
Some of the biggest and fastest competition yachts in the world broke
clear of the pack as the international fleet of 50 superyachts showed
their paces on the Hauraki Gulf. They were closely followed by a clutch
of super-sized performance cruisers in a tightly-packed spinnaker reach
that segued into a Technicolor traffic jam as the contestants crowded
around the first turning mark off North Head.
The three division starts off Devonport Wharf on Auckland's Waitemata
Harbour, attracted crowds of spectators ashore as well as a sizeable
fleet of spectator vessels whose owners forsook Monday morning in the
office for the spectacle on the harbour.
Motoryachts made an early start, with eight heavyweights powering off
the line in a welter of foam on a predicted log cruise taking them to an
afternoon of golf at Gulf Harbor on the Whangaparoa Peninsula. The water
was flat and the breeze at eight knots from the southeast on a perfect
Kiwi summer morning.
Division 1 for the most super superyachts, saw the contestants crowding
the committee boat end of the starting line with all the verve and
audacity of a group of college kids knocking about in dinghies. Kiwi
owner and skipper Neville Crichton, at the helm of his 90-foot
water-ballasted race boat Alfa Romeo, blasted clear early, showing the
same turn of speed that won him an elapsed time victory in the last
Sydney Hobart Race but he was pushed hard by Cayard and Canon Leopard as
the boats converged on the gybe mark off North Head.
Slowed by the incoming tide, the big boats tucked into a tightly packed
bunch as they fought for clear air and the shortest course to the open
sea.
`We'd rather be lucky than smart,` said Cayard after the race. `We were
fighting shifty northeast and southwest sea breezes, making it a tough
day's racing. In the end we were lucky and Alfa Romeo was unlucky.`
The 80-foot Nautor Swan cruiser/racer Innovision from Finland, owned by
Hans Eekhol and steered by Prada Syndicate's Kiwi tactician Gavin Brady,
was a handy winner in Division 2. The year-old sloop, started right at
the committee boat end at the gun and led the procession out of the
harbour, pulling steadily away to take the finishing gun 59 minutes
ahead of the custom New Zealand 65-foot Davidson sloop Antaeus, owned
and steered by Charles St Claire Brown.
Millennium Cup 2003 - Results Day 1 (Place, Boat name, Owner/Skipper,
Country, Elapsed time, Corrected time)-
Division 1: 1. Ulisse, Francesco de Angelis, Italy, 04.33.54, 06.64.41;
2. Unfurled, Harry Maclowe, USA, 04.53.30, 07.04.59; 3. Canon Leopard,
Paul Cayard, UK, 04.28.21, 07.17.57; 4. Ipanema, Torben Grael, Brazil,
05.02.35, 07.20.16; 5. Alithia, Adam Painter, Germany, 04.53.08,
07.31.08.
Division II: 1. Innovision, Hans Eekhol, Holland, 05.00.55, 06.56.10;
2., Antaeus, Charles St Clair Brown, New Zealand, 05.59.31, 07.54.55; 3.
Maya Ray, Dave Wagner, South Africa, 05.50.13, 07.59.48; 4. Saryah, Isam
Kabbani, New Zealand, 06.02.13, 08.12.15; 5. Picasso, David Lynden, New
Zealand, 06.58.16, 08.23.10.
Full details about the New Zealand Millennium Cup Superyacht Regatta
2003, can be found on the event web site at http://www.millenniumcup.com
The Millennium Cup 2003 is proudly supported by Cartier, Jaguar New
Zealand and United Airlines, platinum partners for this year's
prestigious event. Investment New Zealand is the Strategic Partner and
Tourism New Zealand is the Media Partner.
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