Yacht Club Italiano is working with Yacht Club de Capri to plan and deliver a challenging week of racing, complemented by an exclusive social programme for more than 300 participants to enjoy. The six day regatta will see the Swan 45 fleet competing in nine races, predominantly competitive windward leeward courses, in addition to one long race. At the end of each day, social events in the Regatta Village will be accompanied by prize giving awards, recognising first, second and third place.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club Rating Office, together with a jury of internationally recognised race officers and judges, will support the event. This will ensure that the regatta provides participants with a professional forum in which to compete for the prestigious Swan 45 Gold Cup. Once the first ever world champion of this growing class has been established, the Swan 45 Gold Cup will take place every 18 months. The 2006 edition will be in Key West, USA, in conjunction with North America's top one-design racing event; Key West Race Week.

The Swan 45 Class has been an enormous success story for Nautor's Swan, enhancing the performance capabilities of this well-known yacht manufacturer and pushing the boundaries for dual-purpose yachts. This new generation of Swan has spearheaded the way forward for Nautor's One-Design Class racing, resulting in a new and bigger project; the Swan 601.

The Swan 45 design brief was to create a yacht for One-Design Class racing that will be competitive under handicap throughout the world and can, at the same time, be completely unmistakable as a true Swan. This new model will be on the water and racing for the first time at the Rolex Swan Cup, Nautor's flagship event, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in September of this year.

Source: Annabel Merrison - GEM Group