Race One
A long start-line, some port end bias and an eight and half mile course saw each of the three classes aim for the leeward end of the start line and sail the left hand side of the course to gain from the stronger winds near the Capresian coast. It took less than 20 minutes for Charles Dunstone’s 76-foot Enigma to round the first weather mark with a comfortable lead. By the end of the two lap windward-leeward course, which took her skipper David Bedford just one hour and six minutes to negotiate, Enigma needed a lead of almost nine minutes to beat the next boat, the Australian 60-footer Bumble Bee V. Neither of these two could challenge Stefano Spangaro’s brand new bright red Grand Soleil 56R X-Sport, which finished third on the water and won the big boats’ class on corrected time.

Chasing hard in Class Alpha were the smaller boats, Riccardo Simoneschi’s World Cargo and the Spanish Bribon sailed by Pedro Campos. Both managed to break into second and third place just seconds behind the big red boat. The first seven boats corrected out less than 40 seconds apart.

Classes Bravo and Charlie, with narrower rating spreads, resembled one design fleets in the closeness of their racing. In Class Bravo, Italtel and Wind, both starting near the pin, won the left side of the course and dominated all the way through, with Italtel skippered by Vasco Vascoti, winning her class by more than a minute and having the best corrected time of the entire fleet.

In the small boat class tight racing amongst the plethora of production boats yielded another line honours boat winning on corrected time too. Di Mare Tec Vai Mo was first home by more than two minutes, more than sufficient to win on corrected time.

Race Two
With a stronger wind blowing in the afternoon and a less biased start line the action was all at the committee boat end when the second race got underway at 14:10. Fresh from winning the first race, X-Sport started to leeward of the bunch and managed an impressive performance from this disadvantaged position. With legs lasting just 15 minutes for Enigma there was little time to do anything on the upwind legs but choose the correct side and let speed do the rest. Enigma finished third in a race that in contrast to Race One was dominated by the big boats.

A closer race in Class Bravo saw Italtel win again over Wind but this time with a smaller margin. In Class Charlie, Roberto La Corte’s Paul & Shark managed to sail well above her rating and maintain the pace of the larger boats to easily win the second race and move to the top of the leader board overall.

Provisional Results after two races

Class Alpha
Pos.  Boat   Type  Owner/skipper  (R1,R2,Pts)
1st  X-Sport   Gd Soleil 56R Spangaro/Benussi (1,1,1.5)
2nd   Orlanda   Farr 53  Pirera/Chieffi  (6,2,8.0)
3rd   Bribon   Rodman 42 Leghissa/Campos (3,5,8.0)
4nd   World Cargo  Vismara 41 Simoneschi/  (2,9,11.0)
5rd   Bumble Bee V  Sydney 62 Kahlbetzer/  (8,4,12.0)

Class Bravo
Place  Boat   Type  Owner/skipper  (R1,R2,Pts)
1st  Italtel   Gd Soleil 42R Orlandi/Vascoti  (1,1,1.5)
2nd   Wind   Rodman 42 Maffini/Bressani  (2,2,4.0)
3rd   Team Revolution  Sinergia 40 Toninelli/  (3,3,6.0)
4nd   Okyalos XII  IMX-40  Periplous  (4,4,8.0)
5rd   Mon Ami  Vismara 40 Fasoli/   (6,6,12.0)

Class Charlie
Place  Boat   Type  Owner/skipper  (R1,R2,Pts)
1st  Paul & Shark  Vismara 34  La Corte/  (2,1,2.75)
2nd   Di Mare Tec Imp Vaimo First 36.7 DiMare-Cuomo
-Pelucchi/Scutellaro (1,3,3.75)
3rd   Maretta   Gd Soleil 341 Malaisi/   (4,5,9.0)
4nd   Sly Fox   X-332 Sport Montanari  (8,2,10.0)
5rd   Bonheur   First 36.7 Merlini   (3,8,11.0)

Racing continues tomorrow Tuesday, with the long offshore race, a course of approximately 170 nautical miles, a course that is designed to take the fleet 24 hours to complete. The forecast for Tuesday is for light winds in the afternoon, building over night. On Wednesday the forecast calls for moderate to strong winds from the North West with a one-metre swell.

ROLEX IMS Offshore World Championship 2003 – Race Day One

Quotes:

“We are very happy with both our results today, particularly because this boat is brand new and we have had absolutely no time so far to sail and learn how it works. We had a fantastic start and the crew sailed well. I believe we made a small mistake on the first run of the first race, we set a gennaker instead of the spinnaker, I guess this is from lack of experience with the boat, but I feel we are a strong team and we can only get better from here.” Gabriele Benussi, skipper, Grand Soleil 56R X-Sport, Class Alpha winner and overall leader.

“This was a difficult and technical race. Our class has boats of exactly the same performance and there is absolutely no room for any errors. .” Lorenzo Bressani, helmsman of Wind, second place overall, Class Bravo.

Source: Event Press