The Official
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The Race Committee had to signal a general recall in the first start of the Farr 40s, and the following start still gave a few problems to many crews, with Nerone, Kokomo, Joe Fly and Mukka Express over the line early.
Marco RODOLFI's (ITA) TWT was able to stay ahead of the fleet right from the start and stretch her lead by picking the shifts well, taking line honors over Giorgio GOLDONI's (ITA) Sixty Group. French entrant Twins 2 owned by Eric MARIS (FRA), with America's Cup sailor Philip PRESTI (FRA) calling the tactics, finished third.
In the second race of the day, Nerone, co-owned by Massimo MEZZAROMA (ITA) and Antonio SODO MIGLIORI (ITA), who was at the helm, took an early lead and stayed well ahead of the pack throughout the entire race. The pair colud not have been happeir with the result, 'We are extremely satisfied with today's results. In the first race we were over the line early, but were able to get back into the race by choosing, wisely, the right hand side of the course. We managed to finish eighth, a good result considering our bad start. The second race was great, we had a good start, got ahead of the fleet and kept the lead throughout the race. The level of the Farr 40 class here is extremely high and you cannot allow yourself to make whatsoever mistake. Approximately half of our crew has changed since the past seasons and we need to gradually rebuild the team. We will get there.'
Second on the finish line was Australian entry Kokomo of Sydney-based property developer and keen sailor Lang WALKER, who managed to keep TWT at bay. 'Capri is fantastic', declared WALKER as he stepped off his boat after today's races, adding that 'the weather out there today was very tricky. In the first race we were over the line early and that made it very difficult for us to get back in the game. In the second race we had a good start and our tactician, Grant SIMMER [General Manager of team Alinghi (SUI)] did a very good job at picking the shifts. We came in second behind Nerone and ahead of TWT. In the first race we ended up having a big plastic bag wrapped around our keel - that didn't help us and it was certainly disappointing. We need to get out there tomorrow and have a good day.'
In the Swan 45 class Danilo SANSI's (ITA) DSK sailed a brilliant first race, finishing ahead of Francesco MARTINO's (ITA) brand new T. Too and Swing 3 of Paolo LEONARDI (ITA), who chartered the Italian Swan 45 who recently won the Italian National Championship Trophy in Portofino with a striking performance.
T. Too is a brand new boat on the Swan 45 circuit. 'We put T. Too in the water one week ago and we were finally able to complete our set up on the last night before the first start of this regatta,' commented owner MARTINO, adding that, 'so far we've had really good days, we are happy with our results and we are having lots of fun. This is my first Swan 45. I used to race in the IMS division but I decided to move to a one design class where racing, from my standpoint, is much more competitive.'
In the second race of the day, Carlo PERRONE (ITA) took line honors with his new Atlantica Racing, followed by T. Too and Leonardo FERRAGAMO's (ITA) Cuordileone, who did not live up to yesterday's brilliant results. 'Today we had a last and a first' commented PERRONE. 'We sailed a bad first race and we also had some problems with the sails. Our boat is new and this is our first event, so we still need to figure out a few things and fine tune the boat. We won the second race, which means that everything went really well, as even the smallest mistake throws you at the back of the fleet in this competitive one design class.'
In the all Italian IMS division, both races of the day were won by Daniela RAPONI's Vahinè 5 , followed by Andromeda and Lusi.