SARDINIA 2010: FARR 40 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 SET TO START IN PORTO ROTONDO

Preparations are well underway in Porto Rotondo for the 11th edition of the Farr 40 European Championship. Racing in the event, organized by the Yacht Club Porto Rotondo in conjunction with the Farr 40 Class Association and the Farr 40 European Fleet, begins Thursday 30th September and will continue through Sunday 3rd October 2010. The ten participating crews are currently completing registration, sail measurement and weight controls as well as fitting in some practice on the regatta course off Porto Rotondo prior to the start of competition.



Up to ten races will be held over the course of the four-day event aboard identical Farr 40 sailing yachts. The Class enforces a strict owner-driver rule which ensures fierce competition in the fleet and - as in all one-design events - racing is close, tactical and exhilarating.
Competitors to watch will certainly include three-time class World Champion (1998, 2004 and 2009) and Farr 40 Class President, Jim Richardson aboard his Barking Mad (USA), as well as current world title holder Massimo Mezzaroma with his Nerone (ITA). Wolfgang Schaefer’s Struntje Light (GER), will also be a strong competitor having won the Audi Sardinia Cup with team Germany in nearby Porto Cervo in June 2010. Although the Corinthian spirit is strong within the class, the standard of racing is extremely high and this event has attracted renowned sailors such as Vasco Vascotto aboard Nerone, Hamish Pepper on Barking Mad, Chris Larson aboard Plenty (USA) and Ray Davies on Fiamma (ITA).
The Farr 40 European Championship 2010 also represents the second, conclusive event in the class’ European Circuit. During the final prize giving scheduled to take place at the YCPR on Sunday 3rd October, the European Championship Perpetual Trophy and the European Circuit Perpetual Trophy will be awarded in addition to a Corinthian Trophy for the best placed amateur crew.
In addition to on-the-water action participants will enjoy a full social programme including welcome and farewell cocktails at the Yacht Club Porto Rotondo and a gala dinner at the nearby Hotel Sporting. The Farr 40s are not new to Porto Rotondo, having completed a leg of their European circuit here in April 2009. Just a few months later, however, the Clubhouse was virtually destroyed in a fire which led to the complete reconstruction of the YCPR headquarters so owners and crews will be able to enjoy the new facilities provided by the host club for the first time.
Luigi Carpaneda, Commodore of YCPR commented: “We are very happy to have the Farr 40 fleet back in Porto Rotondo and we hope that our collaboration with the class will continue for many years to come.
"The European Farr 40 fleet is delighted to be back racing in Porto Rotondo again," echoed Wolfgang Schaefer, President of the European Farr 40 fleet. It is a wonderful venue and the newly rebuilt Clubhouse is even more charming than before. Of course the regatta course and the conditions off the north-east coast of Sardinia are among the best in the world and we are looking forward to some excellent racing with ten top-level competitors.”For further information please visit http://www.farr40.org/ , http://www.farr40.net/ or http://www.ycpr.it/ or follow the Farr 40 class on Facebook and Twitter.

OYSTER REGATTA CLOSES YCCS 2010 CALENDAR

On the final day of the Oyster Jubilee Regatta, the international fleet of Oyster Yachts remained dockside at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda as the infamous Mistral wind arrived, gusting up to sixty knots and howling along the rugged coastline. The overall classification after three races therefore becomes final and the winners of this 25th Oyster Regatta are Trevor Silver with his Oyster 655 Roulette in Class One (yachts over 60ft long) and Gerde and Annemarie Kohlmoos with their Oyster 54 Sarabande in Class Two (LOA under 60ft). Prizes were also awarded to winners of each day’s race as well during the prize giving ceremony at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Clubhouse.
The 31 Oyster yachts enrolled in the regatta which took place from 21st to 25th September experienced a range of conditions over the course of the event, from light northerly breezes to 20 knots of south-easterly wind and from sunshine and blue skies to squalls and today’s gale force gusts. One constant at this regatta however has been the relaxed and friendly atmosphere which characterized racing as well as the exclusive social events Oyster owners enjoyed each evening.
Trevor Silver, owner of Roulette hails from London and was understandably pleased with his result: “Obviously we are delighted to win here in Porto Cervo. We have had a bit of luck but I believe that the secret to our success was that the core of this crew have been together for some time and get on extremely well. Although we still have a few debates on board!
I am absolutely delighted with the boat, Roulette has been fast since I got her two years ago and we have sailed her a lot, including the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and recently the beautiful sailing grounds around Croatia. I plumped for the Oyster 655 because it is one of the sportiest models in the Oyster range; a fast hull shape and carbon mast gives Roulette a great turn of speed.”
Gerde and Annemarie Kohlmoos' Oyster 54 Sarabande comes from Hamburg, as do all of the crew and after sailing their new yacht out from the Oyster yard at Ipswich, they have cruised extensively in the Baltic Sea before bring her to the Mediterranean. As with the entire Oyster range, Sarabande has several bespoke features including a taller mast to increase performance. Her clean hull lines, powerful rig and a lower centre of gravity bulb keel have created a fast, stiff, comfortable passage maker.
Following the final prize giving owners, crews and the Oyster staff closed the event in style at the Gala Dinner hosted by the YCCS.

Oyster Regatta 2010 Porto Cervo. Credits: Tim Wright/Oyster


“We have organized numerous regattas this year,” commented YCCS Commodore Riccardo Bonadeo, “with boats ranging from Maxis and Superyachts to 8 metre one-design craft, but I can safely say that this has been one of the most entertaining we have hosted. The relaxed, family-oriented atmosphere combined with the beauty of the Oyster boats made for a wonderful week of sailing and socializing.”
This event closes the YCCS sporting season in Porto Cervo, details of the 2011 season will soon be available online.

Emirates Team New Zealand become first ever team to retain the Audi Med Circuit title in Cagliari, Sardinia

After Thursday’s coastal race the supreme Kiwis under skipper-helm Dean Barker had built themselves an unbeatable lead and in the end, after today’s one final blustery race in a Mistral of more than 28 knots off Cagliari, Sardinia the champions rounded out their second victorious season to finish 48.5 points ahead of Quantum Racing (USA) who finish runners-up, as they also did last season.. Alberto Roemmers’ Matador (ARG), the current world champions skippered by Guillermo Parada (ARG), comprehensively won the Region of Sardinia Trophy, the fifth and final regatta of the Audi MedCup Circuit season, finishing 12.5 points ahead of Jochen Schuemann’s Franco-German crew on Audi A1 powered by All4ONE. The Kiwi 2010 champions, become the first team ever in the six year history of the circuit to win back-to-back MedCup Circuit champion titles. They won the top regatta trophy in Cascais, were fourth in Marseille, second in Barcelona, triumphed in Murcia and finished third on countback here in Cagliari. Emirates Team New Zealand set themselves on course for overall victory from the outset of the season in breezy Cascais, Portugal in May where they established an initial lead of 20 points, winning three races as well as the key coastal race there. When last season they streaked to win four in a row of 2009’s five regattas, unmatched consistency has underpinned their victory again this season.
They won ten of this 2010 season’s 44 52 Series races. Last year they won 14 races from 43 starts. Skipper Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand’s skipper -helm highlighted today how much harder this season has been for them to prevail overall. Terry Hutchinson (USA) and the Quantum Racing (USA) crew finish second overall for the season, just five points ahead of Matador.
When they seized the lead on the second beat of today’s race the world champions seemed to have pulled themselves up to within touching distance of second place on the Circuit.
With incumbents Quantum Racing five boats behind it might then have gone down to a match race for second, but as they hoisted their kite for the final run it exploded and they were left sitting for minutes while four boats passed them.
They only just managed to get a new spinnaker filling to stay ahead of their green and black hulled adversaries. With a win in the final race of the season Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE finish second at this season’s finale, just as they also did in Portugal in May. Madrid-Caser Seguros dominate the 42sOverall victory for the season in the 42 Series was achieved with a day to spare by Jose Maria van der Ploeg (ESP)’s Madrid-Caser Seguros (ESP).
Yesterday they ensured they could not be beaten for the 2010 Audi MedCup Circuit title and today made it three in a row winning three of the season’s five regattas outright in Barcelona, Murcia and the Region of Sardinia Trophy. The road to victory in the 42 Series had some bumps for overall winners Madrid-Caser Seguros (ESP), with the series runners-up and defending 2009 season champions Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP) easily winning in Cascais with a huge 10 point margin. And in performing well in the lighter air races other teams like Iberdrola (ESP) and AIRISESSENTIAL (ITA) were always poised to pounce, while Peninsula Petroleum (GBR) suffered bad luck in the first two stages with a broken masthead crane.But the teamwork came together for skipper Jose Maria van der Ploeg (ESP) and helmsman Paolo Cian (ITA), with their excellent speed, boathandling and tactical potential becoming apparent by their first stage win in Barcelona, and just accelerating after this.“The team has been improving at every stage,” said an ecstatic van der Ploeg, “And now we are at the maximum, exactly where we wanted to be.”
The next 52 Series event is the world championships for the class which runs 5th to 9th October in Valencia, Spain.The 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit starts in May next year.

FUN AND GAMES AND FINE SAILING AT THE OYSTER REGATTA

The second race day of the Oyster Jubilee Regatta, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, saw some entertaining activities take place while the 31-strong fleet waited for the infamous Sardinian breeze to fill in. After waterskiing and collective diving exhibitions had taken place this morning, approximately 6 knots of easterly breeze allowed racing to get underway and the fleet crossed the start line off Porto Cervo headed for the islands of Mortorio and Soffi. Overall leaders with two races completed are Trevor Silver’s Oyster 65.5 Roulette V2 in Class One (60ft and over in length) and Sarabande, the Oyster 54 owned by Gerde and Annamarie Kohlmoos, among the smaller Oysters competing in Class Two.
The Oyster 82 Pandemonium, owned by Stuart Smith and Barry J Cooper Junior, was the fastest around the course today in the Class Two group but victory on corrected time went to Roulette V.2 followed by the Oyster 62 Luna of London with Heinrich Schulte’s Anabasis in third. Following Roulette V.2 at the top of the overall table are Anabasis and Richard Smith’s Oyster 655 Sotto Vento.
In Class One it was the Oyster 575 Boarding Pass III that took line honours with Sarabande hot on her heels, just three seconds behind. On corrected time Sarabande took first place ahead of Boarding Pass III, owned by Bill Munro and Susan Harris, with Stuart and Caroline Popham’s Spirit of Spring in third.
Following racing the fleet docked for an overnighter in Porto Rotondo, approximately 8 miles south of Porto Cervo. Participants will enjoy the hospitality of the Yacht Club Porto Rotondo during an exclusive cocktail reception and dinner tonight before resuming racing tomorrow morning.
For further information on the regatta please visit http://www.yccs.it/ or http://www.oystermarine.com/ .

Audi MedCup Circuit in Cagliari, Sardinia: Can Matador rain on the Quantum parade?

The Region of Sardinia Trophy leaders have themselves a good shot at second overall on the Audi MedCup Circuit.

Rain? It’s an unusual phenomenon on the Audi MedCup Circuit, but that is the prevailing weather feature this morning, puddles already forming around the Region of Sardinia Trophy regatta dockside in Cagaliari. It maybe dampen the mood slightly for visitors, many of whom have beaten the air traffic control strikes to be here at the season's crunch time, but the precipitation is purely incidental for the 52 Series and 42 Series teams who know what is at stake on this penultimate day of the 2010 Audi MedCup season. Matador lead the regatta by 11 points, winning three of the last four races. But their attack has brought them to within six points of Quantum Racing on the overall Audi MedCup Circuit standings, with only up to four races left. And Matador now have a gap of 20 points back to TeamOrigin so they have something of a dilemma, whether to go all out for the regatta win and/or to ensure they consistently beat Quantum to land second for the season. “In fact we have three goals: be on the podium, be second overall and to win the regatta. To win the regatta would be purely a bonus. First we watch behind, then after maybe two or three races we see how we are placed.” Says Vasco Vascotto (ITA), Matador’s strategist. The forecast for wind strength is promising but far less encouraging for stability of direction. And rain is almost certain. Around start time the breeze could be as much as 10-16 kts but backing from around 110-130 degrees to between 070 and 110 degrees during the early afternoon, and continuing to build and, clocking back to 020 degrees. So it looks like a really testing day with the breeze always on the move, shifty, gusty and puffy.All the action will be available live on http://www.medcup.org/ as from 1250hrs CET.

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CHAMPAGNE OPENER AT OYSTER REGATTA AT PORTO CERVO, COSTA SMERALDA (SARDINIA)

A fleet of 30 elegant Oyster sailing yachts took to the crystalline waters off Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda this morning for the first day of racing in the Oyster Jubliee Regatta. The 25th event in the Oyster Regatta series is taking place from 21st to 25th September and is hosted for the first time by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Racing started on schedule on a stunning 15 mile coastal course, using the granite islands of La Maddalena archipelago as natural buoys and a gentle northeasterly breeze built during the day giving the majestic Oyster fleet some spectacular sailing conditions. Azure blue sky and warm breeze typify the sailing grounds on the Costa Smeralda and today was no exception.
In Class One (yachts of 60ft and over), local knowledge clearly came in handy as Alberto Vignatelli’s Oyster 72, Albertone 3, took line honours and a corrected time victory. Vignatelli has been a Member of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda for over 20 years and knows this regatta course better than most. Today was also his birthday making the victory even more special. Alberto was at the helm of his newly-launched Oyster 72 throughout and was clearly delighted as he crossed the finish line to take the gun. Trevor Silver’s Roulette V.2 and Richard Smith’s Sotto Vento, both Oyster 655s, took second and third place respectively.
Gerd and Annemarie Köhlmoos’ Oyster 54, Sarabande put in a polished performance, taking line honours in Class Two and also first in class on corrected time. Second across the line was Boarding Pass III, owned by Bill Munro and Susan Harris which slipped into third, however, on corrected time behind Mark Howard’s Oyster 56 Amanzi.
Michael Morris’ Oyster 72, Cookielicious, had a fantastic day on the water, despite being late for the start of today’s race and finishing at the tail end of Class One. Highlighting the family-oriented nature of the fleet Morris was accompanied by his sons and daughter-in-laws.
“We may not have achieved the result that we are capable of but we learnt a lot and all of the crew enjoyed the day immensely. Commented Morris who has chartered an Oyster complete with skipper and crew for the event. “Whilst I have been an Oyster owner for many years my Oyster 49 is back in Lymington. This is the sixth Oyster regatta that we have taken charge of the Oyster 72. The arrangement allows us to just enjoy the occasion and relax. The most important aspect of coming to an Oyster Regatta is to have a wonderful time on board a stunning yacht.”
Owners and crews enjoyed a welcome cocktail and dinner on the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Pool Terrace overlooking Porto Cervo Marina yesterday evening and the social programme Oyster regattas are renowned for continues with a cocktail reception and dinner on the beach-side terrace of the nearby Hotel Romazzino this evening.

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Registrations open for the SARDINIA MOUNTAIN BIKE RALLY 2011

After the success of the third edition held in 2010 along the paths and dirt roads of the Province of Ogliastra, organisation of the 4th edition of the Sardegna Bike rally – to be held from 12 to 18 June 2011 – is now in full swing, but with a few changes. The first novelty is that the date has been postponed one week compared to last year. The second is that one more leg has been added, bringing the total from 5 to 6. Third piece of news is the early registration rate, 400.00 euro until 30 October, while the other deadlines are:
1st registration: € 400.00 by 30 October 2010
2nd registration: € 500.00 by 30 November 2010
3rd registration: € 600.00 by 31 December 2010
4th registration: € 700.00 after 1 January 2011
Accompanying persons: € 350.00Raid Tourist (same prices as for competitors)



The slogan for 2011 will still be “From mountain to sea”, that is from the peaks and paths of the Gennargentu mountains to the stunning beaches of Ogliastra, at the start of the summer season, when the island is not yet teeming with tourists and reserves its beauty for mountain bikers. In the coming days we will also publish the rates for a whole week of accommodation in a seaside tourist resort, an offer that we are sure will be appreciated by the athletes’ families, who will be able to take this opportunity to enjoy a wonderful beach holiday.As is our tradition, the routes, organised by Corrado Deiana have been renewed, paying great attention to technical and landscape aspects. This fourth edition is sponsored by the Regional Government of Sardinia, through its Ministry of Tourism, by the Agency Sardegna Promozione, the Tourist Department of the Ogliastra Province, the Union of Ogliastra Municipalities, the Municipality of Arzana, the Municipality of Taluna, Aspen – An Agency of the Chamber of Commerce of Nuoro – and by Penta Power endurance sport nutrition, as well as all the Municipalities crossed by the rally.

You can register online on http://www.rallydisardegnabike.it/ where you will soon also find all the news on the new route.