Today brought the first day of racing for The Nations Trophy – Swan One Design, a regatta organised by the YCCS in association with ClubSwan Racing and reserved for Nautor’s one-design classes – the ClubSwan 50, ClubSwan 42 and ClubSwan 36.
As outlined in the morning’s skippers’ briefing, the Race Committee held three windward-leeward races for each class in a south-easterly wind that increased from an initial 8 knots up to 14 on the regatta course off Porto Cervo.
With a total of 29 boats competing, all the classes enjoyed fast starts, tight mark roundings and duels, reversals of fortune and, at times, photo finishes on the line.
In the ClubSwan 36 division Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio’s G Spot with Michele Paoletti as tactician stormed ahead, notching up two firsts and a second place. Following in the provisional overall classification is Fra Martina, owned by the Pavesio brothers, with two solid thirds and a fourth place – the result of shrewd tactical choices by Rufo Bressani. Third place at the end of the first day went to Edoardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone.
Michele Paoletti, tactician on G Spot: “We had a solid day, with two firsts and a second place. In the first race we were second, but the leader made a mistake and we took advantage of it. In these conditions the boat is very fast, we had three excellent starts, the crew worked together perfectly. We’re a group that has been sailing together for many years and we always approach each regatta as if it were the first.”
In the ClubSwan 42 class, meanwhile, the points are much closer, with Jose-Maria Meseguer’s Spanish yacht Pez de Abril leading by just two points over its closest rival, Massimo De Campo’s Selene Alifax. Both brought home consistent results, never below fourth place, but no wins. Andrea Rossi’s Mela had a peculiar day, where despite two clear victories, he sits third in the overall standings, three points behind the leader, due to a withdrawal in the first race. Canopo is in fourth place on equal points (11).
Enrico Zennaro, tactician on Mela: “We had a day with particularly marked ups and downs. In the first race we had to retire due to a small collision with Canopo, for which I apologise to them and my team. Nobody was hurt and that is the most important thing. We did well to come back and rack up two consecutive victories, for which I would like to thank the crew, who were united and perfect in their manoeuvres, but above all the owners who put me at ease immediately after an event like that, which had never happened to me before.”
The largest class, the ClubSwan 50, was dominated by Marcus Brennecke’s Hatari who, thanks to two victories in the first and third races, takes the lead in the provisional classification, albeit just two points ahead of Leonardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone and Andrea Masi’s Ulika. Cuordileone takes second place overall by virtue of her victory in the second race of the day.
Marcus Wieser, tactician on Hatari: “It went very well for us today, we secured first place in the first and third races. In the second race, we had a slight setback at the start, which made it difficult to recover properly. Nonetheless, it was an excellent sailing experience despite the unusual conditions, with misty humidity affecting visibility, but overall, we managed to navigate successfully. It was a fantastic setting with a great breeze, and I believe all the competitors enjoyed the race.”
Racing will continue tomorrow as scheduled at 12 noon, with forecasts of light winds from the east, pending the expected arrival of the Mistral wind in the late afternoon.
