ROLEX GIRAGLIA: LINE HONOURS UPDATE
The Rolex Giraglia regularly delivers close line honours contests with this year’s 68th edition proving no exception. Partnered by Rolex since 1998, the event is one of the Mediterranean’s most historic and respected sailing competitions.
Crossing the finish line off the Yacht Club Italiano’s clubhouse in Genoa at 14:08 CEST this afternoon, Arca SGR marked her race debut by securing the line honours crown awarded to the 241-nautical mile (446-km) offshore race’s fastest finisher.
The Italian-crewed Maxi skippered by Furio Benussi, a former Rolex Giraglia overall winner, assumed leadership of the race shortly after the Sanremo start at midday on Wednesday. At 07:01 CEST this morning she rounded the race’s emblematic landmark the Giraglia rock, located off the northern tip of Corsica, a little over 15 minutes ahead of Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones’s Wallycento Magic Carpet Cubed, her nearest rival.
Although the time difference between the two 30-metre (100-ft) yachts was similar at the finish line, Magic Carpet Cubed, a two-time Rolex Giraglia line honours winner, had threatened to mount a comeback after making gains on her rival in the final stages of the race.
Arca SGR’s elapsed time of 26 hours, eight minutes and ten seconds ensures the race record of just under 15 hours set in 2012 will stand for another year.
As of 15:45 CEST following the arrival of the fleet’s other 100-ft Maxi Leopard 3, three yachts had completed the race, seven had retired and 128 were still at sea, the majority yet to round the Giraglia rock. The arrivals over the coming hours will have a significant say in who claims the race’s coveted prize of overall victory on handicap.
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A wrap-up review of the 2021 Rolex Giraglia will be published on Saturday 19 June.
