Capri Sailing Week - ITALY

Italy - Rolex Capri Sailing Week has wrapped up with 39 yachts sailing in fine weather on the deep blue waters of the Golfo di Napoli.

SWAN 45 CLASS: The most exciting action at Rolex Capri Sailing Week had to be in the nineteen boat Swan 45 one-design class. Three boats went into the last day of racing with a shot at the title, but in the end, it was the British crew of WISC that came out on top. The Germans on Earlybird were not able to reignite the spark that had secured them two bullets on Friday; Fifteenth at the first windward mark on the second race was not going to be good enough - not with WISC lying in third and Vertigo in seventh. The Italians on Vertigo, however, were doing even better and Vasco Vascotto showed once again why he is such a sought after tactician. Outwitting all the competition, except race winner Lanfranco Grilla's Fantasikinaa, Vertigo sailed home in second passing WISC. But alas, this was not enough, and despite some last-minute tribulations on the downwind leg, Williams brought his WISC team home in fourth to win by four points.

Williams was understandably pleased with the result, and surprised at the drop in performance from Earlybird, "we were quite relaxed going out today and I think that really helps going around the course. And at the end of yesterday some of the crew was a little bit disappointed to have only two races. Earlybird was racing so well yesterday that I was actually happy to roll the dice today and the dice rolled for us. We had two good races and Earlybird did not race well today. It was a big contrast in performance. Yesterday in about 12, 13, 14 knots they had their settings really, really good and were very, very quick. Today, we started beside them in the last race and we were just able to get away and, in fact, roll over them."

MAXI: In the Maxi Class, Alfa Romeo scorched around the course in just under the hour to finish a good twelve minutes ahead of Favonius on corrected time. Next up for this inaugural circuit is the Giraglia Rolex Cup in Saint-Tropez at the beginning of June. Sir Peter Ogden and Spirit of Jethou, who finished second in the Swan Maxi Class (and third in the overall Maxi classification), go into that event leading the Circuit.

COMET: In the Comet class, the defending champion Libertine won the final race of its series, and therefore holds on to first place overall. Commenting on his win, Biscardi said, "we really enjoyed the event because it was a series of races with uncertain results until the end. The boats are all highly tuned and very competitive with all teams very much in the spirit of winning. So, winning the Rolex Capri Sailing Week for the second time is a real satisfaction."

-- ROLEX CAPRI SAILING WEEK FINAL STANDINGS --

Place Boat Name Owner Nation, R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-R6-R7-R8-R9-Points

SWAN 45
1. WISC Glynn Williams GBR, 6-1-3-9-7-7-4-5-4-46.00
2. VERTIGO Marco Salvi ITA, 1-2-12-1-8-11-11-2-2-50.00
3. EARLYBIRD Hendrick Brandis GBR, 2-17-5-3-2-1-1-15-10-56.00

MAXI
1. ALFA ROMEO Neville Crichton NZL, 1-1-1-9-2-3-1-18.00
2. FAVONIUS Roel Pieper BVI, 2-2-4-3-1-2-4-18.00
3. SPIRIT OF JETHOU Sir Peter Ogden GBR, 3-4-2-1-3-4-3-20.00

COMET
1. LIBERTINE Maurizio Biscardi ITA, 1-3-1-3-1-5-1-15.00
2. FRA DIAVOLO Vincenzo Addessi ITA, 4-2-4-1-4-3-4-22.00
3. AGORA Marco Franco c/o Emmeffe Sail Srl ITA, 2-1-2-2-6-7-3-23.00

Rolex Crew Party at "La Canzone Del Mare" - All Photos by Carlo Borlenghi of ROLEX