Just finished racing the Rolex Maxi Regatta in Porto Cervo, Sardinia September 6-10 aboard the Richael – Pugh 82 HIGHLAND FLING. This is one of the biggest events of the year and includes classes for Mini-maxi (under 80’), Maxi, Super Maxi (over 100’) and Wally. We were in the Maxi class and enjoyed some great racing in and around the islands and rocks of Sardinia. We saw the full range of conditions, from light and moderate to one day of 25-30kts. Our primary competition was the R/P 100 Esimit Europa (previously Alfa Romeo), with a swing keel and sailed by a mostly Italian team plus some of my old Alinghi mates, Grant Simmer and Juan Villa.

We sailed a pretty good regatta and traded 1^st and 2^nd against them the first few days. We enjoyed the breezy days with our wide bodied machine with twin rudders, while they were really strong in the light and moderate with their narrow hull and swing keel for stability.

Going into the final day they had a one point lead over us. If we beat them, we would tie on points, but win the tie breaker based on who won the final race. So it was all on, our team knew it, and we sailed one of the best races we ever have on this boat. Perfect peel to the Code 0 at mark one, then peel to the A1.5 at mark two, then back to the code 0 at mark 3, and then a clean, smart beat before a final downwind to the finish. In the end we beat them on corrected by almost 3 minutes, tied on points for the regatta, but winning on count-back. Sweet! Really nice win for the team, everyone worked hard to get their jobs right, and then all working in sync, particularly on this last day.

Next up is Voiles de St. Tropez in France at the end of September. Always a challenging event, with the full mixture of boats, from Superyachts down to the latest grand prix machines, so it should be fun.

Ciao, peter