Just finished racing the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia on the J Class yacht TOPAZ. Absolutely one of the best places in the world to race, with stunning scenery, challenging conditions, and great competition.  Our team on TOPAZ did an outstanding job, beating our rival VELSHEDA in the first two races, and then almost beating them in the third race, coming up just shy in the final crossing of the last beat before reaching to the finish.  We are literally meters apart for hours against them, going toe-to-toe, in some of the greatest racing I have ever done.  Unfortunately we had a mechanical issue after racing that third day which prevented us from sailing the final two races of the event, and so we had to settle for 2nd place overall.   Once again VELSHEDA proved to be an excellent foe, a great team to race against, and still the bench mark amongst all the J Class yachts in my opinion.  But kudos to our team that found a way, dug deeper, and sailed a great regatta.  The permanent crew will now work hard to fix our issue and get us back out on the race track.