Boat International – June 2017

http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2017 http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2017

PHOTOGRAPH: XXXXXX

02

10:45 11:58 13:15 14:17 14:41

The second day of racing sees the race

committee set a course that sails around

the picturesque island of Virgin Gorda.

Day races that circumnavigate islands

such as the Isle of Wight in the UK or Block

Island in the US are iconic contests in the

world of racing. They’re short, sharp and

sweet, and offer a variety of challenging

conditions such as shifting winds and tidal

currents. The race around Virgin Gorda

contains all of the ingredients the others

offer plus one they can’t begin to replicate

• the most stunning shades of blue waters.

LORO PIANA

REGATTA

BRITISH VIRGIN

ISLANDS

12 MARCH 2017

DAY

The W-Class yacht Wild

Horses, the smallest

boat in the fleet at 23m,

leads the fleet past

Pajaros Point, the

easternmost point of

Virgin Gorda. From there

the fleet begins a long

port tack reach down

the east/southeastern

side of the island to

Round Rock, the bottom

turning mark.

Leopard 3 completes

the fleet’s rounding of

Pajaros Point. Martin

Sutter, who chartered

the 30m racing yacht,

is deemed to be in

charge of the fastest

vessel in the fleet,

which often finds

itself racing solo as it

starts about 15 minutes

behind the rest of the

competition.

The race around Virgin Gorda

allows the 60m Perseus^3 her

shining moment and she is the first

boat home among Class C and D.

It’s the second consecutive win for

the vessel, which hadn’t entered

the winner’s circle since launching

in 2015. The significant amount of

straight-line action in the race

allows Perseus^3 to put her great

waterline length to use. Plus, the

crew break out a secret weapon in

the sail wardrobe – the Code 0.

Classes A and B sail a longer

course of 32 nautical miles after

completing a windward-leeward

before setting off around the

island and the 46m Ganesha leads

them all home. However, Ganesha

has to pass P2 to win Class B. The

rules of superyacht racing are

designed to keep the boats as far

away from each other as possible

in order to avoid collisions, so

Ganesha has to plot out her

opportunity and make it count.

“It was a great race, as close as

yesterday. It’s always a tough

tussle with P2. They weren’t going

to let us go to weather, so we

had to pick our moment to go to

leeward. We got bow forward on

them and went hard on the wind

after the Seal [Dog] Islands; we

focused on defending that spot.

Fortunately we got the upper

hand, defended well, wanted

the result and got it.” – Matt

Humphries, tactician, Ganesha

“Today we sailed with the Code 0 for the

first time. It’s a 9,000 square foot sail

and is like having another 100hp. We were

sailing in 15 knots wind speed and doing

15 knots boat speed. It was amazing.”

Peter Grimm, crew boss, Perseus^3

Clockwise from left: Vitters Shipyard’s

Ningaloo’s bow cuts through the

currents; B5 (left) tussles with Southern

Wind’s formidable Grande Orazio;

Danneskjold kicks up the spray as the

race heats up on day two; the crew

on Pendennis’s performance-minded

43m Rebecca take down the spinnaker;

Grande Orazio captures second place

in Class C; the physical side of the race

is apparent as a crewmember from

Rebecca attends to the spinnaker

PHOTOGRAPHS: BOAT INTERNATIONAL MEDIA/YCCS/CARLO BORLENGHI

CLASS A

CLASS C

CLASS D

DAY TWO

CLASS B

YACHT POSITION

Ganesha

P2

Rebecca

Ningaloo

1

2

3

4

Perseus^3

Action

Q

Sunleigh

1

2

3

4

Freya

Grande Orazio

B5

Ammonite

Danneskjold

Wild Horses

1 2 3 4 5 6

Nilaya

Shamanna

Leopard 3

1

2

3

0123456789 0123456789

194

BLACKYELLOWMAGENTACYAN 91BOIJUN17180.pgs 26.04.2017 17:07

ART

PRODUCTION

CLIENT

SUBS

REPRO OP

VERSION

Feat LP, 3