Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2024 | Day Five Videos by Bow Caddy Media

Leopard 3 in action © Bow Caddy Media

The daily wait for an unrelenting Mistral to give the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup a window in which to sail persisted in Porto Cervo today (Friday).

And once more the Mistral reminded everyone who’s really in charge, throwing gusts well in excess of 40 knots through the berthed fleet. Unsurprisingly, at 2pm racing was abandoned.

As we’ve had no opportunity to bring you any sailing imagery since Wednesday, we thought we’d take a brief dock walk and talk about what it takes to dock a fleet of maxis safely in Porto Cervo - even in moderate airs – when the wind funnels down this enclosed bay from the west.

The local ‘marineros’ that assist with this process in small ribs have this down to a fine art.

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2024 | Day 5 - Dock Walk

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2024 | Day 4 - Mike Sanderson Interview

As we walked the dock today we took the opportunity to talk with Mike Sanderson who’s racing here at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup aboard Joost Schuijff’s Farr 100 Leopard 3.

Amongst his impressive portfolio of sailing achievements, Mike was the youngest skipper to win the Volvo Ocean Race, which he achieved in the 2005-2006 event.

But he’s also spent three decades racing some of the most famous Maxis on the sailing scene. And when he leaves Porto Cervo he’ll be heading to Newport for the ORC Worlds, sailing aboard Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente.

Having raced aboard Leopard 3 many years ago under her former owner, Mike explains the major changes that have been made to the boat under Joost Schuijff’s ownership.