International Maxi Association European Championship in Sorrento - Day 1
by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 19 May 12:57 PDT
16-22 May 2025
The Maxi Grand Prix class follows the Maxi 100s down the run off Sorrento © IMA / Studio Borlenghi
After a brief respite from a brutal Regata dei Tre Golfi, the International Maxi Association's European Championship, run by Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia out of Sorrento, began its second phase today with four days of windward-leeward and coastal racing on the Gulf of Naples.
PRO Stuart Childerley sent the 23 maxis, ranging from the fastest, Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' new 100ft Magic Carpet E (IRC TCC 1.834) down to Giuseppe Puttini's Swan 65 ketch Shirlaf (IRC TCC 1.103), around a 15 mile composite course, beginning with windward-leeward legs followed by a triangle, finishing back at the start line. The breeze was mostly southwesterly and never exceeded 10 knots with lulls on some sections of the course.
As occurred on Friday's start of the Regata dei Tre Golfi, it was Chris Flowers and David M Leuschen's 100ft Galateia that was fastest out of the blocks, taking the lead on the first upwind as the boats headed in the direction of Capri. She was followed around the top mark by Magic Carpet E, racing just her second event after her recent launch, then Karel Komárek's 100ft V.
Behind Peter Harrison's 72ft Jolt led the Maxi Grand Prix class from Hap Fauth's 74ft Bella Mente, winner of the Regata dei Tre Golfi offshore race, followed by Andrea Recordati's Wally 93 Bullitt, Alessandro del Bono's 80ft Capricorno and Pascale Decaux's 100ft Tilakkhana II (ex-Magic Carpet Cubed).
As this is a European Championship, the maxis start en masse and are scored as one overall group but also in four individual classes. The top five overall today were from Maxi Grand Prix (ex-Maxi 72) and Maxi 100 classes with Jolt coming out on top ahead of the 100ft Galateia and 74ft Bella Mente. This has given Peter Harrison's the overall lead in the IMA Maxi European Championship, but only by a point from Bella Mente.
"It was a very nice day," commented Jolt's tactician, America's Cup winning helmsman Ed Baird. "We were lucky enough to stay in clear lanes as we have to be very cautious of what the 100-footers are doing, because they're just enough faster that you can get yourself in a lot of trouble. Fortunately we were able to avoid the traffic long enough to play the game from the front end." Thanks largely to her trim tab, Jolt's IRC TCC is the highest in the Maxi Grand Prix class, some 28 points more than Bella Mente which comes with the theoretical bonus of getting them ahead and out into clearer air than those astern. "Today it worked, and there will be other days where it doesn't, so we just have to keep learning," continued Baird, who said that between the top and bottom of the course the wind angle had varied by a substantial 45-50 degrees in the light conditions.
Similarly, second overall today, 1:38 astern of Jolt under IRC corrected time and topping the Maxi 100 class, Galateia has hiked up her rating from 1.781 last year to 1.802 now. This is largely through having a longer bowsprit, larger chutes and an interceptor - work completed in just a week after her shipping back from the Caribbean was delayed. "A lot of people did very long hours," added tactician Kelvin Harrap. "Like any sport, you have to keep evolving because if you don't, you're on the back foot."
Today and in the offshore race, Galateia was being helmed by Chris Flowers' daughter Liz. Of today's race Harrap said: "We got the start we wanted, going left from up the line. We thought there was a little more pressure offshore, but we knew it was going to bend left, so Murray [Jones] and Markus [Weiser] did a great job. We had to make a few extra tacks than we wanted, but we managed to manage the boats to the left-hand lay line and then from there it was a reasonably easy race for us."
12th overall today, but topping the Maxi Alpha class, was Guido Paolo Gamucci's Cippa Lippa X. The canting keel Mylius 60 is a regular IMA Maxi Europeans entry and today finished ahead of Paul Berger's defending champion Kallima and Jean-Pierre Barjon's Botin 65 Spirit of Lorina.
"It was difficult on the first upwind leg, because there were the big boys ahead of us, and they didn't fly away, like they're supposed to and Sensei [Jean-Sébastien Decaux's Wally 94) was always in front of us!" commented Gamucci of their more sedate day after their blistering offshore during which Cippa Lippa X had hit 26 knots. "But then in the downwind leg we went very well. Then we kept the Code Zero on the first two legs of the triangle, which worked, especially on the second leg when no one else was using one, so we gained against Lorina, and recovered our rating from Kallima."
For what will be a packed season of offshore racing for Cippa Lippa X she had been modified with 400kg of water ballast added to her which has permitted her to reduce her crew from 18 to 15, along with a weight saving regime that has shed 1.2 tonnes.
The Maxi Bravo class performed slightly better with the leader, YC Gaeta President Vincenzo Addessi's Mylius 60 Fra Diavolo, finishing 11th overall ahead of IMA President Benoît de Froidmont's Wally 60 Wallyño and Luca Scoppa's Dehler 60 Blue Oyster. "We sailed a great race, so we deserved first place," commented Addessi. "The race committee chose a very good course, it was very technical because there were many wind angles, although Fra Diavolo prefers a little more wind..."
In the Tre Golfi Multihull Trophy Riccardo Pavoncelli's Gunboat 68 Gaetana, on which multihull veteran Brian Thompson is calling the shots, again corrected out well ahead of Lord Irvine Laidlaw's Gunboat 80 Highland Fling 18 and Adrian Keller's Irens 84 Allegra.