ANTIGUA, 20 February 2025: Two final coastal races were held on the third and concluding day of the RORC Nelson’s Cup Maxi Series with Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Commodore Andrea Recordati and his Wally 93 Bullitt coming out on top ahead of Karel Komárek’s 100ft V and Filip Balcaen’s 72ft Balthasar.
Today’s two races, again held off English and Falmouth Harbours on Antigua’s southern coast, took place in conditions that were at times more than 20 knots, as strong as the previous days, but at others substantially lighter, with bigger shifts as rain squalls passed close by or over the race track. The courses were once again set up by the RORC’s race team in association with the Antigua Yacht Club, but were shorter than the previous two days. The maxis alone were out on the race track today, with IRC Class One and Two preparing for tomorrow’s Antigua 360.
A second and a discardable sixth today enabled Bullitt to win the RORC Nelson’s Cup Maxi Series by three points from a charging V.
Recordati competed in Antigua as part of Antigua Sailing Week in the mid-2000 with his previous Wally Inti, when he recalls they won their class. “It’s great to be back – it’s fantastic,” commented Recordati. “Antigua is very special, there’s a lot of sailing history here, and the conditions this week have been exceptional, very challenging, to say the least, in terms of the sea state and wind. The courses have been extremely well laid out, the fleet is fantastic, it’s incredible how close the racing is. It’s really a lot of fun. This week of the Nelson Cup has been exceptional – I would definitely come back.”
Bullitt tactician, Joca Signorini added: “For us, it was all about trying to get a good start and put our elbows out on the first bit and from there, trying to control, because it was not easy: Our boat has a little deficit downwind, so we need to sail well to get a good result. You could see on this last race, we didn’t get a good start and then it was really hard to come back.” In the second race Bullitt had found herself to stuck in traffic down at the leeward end of the start line and forced to accept gas from the bigger boats for the first upwind leg. She ended up an uncharacteristic sixth which, fortunately, they were able to discard.
“We are very pleased with the way we sailed,” continued Signorini. “The crew work was amazing and Andrea did an amazing job steering in very difficult conditions.”
Karel Komárek’s 100ft V claimed second overall on countback from Filip Balcaen’s 72ft Balthasar “We’ve been very good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory this week,” admitted V’s tactician, Ken Read. On the second race on the opening day, one of their ballast tanks sprung a leak, dumping its contents into the hull. This, according to the North Sails President, led to all manner of secondary problems. “The effort the permanent crew and the sailing team put in to get us sailing again was unbelievable.” Their results were compounded when they dropped their spinnaker into the water in yesterday’s first race, when they were leading. Aside from these incidents V looks fast and she today finally performed as expected, posting a 1-2, making her top scoring maxi of the day. “We continue to improve the boat,” said Read. “The owner gives us the opportunity to continually try to improve the boat. And it looks like we’ve made another nice little step. We’re pleased. We’re starting and getting to the first shift well.”
Bullitt and the rest of the maxi winners were presented with their prizes by International Maxi Association Secretary General Andrew McIrvine at the prize-giving and party this evening sponsored by the IMA at the Antigua Yacht Club.
Tomorrow the maxis will rejoin the rest of the RORC fleet to take part in the Antigua 360, an anti-clockwise lap of Antigua, prior to the start of the main event, the RORC Caribbean 600 itself on Monday. “The forecast is for slightly less breeze which will drop a bit, before it picks up again,” commented Bullitt’s Joca Signorini. “So it will be a tricky race, but going around an island is never easy.”
James Boyd/IMA
#Caribbean600
THE ROYAL OCEAN RACING CLUB:
- Established in 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) celebrates its centenary in 2025. It is best known for the biennial Fastnet Race and the international team event, the Admiral’s Cup. Both of these prestigious events will be run in 2025
- RORC organises an annual series of offshore races from its base in Cowes. The RORC Season’s Points Championship is the world’s largest offshore racing series attracting over 7,000 international sailors in a Rolex Fastnet year. The RORC also organises inshore regattas in the Solent
- The RORC works with other yacht clubs to promote their offshore races and provides marketing and organisational support. With the first race in 2009, the Antigua-based RORC Caribbean 600 – the first offshore race in the Caribbean – has been an instant success. The RORC extended its organisational expertise by creating the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Grenada, the first of which was in November 2014. The Roschier Baltic Sea Race was established in 2022 starting and finishing in Helsinki, Finland
- The RORC has 4,000 members, with a majestic clubhouse based in St James’ Place, London SW1 and a superb clubhouse on the Isle of Wight at the entrance to Cowes Harbour
- RORC website: www.rorc.org
- #RORCracing
- @RoyalOceanRacingClub
