Saint-Tropez lived up to its reputation and delivered magnificent conditions for the fleet of boats taking part in the final day of inshore racing, while all is set for tomorrow’s start of the “long race”.
The Gulf of Saint-Tropez once again confirmed its status as a fantastic regatta course, with excellent weather conditions allowing the final session of the Rolex Giraglia 2022 to take place without a hitch. While the maxi yachts competed on windward-leeward routes off the beaches of Pampelonne, the rest of the boats did battle on a 13-mile coastal course. Wind conditions followed the trend of recent days, with an initial easterly breeze of 6 knots increasing over the course of the day, and fairly flat seas.
With the conclusion of the inshore races, all eyes have turned to the weather forecasts for the next 48 hours and for the stretch of the Ligurian Sea that from tomorrow will be the setting for the 69th edition of the Giraglia. The forecasts for the coming days are still hard to read, but for the moment they indicate rather light conditions, with the only certainty being that the 2012 course record of 14 hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds, seems relatively safe.
“From the latest weather models,” commented navigator Ambrogio Beccaria, who will be on board the Yacht Club Italiano’s prototype boat along with Mauro Pelaschier and young sailors from the club, “we expect to complete the first leg to Formigue taking advantage of the thermal breezes, which could even reach 15 knots. Once we round the mark and move away from the land, we will have to figure out the best options for the long leg to the Giraglia. We will certainly have light air and the current models show us rounding the rock at 5 a.m. on 17 June. From there on we should – and I stress ‘should’ – have a stronger breeze coming in from the east that will accompany us to Genoa.”
Final results from the race course in Pampelonne (maxis) after four races run:
The maxi Jethou, owned by Peter Ogden, dominated in the IRC0 class. (1,1,1,1);
IRC2: Capricorno, owned by Alessandro Del Bono (1,1,1,1);
ORC0: Leaps & Bounds 2, owned by Jean Philippe Blanpain (1,1,1,1).
For the ORC and IRC groups, the results after 3 inshore races are as follows:
IRC 1: Daguet 3 – Ker 46 – Frederic Puzin (12,2,2);
IRC 2: Les Minots de La Nautique – A 35 – Victor Bordes Laridan (2,2,1);
ORC 1: From Now On – Swan 45 – Fernando Chain (4,1,1);
ORC 2: Farfallina 2 – Corsa 915 – Davide Noli (3,1,1).
With the awards ceremony and the grand Rolex party, this chapter of the French-Italian regatta has drawn to a conclusion. From the beach of La Ponche, attention now turns to the promenade in Genoa. From the toasts at the Rolex Party to a long navigation towards Liguria. The Yacht Club Italiano is getting ready to welcome the approximately 2,000 participants in another thrilling edition of the Rolex Giraglia. The regatta village set up at the Duca degli Abruzzi Marina is ready. Focaccia and other typical Ligurian specialities will be provided fresh from the oven non-stop to welcome the sailors, exhausted after the many miles of the offshore race. The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday 18th at 12 midday but first, there is the small matter of 241 miles to face.
