169 boats followed Alfa Romeo around the Giraglia Rock and into Genoa over
the rest of Friday and Saturday, amongst them Raiola Raffaele’s Idea,
Pierluigi Lora Piana’s My Song and Charles Dunstone’s Enigma, all three also
bettered Riviera de Rimini’s 1998 reference time. Alberto Roemmers‚ Maxi
Alexia finished just 21 seconds outside however but managed to collect best
corrected time for this double points scoring race. Alexia, lying second
overall in class before the long race moved up to first overall in class and
fleet. Roemmers was awarded the Giraglia Rolex Cup and a Rolex Yacht Master
watch at the final prize giving ceremony at the Yacht Club Italiano on
Saturday night.

The Giraglia Rolex Cup is a week long regatta incorporating three inshore
races in St Tropez before the 243-mile Giraglia Race that took the fleet to
Genoa via a rocky outcrop to the North of Corsica. Racing in the inshores
was dominated by the Stefano Spangaro’s Class One yacht X-Sport skippered by
Gabrielle Benussi. Benussi himself stepped down for the long race as he had
to travel to Sardinia to prepare for the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, which start
on 3rd July. X-Sport managed to win Class One again in the Giraglia Race but
finished more than two hours out of the top spot in fleet.

Class Two in the Giraglia Race was won by Dominique Tian’s IMX-38 Glen
Ellen, a boat that hadn’t participated in the inshores meaning that overall
Class Two honours for the week went to Philippe Ettore’s A40 Ettore.

In the Giraglia Race Class Three was won by Jean Paul Brugiere’s X-332
Lexington, but it was Guy Nicolas‚ First 36.7 Alcidia, finishing in fourth
place in the double points scoring offshore race, that collected Class Three
overall honours for the week.

Last but not least, the smallest boats in the fleet Class Four. The Giraglia
Race was won by Francois Laurent’s First 32 Sietel Midi Telecom, but it was
Camillo Capozzi’s Polaris 33 that had set the pace all week and wound up
with the overall Class Four honours.

Conditions for the offshore were boisterous on the leg from France to
Corsica where the fleet experienced winds of up to 27 knots from the South
West at times. For most of the fleet the wind lasted all the way to the rock
before it dropped away to finally fill in weakly from the South East
creating slow sailing conditions for the remainder of the race to the
finish.

• Giraglia Race - New Race Record
– 22 hours 13 minutes 48 seconds - average speed 10.9 knots
– Alfa Romeo Reichel/Pugh Maxi Neville Crichton

• Giraglia Race IMS Final Results

Class Zero

• Alexia Reichel/Pugh Maxi Alberto Roemmers

Class One
– X-Sport Gd Soleil 56R Stefano Spangaro

Class Two
– Glen Ellen IMX-38 Dominique Tian

Class Three
– Lexington X-332 Jean Paul Brugiere

Class Four
– Ala Bianca Polaris 33 Camillo Capozzi

*Overall winner all classes

• Giraglia Rolex Cup - Final Results
– After 3 inshore races in St Tropez and the double points Giraglia Race

Class Zero

• Alexia Reichel/Pugh Maxi Alberto Roemmers

Class One
– X-Sport Gd Soleil 56R Stefano Spangaro

Class Two
– Ettore Archambault 40 Philippe Ettore

Class Three
– Alcidia Beneteau First 36.7 R Guy Nicolas

Class Four
– Ala Bianca Polaris 33 Camillo Capozzi

*Overall winner all classes

"The long race and the record were our main objectives at the Giraglia Rolex
Cup. We enjoyed the inshore races but the long race with the strong winds
gave us the opportunity to really push the boat hard and enjoy the sailing.
Neville Crichton, owner and skipper of Alfa Romeo, shortly after collecting
line honours in the Giraglia Race and breaking the race record by more than
two hours.

"We started really well and lead all the way to Isle de Levant. After that
we were always in touch with the leaders and remained in control of the
race. On one occasion we found ourselves to windward of the fleet on a fast
reach when the wind increased. This is always the best place to be and we
benefited again from good positioning. The crew sailed well, everything went
our way." Mariano Parada, tactician on board Alberto Roemmers‚ Argentinean
Maxi Alexia, Class Zero winner and Best Corrected Time overall.

The Full Results for the 2003 Giraglia Rolex Cup can be found at :
http://www.yci.it/regate/regate2003...