World ORC: the surprises of a tough and spectacular offshore race. PHOTOS

Beautiful, tough, intense and hard-fought in all three groupings: the offshore round of the ORC World Championship in Porto Cervo was a real spotlight for fee racing and offshore sailing. The Race Committee chose three courses of different lengths, 169 for Group A, 151 for Group B and 137 for Group C. The difference between the three courses was the initial passage inside the Maddalena Archipelago, longer the one for A and B, with the whole fleet then heading to the Stintino buoy and then returning to Porto Cervo for the finish.

THE STANDINGS.

Putting its own spin on things to make things more interesting was the weather: light wind in the early part and on the descent to Stintino, strong easterly, to near 30 knots, in the hard upwind climb. In Group A, confirming that there can always be surprises, everyone expected the domination of the Tp 52s, but the offset times said something decidedly different: victory for Fernando Chain’s Argentine Swan 45 From Now On, ahead of the Italian nationality twins, Claudio Terrieri’s Blue Sky and Alberto Magnani’s Tengher. In Group B, the odds were favored for the Swan 42s, but instead Corduneanu Catalin’s Romanian First 40.7 Irony won the long race, ahead of another Romanian boat, Catalin Tradafir’s Grand Soleil 44 Essentia, the reigning world champion; third place went to Gregorio De Falco’s Landmark 43 Skarp.

Predictions fulfilled instead for group C, with a hat trick for Italia Yachts 11.98: Enzo De Blasio’s Scugnizza won, second place for Ott Kikkas’ Sugar 3, and Guido Tabellini’s Batanga third.

The presence of many of the same boats in the various classes (3 Swan 45s, 4 Tp 52s, 8 Swan 42s, 5 Italia Yachts 11.98s) spiced up the regatta and will do so as the World Championship continues: ratings matter but first and foremost it matters to put the bow in front of the opponent even if only for a few seconds, almost like in One Design regattas.

The ORC World Championship in Porto Cervo now continues with two days of racing between the buoys, then there will be a day-long inshore race on Wednesday before the finale still between the buoys.

FULL RANKINGS

Mauro Giuffrè

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