How to have fun in Portofino aboard the brand new ICE 70 GC

The Maxis returned to the Gulf of Tigullio and Portofino for the Italian Yacht Club‘s Spring Regattas. We were there too! We climbed aboard the brand new ICE 70 Storm of London, guests of owner Eitan, to take part in the coastal race-a difficult and technical trial, characterized by light and dancing winds.

Maxis put on a show in Portofino

On Saturday morning, upon arriving at the Marina di Portofino marina, a somewhat unusual traffic of sails and sailors filled the village usually overrun with selfie-hunting tourists. Seeing 26 boats, ranging from 15 to 29 meters, moored in the small bay of Portofino stimulated the curiosity of even those who are not in the Pearl of Tigullio for the Italian Yacht Club’s Spring Regattas, the inaugural event of the Maxi season.

It is easy to recognize a sailor even when he is in plain clothes, betrayed by his attire or the time he spends looking carefully at all the details of a new hull fresh from the boatyard. In our case, in addition to admiring it from land, we are invited by Marco Malgara, CEO of ICE Yachts, to come aboard the brand new Storm of London, an ICE 70 GC (designed by Felci Yacht Design) delivered just two weeks ago.

Aboard Storm of London (ICE 70 GC)

Having made the necessary introductions, with a half-Israeli, half-Italian crew, we cast off our moorings and set off for the race course located just over 1 mile from Portofino Bay. Wind conditions of 5/6 knots at most (from the south) are not the most optimal for the new ICE 70 GC: GC stands, indeed, for Grand Comfort. And comfort is one of its strengths (just think of the hard-top type awning that winks at the world of powerboats) even though – spoiler – it sails like a charm and can even be configured for racing. Felci’s “touch” is felt throughout.

Owner Eitan and his wife are here to have fun and participate in the ICE Cup, the competition reserved for ICE shipyard hulls taking part in the Spring Regattas. Starting first are the IRC class hulls, while waiting we try a few maneuvers a and the hoisting of code 0. A few minutes later it was the turn of the OPEN class, ours.

The uphill start

The course chosen by the committee is a coastal one, with a windward mark outside the Gulf of Tigullio, a second mark about 2.5 miles to the northwest, toward Englishmen’s Cove, and return to Portofino.

The start is smooth, we’re off to a pretty good start with starboard tack and in the middle of the line. Marco Malgara, present with us on board, immediately calls one scarce; the boats in front of us clearly had to lean because the wind turned toward the bow, losing angle to the windward mark. A boat veers us in pure, forcing us to wait until it has passed so as not to end up in the trash. We tack and point toward the promontory of Portofino, at the far end of the Gulf of Tigullio. We are a little long and, although there is more wind below the coast, we end up in the currents pushing ashore, heading toward Santa Margherita Ligure. We are last.

We recover positions on the ICE 70 GC

The boat, an ICE 70 Grand Comfort, is very fast and holds a good angle. The hull is glass/carbon sandwich, while the deckhouse, mast, and rigging are carbon. It has an electro-implemented retractable T-bulb centreboard from 4.50 to 2.80 meters and a sail area (mainsail + jib) of 259 square meters.

We manage to make up positions and, after a brief duel with Freetime 6, Alessandro Asti’s Solaris 64 (which, despite having a family crew and children on board, defends its position with grit and determination), we find ourselves rounding the windward mark in mid-table.

ICE 70 GC. We keep out of the way so as not to stop

It is still not possible to hoist the Code 0 and we head for the second buoy, about 2.5 miles away, with the jib. Turning back we keep off the coast, the boats that tuck in too close to the Portofino headland get stuck, no wind. The wind has dropped further, there are a few holes below the coast, and even we struggle to bring down without rolling the code 0. In the end, we finish in fourth position after 3 hours and 26 minutes of racing. Mission fun: accomplished.

The “catwalk” of the ICE Cup

Upon return on Saturday afternoon, it is award time for the ICE shipyard hulls. Adriano Calvini’s Itacentodue is given the award for fastest, Giannetto Bini’s Cleo the award for most relaxed, Felice Egidi’s No Regret the coolest, and finally, we at Storm of London are given the award for most elegant. Special mention to Jean Manuel Eric Cananzi’s NonnoVeloce, who receives life jackets donated by Osculati.

Itacentodue and Sensei win Spring Regattas 2023

On Sunday, the last day of racing, the wind failed to show up at the starting line, not allowing the Race Committee to run the last race. After several attempts to position the course and a long wait at sea, the boats returned to port at 2 p.m., thus going on to confirm the provisional results of Saturday’s second day. Spring champions are thus confirmed to be Adriano Calvini’s ICE 61 Itacentodue in the IRC class and Jean Sebastien Decaux’s Wally 94 Sensei among the Open classes.

These are the top 3 finishers in the two categories:

IRC

1. Itacentodue by Adriano Calvini – ICE 61
2. Blue Oyster by Luca Scoppa – Dehler 60
3. Mistral Gagnant by Marco Ferrero – Solaris 50

Open

1. Sensei by Sebastien Decaux – Wally 94
2. Kauris II by Giovanni Arvedi – Wally 78
3. Pure Madness by Vittorio Ammutinato – ICE 60

James Barbaro