Solaris Cup 2024, the charge of 102. Who was there, who won

Excellent weather conditions, good wind and a great shore party. Thanks to these ingredients, the Solaris Cup 2024 was a success. More than 100 boats entered the Porto Rotondo regatta, which ended after a two-day tussle for the lead with a final party for the owners. We tell you how it went in Sardinia.

How the first day of racing went

On the first day of racing at the tenth edition of the Solaris Cup, an event dedicated to owners of boats from the Aquileia shipyard, the weather gave us a pleasant stiff breeze that kept everyone entertained. The event started at 10:00 a.m. with the briefing at the Porto Rotondo Yacht Club, and after about half an hour we got on the boat. Engine fired up and we cast off our moorings for Mortorio Island. We were guests on Nicolò Maisto‘s Good Game, a Solaris 64 launched in 2023 with which the owner participates in numerous regattas.

The large Solaris Cup fleet was divided into three groups based on boat length: ours was grouping 0 (zero), the grouping of the largest boats, and thus the last to start. This gave us a chance to be able to practice our upwind gaits and the hoisting of the big gennaker, so that we could oil the gears and get the crew together. The clock is ticking fast between tacking and jibing, and the 5-minute siren to our departure echoes in the radios. We head to the start line and, in the general pre-start chaos, we pick up a nice cue and side that allows us to finish third at the disengagement buoy. After tacking, the gennker hoisting maneuver — I must say — was almost perfect, and this allowed us to stay in the leading positions. However, the wind dropped a bit, inexorably, and the mass of our boat paid off a bit, knocking us back a few places. We were not discouraged and managed to maintain a high pace and speed, despite the classic problems that can occur in racing.

We cross the finish line after about two hours, making a loop of the beautiful coastal route that has the boats skim pastMortorio Island, Soffi and Le Camere. Back at the berth, we immediately debriefed to figure out what went well and what we could improve for the next day of racing. When we got off the boat, the Porto Rotondo Yacht Club welcomed us to its beautiful spaces where we were able to relax and joke with the other crews. The program continued into the evening, with owners engaged in a sunset dinner at the Sporting, where the rankings for race number one were also announced.

Tussle for the lead on the second day of racing

At the end of the first day of racing, the standings displayed at the owners’ dinner said that the Solaris 55 Angela excelled in the Group B (length between 48 and 60 feet), ONE 42 Unica took the lead in Group A (36 to 48 feet), while Crazy Diamond (Solaris 60) took the lead in Group 0 of larger boats. The second and final day of racing at the Solaris Cup in Porto Rotondo did not get off to the best start, as at 06:30 a very violent thunderstorm woke up the crews and until 10:30 the rain fell hard. Cancelled the briefing and exposed the intelligence on the ground, everything was postponed for an hour. So between coffees, the crews waited until 12:00 noon before leaving their moorings and heading to the race course. A beautiful westerly wind awaits the fleet of racers, and from the committee boat the route number 2, namely the one that makes the fleet pass through the channel between Mortorio Island and Soffi, making the boats that will pass between the islands of the archipelago outside Porto Rotondo draw a kind of butterfly.

Shortly after the start, the weather also recovered to its best, giving crews almost summer sunshine and level seas. For the occasion, we were aboard the new 74-foot Luminous III, a very modern and high performance boat despite its length of more than 20 meters. At the start we start a little far from the leading group to avoid too many crossroads and not risk doing damage, but in no time we find ourselves in the middle of the leading group and round the first buoy in a very good position. The atmosphere on board is very relaxed and laid back, but not unbattling; during the crossings there is little shouting that is usually heard in racing, only greetings and exchanges of banter between crews: this is the mood throughout the weekend of the Solaris Cup. There was no shortage of hitches, as a boat ran aground on the shores of Soffi after keeping a course too close to the island. Fortunately, only a fright on board and little else, because once the boat skidded and the engine started, the bulb disengaged (not devoid of battle marks). Arriving at the finish line in front of the harbor mouth, after one last gybe, Luminous crossed the finish line and finished seventh in the provisional ranking. Back in port, we gathered some warm impressions, such as that of Stephen Ristori, owner of the Solaris 47 Sapsan, who told us that he had been waiting for this appointment all year and had signed up after only 6 minutes of receiving the call email: for nothing in the world would he miss a rendez vous such as the Emerald Coast. Lucio Carli, the owner of the oldest boat in the Bluette group, was of the same opinion and was enthusiastic about participating in the 10th edition of the event.

Solaris Cup 2024 -The final standings – The podiums

Group 0 (over 60 feet)

1. Crazy Diamond | ITA CRZD24 | Solaris 60
2. Good Game | GBR 6054L | Solaris 64
3. One Shot | MLT-6801_C | Solaris 68 JSA

Group A (36-47.99 feet)

1. One | MLT142 | One 42
2. Falabrac | FRA-36002 | Solaris 36
3. Swiss Nautic One | SUI 4211 | Solaris 42

Group B

1. Angela | ITA-17805 | Solaris 55
2. Lianne | ESP-3493_C | Solaris 58
3. Giovi | ITA-17689 | Solaris 55

Find all the rankings at this link on solarisyachts.com

by our correspondent Federico Lanfranchi