Racing NewsSailing Legends Face Captains of Industry at Maxi Yacht Rolex CupIn a battle of canting keel super maxis, Neville Crichton’s 98-foot Reichel/Pugh-designed Alpha Romeo outmatched Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory and Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI to win the Racing Class at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup.The 17th annual event, held last week in Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, attracted 46 teams for a week of top notch socializing and star-studded racing. Roma, skippered by former Italian Olympian Paolo Semeraro, won the Cruising Class, beating out Ghost, a boat owned by American film producer Arne Glimcher and crewed by legendary yacht designer Halsey Herreshoff.Other division winners included Magic Carpet Squared, owned by L’Oreal chairman Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, in the Wally Class, and ABN AMRO ONE, skippered by Mike Sanderson, in the Volvo Ocean Racing Class.For more about the event, click here.Onorato Wins the Fair-Haired Farr 40sA 720 penalty and the 13th place finish it caused in the race didn’t stop Mascalzone Latino from winning the Farr 40 World Championship in Newport, R.I. on Sunday.After Mascalzone Latino’s disappointing start to the last day of racing, tactician Russell Couts and skipper Vincent Onorato reassured their team and responded by winning the last race in masterful form, leading from the start to finish. Onorato, who has won world championships the IMS and Mumm 30 classes, was overjoyed to have finally won in the Farr 40, a boat he compared to an attractive female. “The Farr 40 is the best offshore boat in the world,” said the Italian. “She’s beautiful, she’s like a nice blonde. This is the best time of my life.”John Thomson won the recently-created Corinthian Trophy, presented to the top skipper sailing with no more than two professionals onboard.For complete results from the event, click here.Texans Steals J/22 Eastern Great Lakes ChampionshipTerry Flynn and his team from Houston won the J/22 Eastern Great Lakes Championships in Buffalo, New York last July. The 40-boat event held at the Buffalo Yacht Club reflects the growth of the J/22 class in western New York, an area off the radar of many J/22 teams. Kevin Doyle, from Kenmore, N.Y., finished 2nd and Jim Barnash of Rochester New York finished 3rd.For complete results from the event, or to learn more about Buffalo’s revamped J/22 fleet, click here.Industry NewsTim Troy Finds SponsorSolveras Payment Systems, an independent payment transaction processing company in Nashville, Tenn., has signed on as the primary sponsor for Tim Troy’s Velux 5 Oceans campaign. For Troy, who just last week spoke with SW senior editor Stuart Streuli about his dire funding problems, the Solveras sponsorship couldn’t have come at a better time. “It is a dream come true for me to secure this sponsorship,” said Troy. “I have worked so hard for such a long time and I am delighted that I am going to achieve my ultimate goal. Thanks to the generous support of Solveras Payment System I have the boost I need to make the start line and be competitive.”For the latest news from Tim Troy’s SailAmericaONE, click here.BMW ORACLE Will Winter in AucklandChris Dickson and the BMW ORACLE Racing team have decided to extend their sailing season by moving their operation to Auckland, New Zealand for the coming winter. The top America’s Cup challenger will take advantage of the Southern Hemisphere summer to make its final preparations for the Louis Vuitton Cup, which starts in April 2007 in Valencia, Spain. The team maintains an office in Auckland and many aspects of the BMW ORACLE Racing technical program also are based in New Zealand, so the move is a logical choice. It also gives team members, half of whom are Kiwis, a chance to enjoy some much-needed time with their families.For the latest news from BMW ORACLE Racing, click here.
