Day 2 mixes up Swan 45 Worlds Leaderboard

10 September 2008

Day two of the Rolex Swan Cup was saw the sprightly Swan 45s tackle two four-leg windward/leewards of 8 & 7.2 nm.

Christian Nagel and Hendrik Brandis’ Earlybird (GER) may be top tonight, but by a significantly reduced margin as first Marco Salvi’s Vertigo (ITA) took the finish gun, followed by Carlo Perone’s Atlantica Racing (ITA) in the second race. Elsewhere, Andrea Masi’s Ulika (ITA) scored 2, 4 to close to within one point of the Germans. A disappointing ninth for Vertigo in the second race, leaves Salvi and tactician Vasco Vascotto back in third nine points off the lead.. Not as bad as 2007 Swan 45 World Champion, Plenty (USA). Alex Roepers crew has failed to find the magic of last year, and presently lie in twelfth. 2006 Rolex Swan Cup winner, Danilo Salsi and DSK Comifin, are equally failing to hit the high notes and are one place further back.

In eighth place is the Japanese Swan 45 Yasha, owned by Yukihiro Ishida. His tactician for the week is Tony Rey, America’s Cup sailor and coach to the American Olympic Sailing team. In the first race today Yasha posted a third, “they were close, tight races today. We had the goal to get two good starts and we had two great starts, but we only convert it into one good finish. We were thrilled about the first result. In the second race we had a great start and sometimes the hardest thing to overcome is a good start! I managed get us back in the fleet again. It’s tough in the Swan 45 fleet these days. Everyone is good.”

According to Rey, Ishida does not have much English at his command. Is this a problem communicating? Rey says not, “I’ve been with the team since 2006. Mr Ishita doesn’t speak much English, just a few words, and that’s a quite an adventure coming into close situations! We’ve had to figure out some creative ways to get around it. We do have two other Japanese on the team. Takumi Nakamura is a young upcoming matchracer, one of the top matchracers in Japan. Kazuhiku Safuku, known as Fuku, is one of the best bowmen in the world. He’s done three AC. Having those two onboard is just like a rock onboard, they are solid, dependable, fantastic, plus they can translate in the odd moments when its really necessary.”

The Rolex Swan Cup is renowned for its social programme and this edition is no exception. Today a lunch was organised for non-racing spouses and tonight the Swan 45 Class Owners have a dinner at Safina Restaurant at the Pevero Golf Club.