Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta, Inoui and V lead

Today saw the third and penultimate day of racing at the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta. With wind from the south-east that built from an initial 10 knots to reach 15-16 knots, the Race Committee set both the Superyacht and Southern Wind divisions a course that took them clockwise around the islands of La Maddalena and Caprera. The course for the Southern Wind division was approximately 25 miles, while the Superyachts covered a longer course of approximately 36 miles. While the Southern Wind fleet headed under gennaker towards the Bisce pass and then completed the circumnavigation of La Maddalena and Caprera, the Superyachts first rounded the islet of Monaci and sailed to the Tre Monti shallows, before going on to round the archipelago, leaving the island of Spargi and the Barrettinelli lighthouse to starboard, and heading on a run along the coasts of La Maddalena and Caprera before reaching the finish line off Porto Cervo.

Both divisions had staggered starts, which got underway for the Southern Wind division at 11 a.m., followed at 12 noon by the starting sequence for the Superyacht division. 

The friendly spirit of the Southern Wind Rendez-vous means no classification is drawn up, it can be noted, however, that the SW102 Egiwave and the SW100 Freebird were the most punctual in crossing the starting line at their allocated times.

After their start, the Superyacht fleet caught up with each other in the channel alongside La Maddalena island. Here the members of the afterguards studied the best tactics for reaching with their huge gennakers, while seeking to gain any advantage from gusts.

In the Superyacht Cruising Class, the 108 foot Inoui, owned by Switzerland's Marco Vogele, repeated yesterday's win in corrected time, with a narrow margin of 1 minute and 31 seconds - after about 3 hours and 40 minutes of racing - over the 33-metre Pattoo in second place. The Baltic 108 Win Win made a fantastic recovery in real time, but narrowly missed out in corrected time to finish in third place, 7 seconds behind Pattoo. The Combined Performance & Cruising Class today saw the WallyCento V managing to find clean air as she made her way up the fleet, gradually overtaking the other boats thanks to smart tactical choices backed up by well-executed manoeuvres from the crew. 

Pierluigi De Felice, trimmer on V explained: "With today's stable breeze we were able to push the boat to its best, the performance is impressive, especially on reaches, we are all very satisfied, especially the owner as this is his first regatta."

In terms of the overall standings, with today's victory Inoui widens her delta at the top of the Superyacht Cruising Class, where she sits on just 4 points, followed by Win Win and Pattoo respectively, both on 7 points. 

The victor in the Combined Performance & Cruising Class will instead be decided in tomorrow's final day of racing, since the provisional overall classification sees V in the lead on equal points with Inoui. Win Win holds third place, just two points behind.

The forecast for tomorrow indicates wind from the north-west of 9 to 12 knots. Like today, the first start for the Southern Wind division will be at 11 a.m., while at 12 midday it will be the turn of the Superyacht division.