59 yachts set out last night for the first act of the Rolex Giraglia

The Rolex Giraglia 70 has officially begun with the quays of Sanremo crowded with crews who, after the briefing, dinner and fireworks, last night left the Riviera dei Fiori at midnight for the race of about 60 miles that marks the first act of edition number 70. The Sanremo fleet is made up of crews from 12 different nations with several contenders for victory in the first race, including the big Camiranga – a Soto 65 of Brazil's Eduardo Plass, which for now is a sure winner of being the yacht coming from furthest away – and which crossed the finish line at 11:26 this morning so taking line honours. 13 minutes behind was the French Ker 46 Daguet 3, just 40 seconds ahead of Adriano Calvini's Itacentodue, third in elapsed time.

"We started from Sanremo and headed offshore," says Itacentodue helmsman Mario Rabbò, "very light wind at the start but we managed to keep up a decent speed, after about three hours we turned back towards the coast where we expected to find better wind. And so it was apart from a couple of hours parked off Cannes where the smaller yachts managed to close up. After Cannes we headed for Saint-Tropez on course and with good speed."

"A splendid race, with this yacht that is very light and at ease in last night's light winds," said Elo helmsman Mauro Pelaschier at the finish with his crew of young YCI athletes, "We always sailed on course, with plenty of sail changes but luckily we managed to come unscathed through the patches of calm along the course. Anyway, arriving in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez is always a great spectacle. From tomorrow we will concentrate on the inshore races aiming aiming to fine-tune our boat and crew for Wednesday's long race.