October 8, 2024

Esmit Europa 2 (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Esmit Europa 2 (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)

As widely predicted, Esimit Europa 2 (SLO) made an impressive start to the 59th edition of the Giraglia Rolex Cup. At 19:00 CEST, Igor Simcic and his star-studded crew lead the pack, followed by Alegre (GBR), Jethou (GBR) and DSK Pioneer Investments (ITA) and). Esimit are currently 182.5-nautical miles from Genoa.

Arobas (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Arobas (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)

Esimit were the first yacht to pass the La Fourmigue at around 15:02 CEST, at which point Simcic confirmed that the yacht was travelling at 11.5 knots with a wind speed of 8.5 knots. The crew are predicting arrival at the Giraglia rock, the race’s legendary turning point, at between 04:00 – 07:00 CEST. The already light conditions set to become even more benign.

The staggered start times, with the small yachts going first, ensured that the racecourse was fairly bottlenecked during the early stages. Even so impressive starts were made X-Trifix (ITA), Tchin Tchin (FRA) and Javier Pujol’s Calima (ESP), the overall winners in 2009.

Fleet after start of offshore race (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Fleet after start of offshore race (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)

Alegre (GBR) were the second yacht to round La Fourmigue, and tactician Chris Main confirmed via satellite phone that the crew were on course with their pre-race expectations: “We’re very happy with how things are going, the conditions are good and will most likely favour some of the smaller boats.” Main predicted that the yacht would arrive at the Giraglia rock around 05:00 CEST.

DCNS 1000 (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
DCNS 1000 (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)

According to the tracker, the top three in terms of overall IRC handicap at 19:00 CEST were the 81-ft maxi, Sagamore (USA), Pace (GBR) a TP52, and Thierry Bouchard’s Class 40 Mistral-Loisirs (FRA).

Offshore race View (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Offshore race View (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
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