With a win on the final day of the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in collaboration with title sponsor Giorgio Armani, YCCS member Juan Ball’s Swan 115 Moat claimed overall victory, two points ahead of the RP-Nauta 100 Morgana.

The east-southeasterly wind blowing between 12 and 15 knots, with gusts in excess of 20 knots, allowed both the Superyacht and Southern Wind Rendezvous divisions to comfortably complete the course set by the Race Committee: a counter-clockwise circumnavigation of the islands of Caprera and La Maddalena, returning to Porto Cervo via the La Maddalena channel and the Passo delle Bisce strait, for a total of approximately 26 miles. For yachts competing in the Southern Wind Rendezvous, the course was prudently shortened at the Secca di Tre Monti mark to avoid exposing crews to upwind waves in the last few miles before the finish.

The Superyachts set off on schedule with a reaching start at 11.30 a.m., followed by the boats taking part in the Southern Wind Rendezvous. Morgana got off to a good start, hot on the heels of the faster Moat on the long reaching leg that took them up to the north of La Maddalena island, however on the downwind leg to the finish line, the Swan 115 pulled further away from her closest rival to win by 2 minutes 47 seconds in corrected time.

Moat’s tactician, Guillermo Parada, commented on the final race: “Today was a challenging race, with a reaching start. Shortly before the start the breeze had strengthened considerably and so we hoisted a strong-wind gennaker, but then it settled back down to 11-12 knots and changing gennaker on these boats is lengthy and challenging, at the halfway mark we were slightly behind on corrected time, so we had to work hard upwind to recover. I would like to thank the crew and the owner of Moat, who made sure we had everything we needed for a good regatta, and I’m very happy to have won with this team.”

“We are satisfied with our performance today,” affirmed the owner of Morgana, “we had variable wind conditions and we were in the game for the whole of the reaching leg, on the upwind leg we lacked something, we will work on that. Even though we didn’t win, this is the most beautiful race course in the world, our thanks go to the YCCS and Giorgio Armani for the organisation, this was our second time taking part and we plan on coming back for the next edition.”

The prize-giving ceremony took place as usual in Piazza Azzurra, in front of the YCCS, led by Giovanni Tamburi, Vice President of the YCCS Board of Directors, and Anoushka Borghesi, Global Head of Public Relations and Media at Giorgio Armani.

The Silver Jubilee Cup for the winning yacht in the Superyacht Division was presented to Moat’s owner, YCCS member Juan Ball, by Tommaso Sani, Giorgio Armani Project Manager for Special Projects.

The Southern Wind Rendezvous saw prizes awarded by Giorgio Armani’s Anoushka Borghesi and Southern Wind CCO Andrea Micheli to the SW 96 Liberty for Best Performance, the SW 105 Kiboko for Best Boat Handling and the SW 96 Nyumba for Best SW Rendezvous Spirit. Finally the Willy Persico Trophy, in memory of the yard’s founder, went to the SW 100 Padma II.

Siyanda Vato, Captain of Padma II explained: “We are very fortunate to have joined the rest of the fleet this year at the Southern Wind Rendezvous at the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta. We had a great time, the owners are delighted with the welcome and the event, there could not have been a better start to our cruising season. I would like to thank the Southern Wind team, who have been great in helping us with anything we needed, and I am personally very happy to be back in Porto Cervo, where I got my start as a racer, this time as a captain. It’s been amazing.”

Edoardo Recchi, YCCS Secretary General: “The Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta draws to a close today, the third edition we have organised together with title sponsor Giorgio Armani whom we thank for their support. The range of weather conditions allowed us to get the fleet out racing every day, as planned. We are pleased that the owners and crews enjoyed themselves on the water and also back on land at the exclusive social events. Our congratulations to Moat, winner of the event, and we look forward to welcoming all the participants to Porto Cervo again next year.”

To mark World Ocean Day, celebrated annually on 8 June, the ledwall in Piazza Azzurra displayed artwork by children from the local secondary schools of Arzachena and Abbiadori, created for the recent YCCS Clean Beach Day.

The next event at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda will be the J/24 European Championship for the world’s most popular one-design boat, which will officially kick off on Monday 10 June, with racing getting under way on Thursday 13 and concluding on Sunday 16 June.

by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda