International Maxi Association European Championship in Sorrento - Day 2
by James Boyd / International Maxi Association 21 May 08:05 UTC
16-22 May 2025
Full fleet start for today's coastal race - 2025 IMA European Championship © IMA / Studio Borlenghi
The second coastal course of the IMA Maxi European Championship in Sorrento, Italy was an action-packed affair, taking the maxis on a complex course visiting local hotspots including the Amalfi Coast and lapping Capri. With a highly volatile meteo situation, the race was fascinating, also one where some of the smaller maxis managed to take some of the top places in the overall results.
The tone was set from the outset when a shift at the start launched Pascale Decaux's PalmaVela-winning Wallycento Tilakkhana II into first at the weather mark off Sorrento. Sadly a technical issue caused her gennaker to fall out of the sky forcing her to retire with Chris Flowers and David M Leuschen's 100ft Galateia taking the lead.
Similarly Sir Peter Ogden's Jethou was OCS. Restarting, a hitch offshore after the weather mark put them in breeze as those astern closer to the coast fell into a lull. Thus the black 77 footer found herself up with Galateia and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones' new 100ft Magic Carpet E. Sadly this came to end when they trawled their kite off the Amalfi coast.
The passage down the Sorrento coast to Punta Campanella, was lively with 25+ knot bullets of wind plummeting from the cliffs, overpowering many boats, causing sheets to be dumped - "like lake sailing" as it was described.
The course then took the fleet along the Amalfi coast to a turning mark just short of the Li Galli islands before rounding the south coast of Capri, past the Faraglioni rocks and Punta Carena lighthouse then on across the Gulf of Naples to the finish line off Sorrento.
The intricacies of the race track were relentless including a lull off Punta Carena and a transition back in the Gulf of Naples when the wind filled in from the opposite direction.
The smaller boats did well, but nothing would deter Hap Fauth's 74ft Bella Mente, which has regained the lead of the IMA Maxi European Championship after claiming today's race.
This was a great result especially for tactician Terry Hutchinson, who celebrated his birthday today. "The first half was a bit frustrating, because we had a cracking start down at the pin, in the big lefty, but the breeze evaporated and went hard right. We made a good comeback. There was a big compression on the point [Punta Campanella]. Around the corner we were in a holding pattern and taking away distance, because we figured there would be one more stop-start in the corner of Capri. We wriggled our way through that pretty well, so did Proteus." At this point Peter Harrison's Jolt was out in front in the Maxi Grand Prix class, but her advantage shrunk. "We wriggled our way around, and all the boats were going from jib to masthead zero to soft sail. We took Proteus' transom, which got us over to Jolt." They finished 1 minutes 45 seconds astern of Jolt enough to beat them under corrected time.
Guido Paolo Gamucci's canting keel Mylius 60 Cippa Lippa X finished second overall, albeit beating George Sakellaris' 72ft Proteus by just one second. In the Maxi Alpha class, she beat Jean-Pierre Barjon's Spirit of Lorina by just a minute, the Botin 65 finishing fourth overall.
"We had some luck because we had a very good gust on the other side of Capri and then coming back was all straight under the Code 0 - really fast," explained Cippa Lippa X's tactician Michele Regolo. "But we sailed a very good race through the puffs and lulls after Sorrento. Off Sorrento we went straight and stayed low with the A1 kite and kept our lane.
"It's a dream to finish second in this fleet. Our goal is to race well in our class which we are leading."
For a second day, Vincenzo Addessi's Mylius 60 Fra Diavolo won the Maxi Beta class while the 100 footers especially suffered today with Andrea Recordati's Wally 93 Bullitt claiming Maxi 100 victory, albeit a lowly eighth in the overall maxi fleet.
"We used almost everything," said Bullitt's tactician Joca Signorini of their sail changes. "The forecast was complicated and we knew there would be the chance to start with wind, but it was full-on from start to finish. The crew did an amazing job, as some of the changes weren't easy yet we didn't damage any of our sails. We're very happy with that."
Signorini reckoned that Bullitt made her biggest gains early on when the boats ahead had slowed while they came in with breeze. "From there we were always among the leaders. The breeze was lighter around Capri where we managed to take time from Galatea and Magic Carpet as they showed you the holes in the wind.
"The Maxi Class is in a great place right now with a lot of really good boats and really good teams, the racing is close and everyone is really pushing, developing the boats and crew - it's great."
Once again Riccardo Pavoncelli's Gunboat 68 Gaetana claimed first place in the multihull event. "Stuart Childerley and the race committee did a great job with the course," commented tactician Brian Thompson. "Because of the windward mark we ended up close to the rocks - in the big lulls and gusts, we were right on the limit. We had the mainsheet fully eased and the jib flapping. We had a monohull to windward so we couldn't feather up. It was really exciting!"
They massively regained their time on the leg back across the Gulf of Naples to the finish. "The beat from Capri turned into a run and then a reach."
Racing continues tomorrow with the maxis racing windward-leewards.
Maxi results from Regata dei Tre Golfi here.
More information on the IMA European Championship here.
For more on the International Maxi Association visit www.internationalmaxiassociation.com or see the 2025 IMA Yearbook.