Reichel/Pugh
And Rolex: Three Big Wins In Two Big Events
From
San Francisco to Sardinia, designs from Reichel/Pugh
score class victories in St. Francis Big Boat
Series presented by Rolex and Maxi Yacht Rolex
Cup
San
Diego, California – In two of the world’s
most prestigious inshore regattas, designs from
Reichel/Pugh have scored three impressive class
wins earned in competition held over this past
week in Sardinia and San Francisco. These victories
lengthen a long list of both overall and class
wins earned this year by R/P designs entered in
events held in Australia, France, Italy, England,
and the USA.
At
the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup held last week over 8-13
September in Porto Cervo, Raffaele Raiola’s
R/P 78 “Idea SAI” has won the IMS
Class on scores of (3)-2-1-1-1 in the one throwout
series, while Neville Crichton’s R/P 90
“Alfa Romeo” dominated the IRC Class
on scores of (3)-1-1-1-1. The event featured 34
entries ranging in length from 20 to 60 meters
and hailing from over a dozen countries. Conditions
for the week ranged from light and drifting to
brisk 25-knot Mistral conditions, with courses
set among the rocky islets of Sardinia’s
beautiful Costa Smeralda. “Idea SAI”
is a lightweight fast IMS boat of 20 tons overall
displacement which was launched in 2001 by Andrea
Latina in Rome, with project management provided
by Nauta Yachts of Milan. “Alfa Romeo”
is a high-speed, water-ballasted, first-to-finish
yacht launched by McConaghy, of Sydney in 2002.
Meanwhile,
halfway across the world in San Francisco Bay,
Roger Sturgeon’s “Rosebud” Reichel
Pugh’s first Transpac 52 design, has won
Americap Class A in the St. Francis Yacht Club’s
Big Boat Series presented by Rolex. “Rosebud”
took an early lead to prevail in a class, which
included five of the highly competitive Transpac
52’s. The Transpac 52 class is emerging
as one of offshore sailing’s important classes.
Rosebud was launched last year by Westerly Yachts
of Costa Mesa and hails from Santa Cruz, Ca. “Rosebud’s”
win caps a successful season following class wins
at Key West Race Week, the SORC and in the fresh
water classic, the Chicago –Mackinac Race.
“We
wish hearty congratulations to the owners and
crews of these fine yachts,” said John Reichel,
Vice President of Reichel/Pugh. “We’re
pleased to see a diversity of our designs enjoying
success over such a great variety of venues, conditions,
and rating rules.”
Besides
these inshore victories, Reichel/Pugh designs
have all but dominated the 2003 offshore racing
season, scoring elapsed and corrected time fleet
victories in the world’s premier races.
These include the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race 2002
(“Alfa Romeo” on elapsed time), the
Cape Town to Rio Race 2003 (“Morning Glory”
80’ on elapsed time), the Miami to Montego
Bay Race 2003 (“Zephyrus V”, the maxZ86,
setting a new elapsed time record) the Newport
to Ensenada Race 2003 (Roy Disney’s 76’
“Pyewacket” smashed the elapsed time
record), the Daimler Chrysler 3600 nautical mile
North Atlantic Challenge (Skip Sheldon’s
R/P 66 cruiser / racer “Zaraffa” with
fleet corrected time wins in both IMS and IRC),
the Admiral’s Cup (“Wild Oats”
the revolutionary Australian 60’ CBTF yacht
was top scoring yacht), the Rolex Fastnet Race
(“Alfa Romeo” on elapsed time and
R/P 76 “Nokia” on corrected time),
the Giraglia Rock Race (“Alfa Romeo”
on elapsed time and Alberto Roemmer’s R/P
74 “Alexia” on corrected time), the
Transpac (Philippe Kahn’s R/P 74 “Pegasus”
on elapsed time). These races vary greatly in
length and racing conditions, and have been scored
in all the prevailing handicap systems, including
IMS, IRC, IRM, AMERICAP and PHRF.
For
more information on successful projects and designs
from Reichel/Pugh, visit www.reichel-pugh.com
or contact them on +1 619 223 2299 or fax +1 619
224 1698. Jim@reichel-pugh.com
