Last Day Revenge for Alfa Romeo

Last Day Revenge for Alfa Romeo

Kiwi super maxi Alfa Romeo defeated her Australian arch-nemesis, Wild Oats, in the final race of the Superyacht Cup, but it wasn’t enough to enable Neville Crichton to beat Bob Oatley in the three race series, with Wild Oats taking the regatta 2-1.

In race one on Sunday (17 June 2007) Wild Oats IX and Alfa Romeo were, as the fast yachts, the last to start in the handicap event some 55 minutes after Maltese Falcon and soon made rapid progress through the fleet by tacking up the middle of the Bay. Wild Oats was second round the windward mark with a comfortable nine minute lead over Alfa Romeo and sprinted through the fleet to take line honours overall and a win in Division 2. Alfa Romeo closed to less than a minute at the finish to take second place in Division 2 with the 36.5m (120ft) Wally Y3K third place.

On Monday (18 June 2007) in the second race, Alfa Romeo quickly took the lead over Wild Oats, until the wind faded to almost nothing. Neville Crichton decided to go in search of new winds while Wild Oats held her nerve and her course. Alfa Romeo ground to windless halt and Wild Oats found enough wind to ease into the lead and win the race, but not before a scare right at the finish when the wind suddenly rose to almost 20 knots, ripping apart their light wind sails.

In the final race, the New Zealand Millennium Cup on Tuesday (19 June 2007) Alfa Romeo sprinted around the course, at times reaching speeds in excess of 18 knots, in just one hour and 38 minutes, two and half minutes faster than near sistership Wild Oats IX meaning that over the three days the results stand at two to one in favour of Wild Oats.

After two regattas racing against each, the Trans Tasman score in the battle between Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats now stands at one all, with Alfa Romeo taking the Giraglia Rolex Cup.

ENDS

Text and high resolution pictures: www.alfaromeo.com.au/maxiyacht

© Scoop Media