Porto Cervo lived up to its reputation on day three of the 23rd Rolex Swan Cup, with the Mistral wind delivering exactly what fleet racing demands. Starting at 16 knots and building to 22, with gusts touching 25, the conditions separated the wheat from the chaff across nearly every class heading into tomorrow’s finale.
The Swan 128 Rajin clocked 18 knots on a broad reach as the coastal races wound up, a reminder that even the biggest boats in this fleet respond when the wind picks up. Race committees had set four different coastal courses, ranging from 26 miles for the Maxi divisions down to 16 miles for the Legacy and Pure Cruising fleets, sending competitors upwind through the Passo della Bisce strait before routing them through La Maddalena channel or around Spargi island depending on their class.
What made today remarkable wasn’t just the wind quality but how it scrambled the leaderboard. In the Swan Maxis, Freya recovered from sixth place in the opening race to string together back-to-back wins. The Swan 90 now leads by a single point over Spiip. Arobas has confirmed herself the boat to beat in the Mini-Maxi class, but only by two points from Cloudy 7, while From Now On’s pair of straight wins has pulled that division wide open.
The turnarounds elsewhere painted an even sharper picture of how tight things have become. In the Swan Cruiser Racer class, From Now On sits just one point behind Thetis after finishing seventh on day one. Mascalzone Latino XXXIII closed from four points down to just one in the Legacy ≤44′ class with a victory today. The Pure Cruising groups remain genuinely wide open, particularly in the Maxi division where Azzurro won both races two and three to draw level with Coco de Mer at the top on nine points.
Among the One Design classes, Hendrik Brandis’s Earlybird dominated the ClubSwan 50s with a double, and now leads on four points with the discard now counting. Leonardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone came back with two runner-up finishes to sit second. Pedro Vaquer Comas’s Nadir took both races in the ClubSwan 42s to edge ahead of Pez de Abril on countback.
Conditions tomorrow will offer a stark contrast. Light northeast winds of 7 to 8 knots are forecast, with first signal at noon CEST. That kind of breeze rewards boat handling and tactical precision in ways that today’s Mistral simply didn’t allow. More than 2,000 guests will gather at the Pevero Hotel this evening for the Rolex Dinner Party before crews face the final test. Prize-giving follows at 5 p.m. in Piazza Azzurra.
