Porto Cervo's Mistral had the final say on day two of the Range Rover Sardinia Cup. What began as a manageable 12 to 14 knot morning breeze built into a demanding 24-plus knot afternoon, exposing weaknesses in crew preparation and sorting the fleet in ways the scoreboard made plain.
Ino Veritas, sailing under the Royal Ocean Racing Club burgee, put together a 2-1 scoreline across the two races to extend its lead in the overall standings. YCCS's Django WR and Pisa's RocketNikka kept themselves in the hunt, holding second and third respectively, though the margins throughout were almost impossibly tight. Spirit of Lorina took the opening race by a single second in corrected time from Ino Veritas, and the second race was decided by just four seconds between the top two finishers.
The strengthening Mistral turned the racecourse into a factor in its own right. Downwind legs saw yachts planing in the gusts while crews wrestled with mark roundings. The left-hand side of the course, ordinarily a preferred lane for boats working closer to shore, offered far less reward than competitors had anticipated. Early tactical commitment paid off for the leaders, while those who hesitated found the second race left them with little margin to recover.
In the smaller craft division, Ran from RORC Gold delivered the day's most convincing result, combining a first and a second-place finish. Django JP from YCCS secured a 3-1 scoreline to retain second place, with RORC's Garm sitting third. Taken across both divisions, RORC's accumulated team points placed them comfortably clear of YCCS in the overall standings, with the Pisa contingent in third.
Conditions were unrelenting at times, yet the boats at the top of the leaderboard showed why they belong there. Breezy, shifting afternoons reward sharp seamanship above all else, and the leading crews had earned their standings through skill rather than fortune.
Two further windward-leeward races are scheduled to begin at noon CEST tomorrow. The Mistral is expected to ease somewhat, with forecasts pointing to 13 to 20 knots, which should make for a more settled day on the water than competitors experienced today. Once racing concludes tomorrow, the first discard of the series comes into effect, giving every crew the opportunity to shed their worst result from the tally.
