Winners of the Rolex Sway Cup 2010 are Danilo Salsi’s DSK Pioneer Investments (ITA) in the Maxi class, Peter Simon’s Monsoon Jaguar (GBR) in the Classic class, P.H.J. Bakker’s Silveren Swaen (NED) in the Grand Prix class, Enrico Scerni’s Kora 4 (ITA) in the Club Swan 42 class and Hendrik Brandis’ Earlybird (GER) in the Swan 45s.

Following a straight run of almost ten days of near-perfect sailing weather off the north-eastern coast of Sardinia, the final days of the Rolex Swan Cup 2010 proved to be a case of “feast or famine”. Only the one-design classes were able to compete on yesterday’s penultimate race day due to light to non-existent breezes while racing was abandoned due to the arrival of sustained Mistral winds of approximately 30 knots with gusts of 35 and over.

Danilo Salsi, owner of DSK, was satisfied with his team and his Frers-designed Swan 90: “This year this result for us is the result of two years of work on the boat to make it all okay – to know the boat, to increase the performance – and what we saw on the water is what we want to see. We built this boat for the long races, and we’ve done all distance races up to now. This week and last week (at Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup) are the first coastal races we’ve done. And I think that the boat is well prepared for these kind of races as well.”

Coon Verhorst, the skipper of the Dutch Swan 53 Silveren Swaen appreciated the setting as much as the racing: “It was an excellent week, we are not used to sailing in blue waters and a lot of sun wearing only Tshirts, so it was a beautiful week, we greatly enjoyed it. The boat was purchased in 2007 and this is the first time for the team and boat in the Med and Porto Cervo. We were always racing the Swan Europeans in Cowes and we race the boat in Holland as well, in various regattas.”

Highlighting the range of craft and sailors regularly attracted to the Rolex Swan Cup he continued: “We are an amateur crew, the owner helms the boat and we are basically a bunch of friends who regularly race the boat and we were lucky this time, we did a good sailing. The owner of SS has been a Swan owner since late 70’s. Competition on the water was excellent, you see a lot of pro teams, a lot of experienced sailors competing so we came prepared as well, we bought new sails and went for it.”

Peter Simon was satisfied with the introduction of a dedicated Sparkman & Stephens class this year: “It is the first time we have won here overall although we won the long race in 2006. I think this event was really good this time because we had the S&S class and it is very clear who the boats are that we are sailing against. We put quite a lot of effort into it so I think our efforts were rewarded. I think the sailing was fantastic – expect for the last 2 days of course – the courses that were set was pretty fair and challenging and it was the best sailing. It was short but sweet.”

Scerni, owner of Kora 4 is a Porto Cervo veteran and won here in the Club Swan 42 class in 2008: “We are happy, since all the crew and the people onboard worked very hard to win this race. We were lucky to win it for the second time. This spot is marvelous one of the best spots to sail. It was a perfect week, marvelous weather, wind , only one day with not too much wind. We had a very nice coastal race, we had a lot of fun. Competition is never easy, we had some good competitors, well prepared, so it was very interesting and most important thing is to have fun when you race in a place like this.

Racing in the Swan 45 class finished on Saturday 18 September and Germany’s Hendrik Brandis lifted the Rolex Swan 45 World Championship title during a prize giving for the class at the Rolex Crew Party.

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s sporting season continues with the Oyster Regatta scheduled from 21 to 25 September. Thirty boats are enrolled and racing is scheduled to commence on Wednesday 22 September.

For more, including full results, visit www.yccs.it or www.regattanews.com.

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