St. Tropez makes the ideal setting for the second coastal race, of the Giraglia Rolex Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Italiano…

Idea owned by Raffaele Raiola, with Paolo Semeraro at the helm engaged a head to head battle with My Song owned by the king of cachemire Pigi Loro Piana, with Lorenzo Bressani as helmsman.

The two Maxi boats pulled away the rest of the fleet (120 boats take part in the coastal races, and 193 will participate in the long regatta of thursday), followed by Bugia Bianca owned by Massimo Dentice with famous Italian skipper Vasco Vascotto at the helm and by Virtuelle of the Italian publisher Carlo Perrone with Thierry Peponnet as helmsman.

In the fist hours of the afternoon the wind started to grow more intense: first to cross the finish line was Raffaele Raiola’s Idea, followed by My Song.

The overall winner in compensated time is again Sottovoce, owned by Arien Van Vemde, second La Forza del Destino, the new Swan 45 owned by Aldo Fozzati, third Bugia Bianca, Swan 70 owned by Massimo Dentice, fourth the French boat Sagarmatha owned by Michel Tiberini, fifth Carlo Perrone’s Virtuelle.

At the end of the regatta, as every day, all the participants crowded the S.Pellegrino stand for the traditional pasta party offered by the giant of mineral water.

More boats are still arriving in St. Tropez, to take part in the long regatta (243 miles) that will get under way on the morning of Thursday 20 june. Everybody was stunned by the beauty of Lelantina, classical boat built in the Thirties, that will sail together with the fleet of the classical boats together with Samurai, Gitana VI, Amadeus, Bembow (which held the record of Giraglia for 15 years) and Nina VIII (that won the Giraglia regatta in 1974).

Giraglia Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Italiano in collaboration with the Yacht Club de France and the Societè Nautique de St. Tropez in partnership with Rolex has attracted in the French town all the word of international sailing.

Famous champions of Italian sailing such as Lorenzo Bressani, Mauro Pelaschier, Paolo Semeraro, Enrico Passoni, Roberto Ferrarese, Enrico Chieffi, Vasco Vascotto, Nicola and Ciccio Celon and Gabriele Benussi, together with French stars of sailing: Thierry Peponnet on Virtuelle, Marc Pajot on Magic Simca, Roland Jourdain (winner of the oceanic Regata Rubicon held in last may) with Open 60 Sill Plein Fruit and Jean Pierre Dick skipper of Open 60 Virbac.

Many VIP’s too arrived in St. Tropez this morning, such as famous English psycoanalist Richard Wolman, owner of the classical boat Windrift, Margareth Quandt, major shareholder of BMW, famous Audi car designer Walter de Silva and Giulia Ligresti, daughter of Salvatore Ligresti. In the meanwhile everything is ready for the huge party organized by Rolex at La Citadelle, scheduled for tomorrow evening, with more of 2000 guests attending.