Light winds brought tactics to the fore and led to some surprises in the 2023 edition of the Regate di Primavera off Portofino – even among the winning crew.
Held from 5 May to 7 May, this was the third edition of the historic regatta, which was revived in 2021 after a hiatus of 41 years to celebrate the re-opening of the Splendido Mare, a Belmond Hotel in the beautiful and renowned yachting destination.
On the first day of racing, crews, fortified by traditional Ligurian fare the night before courtesy of the Santa Margherita Ligure municipality, set off for the line in very light conditions with 6-8 knots from the southeast and a flat sea. In the IRC category, Adriano Calvini’s ICE 61 Itacentodue – always very fast in a light breeze – finished the 12-nautical-mile course in 02h21m12s, a good 13 minutes ahead of Luca Scoppa's Dehler 60 Blue Oyster with Roberto Ferrarese as tactician, while Antonio Bavasso's Solaris 47 Anouk, with Olympic gold medalists Simone Ferrarese and Martine Grael on board, took third.
“We were lucky to race in a nice southerly breeze that allowed us to coast,” said Lorenzo Donati, a former Yacht Club Italiano Olympic class sailor who was on Itacentodue. “We started with 6 knots, favouring the right-hand edge as we were expecting a rotation. We had a great start above everyone, and from then on, we managed to keep the boat on a very fast pace and to race, staying in the lead, trying to mark the fleet. The tactical choices allowed us to get an unexpected result, being a smaller boat than others, and we surprised ourselves by coming first even in elapsed time."
In the Open yachts category, with the light winds favouring the bigger boats, Sebastien Decaux's Wally 94 Sensei was victor of the eight-nautical-mile– Splendido Mare Cupnk course, finishing ahead of Giovanni Arvedi's Wally 78 Kauris II and the ICE 70 Storm of London.
Light winds again on day two of around 6kt from the south once more helped Itacentodue win her class on corrected time, although Roberto Lacorte's flying foiler Flying Nikka crossed the line first (sadly only in displacement mode, as winds weren’t quite enough to get her foiling). Another excellent performance by Blue Oyster earned her second place, while Marco Ferrero's Solaris 50 Mistral Gagnant took third.
For the Open Class, Sensei stood out once again, fighting head-to-head with the other Wally, Kauris II, right up to the last lap.
Unfortunately, winds were too light to allow racing on the final day, and the Race Committee called off the last race. And there was little doubt over who the confirmed winners in each class would be: Itacentodue in the IRC and Sensei in the Open boats.
In IRC, Blue Oyster took second spot, followed by Mistral Gagnant, and in the Open class, Kauris II was declared second, and Vittorio Ammutinato's ICE 60 Pura Follia took the remaining podium spot.
Shoreside, participants were hosted on the first night of racing by the Municipality of Portofino at a crew party for 300 guests on the quay, covered, as was the regatta, by Italian TV channel Primocanale, followed by a dinner at Molo Umberto I. The second afternoon saw a prize-giving ceremony for the ICE Cup 2023 – a trophy for ICE Yachts’ competitors – and an evening arranged by regatta partners Banca Passadore and Belmond Splendido Mare, with a cocktail reception and owners’ dinner at the hotel’s waterfront DaV Mare restaurant.
Gerolamo Bianchi, president of race organisers the Yacht Club Italiano, led the thanks and celebrations at the final prize-giving ceremony, which was also attended by local dignitaries including MP Ilaria Cavo.