At the 2008 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, three out of the four trophies, along with steel and gold Rolex YachtMaster Chronometers, were awarded to American teams. A Briton grabbed the last prize in a division dominated by Europeans.

In the two-boat Racing Division, George David’s Rambler (USA) secured the victory by virtue of winning the race the day before it ended. Both Rambler and Alfa Romeo of New Zealand were tied on 6 points, having won two races. Neville Crichton’s luck, however, ran out when his yacht had a technical glitch during the last race of the series.

George David’s RAMBLER, overall winner in the Racing Division (Photo credit: Rolex/Kurt Arrigo)

Ranger of RSV Ltd. (USA) beat Hetairos and Velsheda on its way to bag the top award in the Cruising Division. Hetairos is owned by Rockport Limited of Germany while Velsheda is owned by Briton Tarbat Inv. Ltd.

RANGER, overall winner in the Cruising Division, followed closely by VELSHEDA, 3rd overall (Photo credit: Rolex/Daniel Forster)

The Mini Maxi Division was dominated by the Americans. Numbers of Meyers/Bertarelli outraced 17 other vessels including Roger Sturgeon’s Rosebud/Team DYT, which landed in second place, and Jim Swartz’s Moneypenny, which placed third.

NUMBERS, overall winner of the Mini Maxi Division (Photo credit: Rolex/Daniel Forster)

Magic Carpet 2 owned by Lindsay Owen-Jones of Great Britain won the top prize in the Wally Division. Second place was secured by Highland Fling X, owned by Briton Irvine Laidlaw. The third placer was Open Season, owned by Thomas Bscher of Germany.

Mr. Owen-Jones takes his third win at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. He attributes part of his success to having women in his crew. “It really does help tremendously having women in the crew. It keeps a better level of courtesy and quiet; the boys are just a little bit more restrained. Girls are also just a bit more careful about not breaking things. Boys do tend to just go on pushing buttons until something goes bang, and the girls tend to look up when they hear things grinding to see why and before it breaks!”

Lindsay Owen Jones’ MAGIC CARPET 2, overall winner in the Wally Division (Photo credit: Rolex/Daniel Forster)

The 19th Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup was held at Porto Cervo, Sardinia in Italy from September 1-6, 2008. The regatta was organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in cooperation with the International Maxi Association.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Rolex Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.