History rewritten

Going into the days race, LeFort knew that to win his division, he had to beat Courageous and put a boat between his team and Enterprise. He did that and more, closing out Courageous at the start and going on to win the race with a buffer of three boats on Enterprise. (Enterprise and Courageous wound up second and third, respectively.)

“We were obviously pretty low after getting thrown out last night (for tacking too close to Courageous at a mark),” said LeFort after racing. “We had to get everybody focused to keep doing what we’ve been doing.” With the victory, Challenge XII counted five first-place finishes in its nine-race series.

In the Grand Prix Division, where four boats from three countries competed, Denmark’s Legacy, helmed by Thomas Andersen with Jesper Bank serving as tactician, took the World Championship title with a one-point lead over New Zealand, owned by Gunther & Maggie Buerman and co-helmed by fellow Newporter Brad Read and Lexi Gahagan. As close as it was, however, Legacy had the series pretty much wrapped. “We had to be very calm, enjoy the race and not be too hard working,” said Andersen, who counts this as his first time ever sailing a 12 Metre. “Even if we finished fourth we’d still win; we just couldn’t get disqualified or break down.”

Andersen said that Legacy, New Zealand and Kookaburra II, owned by Patrizio Bertelli and helmed by Brazil’s Torben Grael, all seemed to be the same speed. “They were very fast, and we were lucky to beat them,” he said. “We could have easily been in third place.”

Columbia, chartered by Anthony Chiurco, and helmed by owner Kevin Hegarty took the World title in the Traditional Division after winning the final race. “We only had to make sure we beat Nefertiti, but before racing we talked about whether we should cover Nefertiti or just try to win,” said Hegarty. “We voted on going for it all and getting a first-place finish.

We’re pretty psyched; we made many improvements to the boat over the winter and really prepared for this championship. It paid off.”

Even though she didn’t have to sail on the final day, Italian Patrizio Bertelli’s Vintage Division entrant Nyala took to the racecourse to post her eighth victory in nine races. “We sailed a proper race, fought hard and learned something more in today’s bigger winds and waves,” said helmsman Mauro Pelaschier. “It was great training for next week at the New York Yacht Club’s 175th Anniversary Regatta”.

The oldest 12 Metre in the regatta was Onawa, built in 1928 and sailed by a syndicate led by Jim Blanusha, Steven Gewirz, Louis Girard, Earl McMillen and Mark Watson. She finished second in the Vintage Division.

In the 12 Metre Spirit Division America II, skippered by Michael Fortenbaugh, won by one point over America II, its stable mate from the New York Harbor Sailing Foundation, skippered by Scott Curtis.

An awards ceremony, held at the International Yacht Restoration School in downtown Newport, gave sailors one last chance to enjoy each other’s company. Trophies and gifts from sponsors were awarded to top finishers in each class.

12mrworlds.com