The Alfa Romeo Maxi Yacht wins 4 line honours yet misses out on the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup - A promising debut of the new Alfa Romeo 3

Porto Cervo, 6 September 2008. The supermaxi Alfa Romeo of owner and skipper Neville Crichton conquered 4 Line Honours (first at the finish line) obtaining a total of 139 successes, but failed to succeed in the Racing Division of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. Alfa Romeo obtained the same score as her rival, Rambler, which won on Saturday and took the top spot given her overall score. The last day of the regatta, which was expected to be a day of spectacular competition that would have afforded the winner a net advantage, was instead cancelled due to a lack of wind.

On board the serial winner of the seas was Ben Ainslie (gold-medal winner in Beijing in the Finn class and another three gold and a silver in previous Olympic competitions), whose recent Chinese Olympic medal was not a sufficiently powerful amulet to attract the wind for this regatta.

The 2008 season of the supermaxi Alfa Romeo is in any case has already surpassed the most optimistic predictions. The list of winners is already brimming with affirmations obtained in the Pirelli, Rolex Capri Sailing Week, Big Boat Superyacht, and Giraglia Rolex Cup regattas, where Alfa Romeo further beat her own speed record in the lengthy Saint Tropez -. Scoglio della Giraglia – Genova regatta.

The next event will be the Barcolana in Trieste, featuring about 2,000 boats and already won 4 times. This year, there is expected to be heated competition with thousands of sailors and, especially, with Shosholoza, the South African America’s Cup winner that participated in the regattas in Valencia in 2007.

Like the supermaxi, even the spanking new mini maxi Alfa Romeo is proving to be a very fast boat with great potential. After just 15 days of seafaring (construction ended on August 22 in Antibes, France), Alfa Romeo succeeded in facing off with some of the world’s best boats, many of which have undergone gruelling tests by owners and crews for one or more seasons. Twice she arrived first at the finish line and overall, in corrected time, placed fourth in the classification, announcing to all her rivals that she boasts the DNA of a winning breed. The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup experience was exploited by the mini maxi Alfa Romeo 3 for collecting important information that proved useful in honing her regatta trim. Alfa Romeo 3 will make her comeback in 2009 in a calendar brimming with regattas in her attempt to follow in the wake of her now legendary elder sister.

Alfa Romeo 3 is the first regatta boat with interiors that undeniably mimic automotive design. Under the cover, the dominant colour is Alfa Romeo 8C red, the forms evoke this spectacular auto, and even the stairway that leads to the cabin is the reproduction of the famous Alfa Romeo trademark shield found on the front of all cars.

The owner and skipper, Neville Crichton, commented, “What a pity about yesterday’s mechanical problem with the canting keel that lost us the regatta, not to mention the lack of wind today that made it impossible to race. However, 2008 has been an exceptional year, full of enormous satisfactions. I can only hope that 2009 will be as generous with me, with my Alfa Romeo, and with the crew who were once again called upon to demonstrate their sailing expertise. The supermaxi continues to tack across the waters of all the regatta courses, demonstrating that she is highly competitive and surprisingly fast, the newborn Alfa Romeo 3 is growing well and quickly. Over the winter months she will be lavished with attention and receive our expert energies to prep her for any competition."

Ben Ainslie observed, “It was truly great to pass from Finn to supermaxi with their high performance characteristics. They are not only beautiful boats, but fast and powerful. I love sailing to get the best I can out of both myself and the boat I'm in, and between the maxi and on Alfa Romeo, I always rediscover this spirit that makes the competition so exciting.”

According to skipper Torben Grael, several times world and Olympic champion (2 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes), “Alfa Romeo 3 is a really fast boat, especially when the wind is behind us. Under these conditions she planes easily, allowing us to reach more than 20 knots. The Porto Cervo regattas were a very important test that gave us an opportunity to face-off with the best vessels in the world. These regattas have broken her in and enriched her. Now she is beginning to acquire a personality all her own."