DOUBLE BULLETS FOR MAN AND ALVAROSKY

Light seabreeze allows for two inshore races on Day One of ORCi European Championship

7 July 2010: Cagliari, Sardinia – Two teams experienced in light air and optimized for performance under ORCi handicapping have jumped out to an early lead in Day One of the 2010 ORCi European Championship. Riccardo Di Bartolomeo’s Grand Soleil 42R0 MAN and Francesco Siculiana’s Grand Soleil 40RC Alvarosky have taken two first-place bullets in each of their first two races, allowing each a slim 3.5 point lead over their nearest rivals, Raffaele Archivolti’s Beneteau First 50 Saphira and Gianfranco Cioce’s Comet 38S Scricca, respectively.

“We did two races with a light Sirocco wind typical of this area,” said Tomasso Chieffi, tactician on MAN. “We did two good starts away from others. The boat is fast, so we tried to stay in clear air, away from our biggest rivals who are Verve and Saphira, boats much bigger than us.”

After a brief postponement to allow the 8-9 knot seabreeze to fill in the course area off Poetto Beach, race managers from Lega Navale Italiano Cagliari set the Race 1 course for 1.8 mile legs on a 3-lap track for Division A and a 2-lap track for Division B. This was shortened to 1.5 mile legs in Race 2 as the breeze started to waver before dying down in the late afternoon under a clear Sardinian sky.

Paolo Cian, helmsman of Saphira, admitted light air did not favor them but was pleased with the day. “Our boat is nice and powerful, but under 9 knots of wind is very difficult to sail. We would prefer more wind and flat water to better optimize our performance. So, today's results for us were very good, we are pleased, but a little worried about tomorrow's offshore race because the forecast is for even lighter wind.”

Being the top-ranked team in the standings with an owner at the helm, Alvarosky is also currently in the lead for the ORC’s Owner/Driver Trophy, new for this event.

Tomorrow racing resumes in Day Two with the start of the middle and long-distance offshore races. The middle length race is scored after turning the first mark of the long course, and the long race at the ultimate finish. Under ORC rules, this long race is intended to be 24 hours long and therefore should conclude for most boats in the early hours of Friday morning.

For more information about the 2010 ORC European Championship, visit the event website at www.orceuropeans2010.com.

About ORC

The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) is the world’s largest and most transparent measurement-based rating system, this year issuing more than 8,000 certificates worldwide. It remains as the only ISAF-sanctioned system to host an annual offshore ORCi World Championship, which this year will be held over 5-11 September in Flensburg, Germany.

For more information, visit ORC’s website at www.orc.org.

Top five results after two races, Division A:

1. MAN GS 42R0 Riccardo di Bartolomeo .75 .75 1.5 points

2. Saphira First 50 Raffaele Archivolti 2 3 5

3. Verve-Dahlia TV Comet 50 Maurizio Biscardi 6 2 8

4. Nautilus Wave NM 43 Valente-Stillitano-Bernardo 3 5 8

5. QQ7 Farr 53 Maffini/Lazzerini – Hidroservice 7 4 11

Top five results after two races, Division B:

1. Alvarosky GS 40RC Francesco Siculiana .75 .75 1.5 points

2. Scricca Comet 38S Gianfranco Cioce 2 3 5

3. Rewind X-37 Claudio Paesani 4 4 8

4. Coconut M37 Francesco Sodini 9 2 11