It was a dramatic third day in Porto Cervo – a beautiful Sardinia yacht vacation destination Costa Smeralda – for the fleet of 19 sailing superyachts competing in the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, organised by Boat International Media and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.  Thanks to a new wind from the southeast and slightly lighter conditions a new race area was chosen as the race committee sent the yachts south to the islands of Mortorio and Soffi.

Sailing yacht Unfurled peers over the island of Mortorio as the fleet undertake a new custom course Jeff Brown | Superyacht Media

The result was a gripping and tactical 30-mile course that had the fleet fighting for lanes and the safety officers battling for water as fleet compression and bottlenecks at the turning marks made for dramatic action.

The Claasen-built F Class Firefly yacht maintained her dominant run at the top of Class A, and the Southern Wind Grande Orazio scored an emphatic win at the head of Class C, but elsewhere there was a changing of the guard. In Class B, the 34m sailing yacht Unfurled came through to sneak victory just 14 seconds ahead of  superyacht Cape Arrow, while in Class A the WallyCento Magic Carpet 3 and Open Season yacht had an epic duel for second place that saw them split by just seven seconds when the corrected times were in.

The crew of Firefly yacht hold on to top spot in Class A making it three wins in three races Jeff Brown | Superyacht Media

‘It was a great day, totally different to the first two days,’ enthused Peter Holmberg, racing aboard Cape Arrow, ‘so I think all in all the sailors appreciated a new challenge with the wind from the southeast and going to a different part of Porto Cervo. We enjoyed it.’

The first beat down to Mortoriotto proved challenging, with the yachts battling to find the favoured side of the course. It was the Spirit Yachts-built Gaia supepryacht that made the most of the conditions, rounding the rocks some two minutes ahead of the competition. Then came a cluster, as Moonbird charter yacht crossed through the pack on starboard with Drumfire, Karibu, Grande Orazio and the Southern Wind yacht Whisper all crowding round together.

The fleet hoist their spinnakers for a long downwind leg to bomb alley Carlo Borlenghi | Borlenghi Studio

As the kites popped to the south of Soffi Island, the fast yachts were already starting to make good progress through the fleet, and by the time they had completed the long downwind leg to a mark at the entrance to bomb alley off Caprera, Magic Carpet 3 and Open Season – the last yachts to start – had ripped through the fleet. Magic Carpet 3 held a 1m 05s advantage, and after Open Season had started the close reach to Monaci there was another four minutes before Grande Orazio made it round the buoy. There followed another huge cluster, with sailing yachts My Song, Firefly, Moonbird, Gaia, Whisper, Selene, Ghost, Inoui, Windfall, Ganesha, Unfurled and Cape Arrow all rounding within five minutes of each other – some of them separated by only a few seconds.

Francesco de Angelis of the Loro Piana yacht My Song talks tactics Jeff Brown | Superyacht Media

‘I have a rangefinder and I talk to Gary Wiseman, our tactician,’ said Ross Field, safety officer onboard Day Three Class B winner Unfurled. ‘We just discuss situations that are arising and make sure we keep clear, so we came through the traffic quite well.’

‘You have the Pantaenius laser rangefinder where you try to monitor the distance [between yachts],’ explains Francesco de Angelis, tactician aboard My Song. ‘It’s easy when you have to deal with just one yacht but it gets complicated when there are a few “customers” around. It’s not like a car where you can touch the brake and slow down – you have to think ahead and hopefully you don’t get a big puff at the wrong moment!’

Powerful WallyCentro Magic Carpet 3 stormed the fleet to take line honours Carlo Borlenghi | Borlenghi Studio

The breeze at the bottom of the course built to around 18 knots providing perfect sailing conditions under a greying sky. The WallyCentos stretched their lead and had crossed the line as most of the fleet was rounding Monaci for the fetch home, as the breeze started to lighten once again nearer Porto Cervo.

‘It was great again, the conditions were great and there was a different wind direction today,’ smiled Mike Atkinson, boat captain of Open Season. ‘Magic Carpet is still a quicker boat than us but we sailed pretty well considering and beat them by seven seconds, so we’re delighted – super happy! They got a shift when we were going up past bomb alley and they stretched away from us. We came down with a bit more breeze and we sailed downwind pretty well.’

After a closely fought battle on the racecourse on Day Three, our thoughts turn to tomorrows fourth and final race Carlo Borlenghi | Borlenghi Studio

‘Full credit to Open Season,’ offered Edward Bell, one of the permanent crew aboard Magic Carpet 3. ‘They had gear failure on the boat yesterday and full credit to the crew, they came out last night, they did all the work they needed to do, and to get the boat back on the racecourse is absolutely amazing. They deserved a win today just for that effort alone. It’s good to have them out there and its good to be sailing with them – and good to have that competition!’

As the owners and their guests head for the legendary Sunset Party at Phi Beach this evening, all thoughts will be on tomorrow when the final day of racing gets underway. While Firefly and Grande Orazio look comfortable atop Class A and C respectively, there is still a lot to play for – just three points separate Magic Carpet 3, Ghost and Inoui in Class A, while just one point separates Selene and Karibu – second and third respectively in Class C.

The title in the XII SWS Trophy is still all to play for Carlo Borlenghi | Borlenghi Studio

Class B is likely to be the hardest fought. Moonbird’s third place today after two wins means that it is anyone’s game – she is just one point ahead of Unfurled, who is just one point ahead of Cape Arrow…

‘We’ve had some great racing against Unfurled,’ concluded Peter Holmberg. ‘I think every race has been within 20 seconds. They have an advantage going in to tomorrow – it’s been great racing, and hats off to them as they did a great job today.’

In the Southern Wind Trophy, Grande Orazio holds a slender one point lead over Cape Arrow, with Windfall currently lying in third place.

The final day of racing resumes on Saturday with the start scheduled for 1200.