Nariida (NOR), the Wally 105 owned by Morten Bergesen, was the first maxi yacht to cross the finish line - at 03.06 am UTC on 7th December 2007 - in the first edition of the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. After 10 days, 14 hours, 1 minute and 48 seconds of navigation, the 15 crew members crossed the line located off Simpson Bay observed by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's Race Committee and were met by a delegation representing the St Maarten Yacht Club.

Nariida covered the 2,650 nautical mile trip from Santa Cruz in Tenerife at an average speed of 10.24 knots. The race is promoted by the International Maxi Association and organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of the Real Club Nautico de Tenerife and the Sint Maarten Yacht Club.

"It was an exciting trip", commented Bergesen on arrival in Palapa Marina this morning. "We had a lot of wind. At the start we hoped to do it in a shorter time but we had a couple of very quiet days but a lot of good wind most of the way, no real accidents no big problems. Looking at our routing I think we couldn't have done better so now we just have to wait and see what happens with the other boats. Sojana is our closest competitor and we hear rumours that they are getting more and more wind so we're following them closely on the tracking and we know exactly when she has to be here to beat us and we're just as excited as they must be."

Skipper Knut Frostad was also pleased with the real time win: "It was a great race. I was very surprised by the weather system; it was a very unusual weather system and we had a very northerly route, which is not the usual pattern. We worked very hard on our strategy, and it was right, but unfortunately for us in the end we had light winds, and the other guys behind us are going to have more wind, so we don't know if we'll be first or second on the handicap but at least we'll be one or two. The boat stayed together very well and we had a very, very good team on the boat and we had a lot of fun."

After his numerous round-the-world voyages, Frostad also appreciated the comforts that a maxi yacht affords. "Fifty percent of our crew are people who have done round-the-world races with me and they are used to very uncomfortable ways of travelling, so this was a great pleasure for us to eat some nice food and sleep in a nice bed!"

Luca Bassani, President of Wally yachts and International Maxi Association member, has been following the race closely and was delighted with Nariida's win. "Congratulations to Morten Bergesen, Knut Frostad and the whole Nariida crew from the entire team at Wally. Congratulations to this boat which we are particularly fond of and which, after 13 years, is still so competitive and so efficient. I am proud to have designed and built her and glad that she has found an owner as passionate as I am."

First mooted in 1999, the Monaco to Porto Cervo Speed record ratified by ISAF/WSSRC has been established by the Wally 105 Nariida.

Knut Frostad, skipper of the yacht, describes the successful attempt: "We had already planned for a long time to go for the Monaco to Porto Cervo record, and had planned to be standby in October to leave from Monaco. We decided to try it on Thursday, October 1st, when the races in St. Tropez were cancelled for heavy forecast. Our excellent weather router Jean Yves Bernot, based in La Rochelle, gave us the "go" signal. However the forecast indicated wind over 50 knots. The direct course from Monaco to the Bonifacio straight between Corsica and Sardinia is 157 degrees, and the low pressure system arriving on Saturday October 4th would give a westerly breeze which would have been too tight for Nariida if we had over 50 knots of wind. Therefore we made a plan with Jean Yves to leave in the weakening of the low pressure, just when the wind started turning right, to give us a more open angle although we had the risk to run out of wind in the end."

"We started just before 18:00 local time on Sunday October 5th" continues Knut "and a huge thunderstorm arrived from the north giving us an easterly wind around 20 knots at the start. With rather big swell straight against us, the first 20 miles where far from ideal and pretty tough on the boat. We then came to the transition zone and had very light and shifty conditions for approximately 15 minutes before we reached the strong westerly wind.The whole night we had an amazing navigation, with the wind constantly between 28 and 42 knots, giving us a wind angle between 125 and 145. Most of the time we had a blast reacher up front, reefed mainsail and played with the mizzen and the mizzen staysails when the wind dropped. "

"The clear sky and the moonlight made the sailing one of the best I have done." explains Frostad "The waves were between 3 and 5 meters, and our average speed was 15-17 knots topping 22 knots in the surfs. In one surf we kept 18-20 knots for a long time: it was amazing to plan down a huge wave with a 105 ft ketch weighing 70 tons!"

"On the way to Bonifacio, the wind dropped and lifted to 320 degrees" concludes Knut "and we had to gybe and sail VMG down the straight with gennaker and staysail in pretty rough sea, which made us worried that the wind would have dropped completely in the last 30 miles. But we were lucky: when we rounded the north tip of Sardinia and entered into the "Death alley" to go inside the beautiful Maddalena Archipelago islands, a nice 20-30 knot north westerly filled in and we kept 12-13 knots of speed all the way to the finish."

Well done Nariida, and congratulations to everybody onboard!

ISAF/WSSR ratification:
Monaco to Porto Cervo - 185 nm - 5/6 October 2003
Nariida - Wally monohull - 105 ft
Knut Fostad NOR - skipper
Morten Bergesen NOR - owner
15 hours 25 minutes 09 seconds
11.90 kts

Now that the record has been set, we hope that many more yachts will try to break it. The record is open to any type of monohull (it is not reserved to Wally yachts)..

On Wednesday October 20, 1999 at 22h 43min 55sec local time, Nariida set the new speed record on the course between Monaco and Saint Tropez. She covered the 45-mile course in only 3 hours, 4 minutes and 40 seconds giving an average speed of 15 knots and with the highest recorded boat speed on the GPS of 23.9 knots!

The owner was onboard together with the Norwegian skipper Knut Frostad who said after the arrival: "We had between 35 and 50 knots of wind all the way in darkness. It was definitely my most scary entrance to any bay and harbour ever, as we were doing about 15 knots with only a tiny mainsail up with about ten metres of sight and serious waves! I think we have pushed the limits of the Wallys to a new level."