The boats actually gave one of our party members some great ideas, we could see these yachts all out in the bay and wondered why they always seemed to be so close even when racing.

It was opined that the idea of a competition to an Italian crew would be to see how much smarter your boat, ropes, gear, footwear, clothes, tan, and name were before any serious racing could take place.

Hence the proximity, to examine all of these you need to close to the competition.

We all went down to Genoa and then upt to a monastery near Portofino for the "Think Tank" weekend. This was a roaring success and included a couple of trips around the bay in the local boats.

Plenty of which are moared in the harbour at St Margertte, needless to say the Italian boats have style more than speed.