James Spithill and his crew Joey Newton, Ben Durham and Andy Fethers have survived fresh winds, big waves and a broken rudder to defeat Italian champion Paulo Cia(Mascalzone Latino Challenge) in a dramatic best of five final in the US$50,000 BluRimini "Alfa Romeo" International Match Race in Italy.
Spithill's team, representing the Seattle USA based OneWorld Challenge, were undefeated in the round robin and semi-finals rounds. Kelvin Harrap (USA, Oneworld) beat Murray Jones (Swiss Challenge) 2-0 in the petit final. Prada's Francesco DeAngelis was fifth.