(Chiavari, Italy- May 13-15)- In their usual sublime, easy-going but elegant style, the Yacht Club Chiavari hosted the J/80 Italian Championships. The fleet was blessed with nice weather, warm temperatures and nice breezes across the Mediterranean Sea. It was a closely fought regatta for the top two and perhaps an even tougher fight for third spot between three boats over the course of seven races. The first day was light offshore scirocco breeze of only 5-8 knots that died in the afternoon, permitting two races to be run. On the second day, more scirocco breezes from ESE of around 150 degrees and never more than 10 knots, but it was sufficient to get in three races. At the end of the day, it was time to return to port and happy hour at the Marquee Club, with beer, white wine, peas, salami and cheese for everyone! The third day started out with storm conditions blowing 30-35 knots from the northeast and raining, a classic winter day in Italy. The Race Committee at YCC wisely decided to postpone racing and were rewarded with a great day for sailing by midday, winds 15-25 knots from the northeast with 30 degree shifts.
Winning
this year's event was Federico Rajola sailing OLJ SPIRIT HATAMURI,
managing the win the last race of the series to post a score of
1-6-1-1-3-2-1 for 9 points (dropping a 6th). Losing out in the last
race was the regatta leader at the time, Carlo Cesaris sailing
J-VIVADO. Carlos and crew sailed a beautiful series but simply lost it
in the end, getting a 2-2-3-2-1-1-6 scoreline for 11 points (also
dropping a 6th!). Fighting it out for the bronze medal on the podium
were past winner Massimo Rama sailing his well-traveled JENIALE!, Paolo
Montednonico skippering MONTPRES and Giorgio Guzzi steering ORSO J.
Going into the last race, it was anyone's guess who would triumph in
this horse race. In short, they nearly all managed to tie each other in
a three-way tie for third! But, it was Massimo's JENIALE! that
withstood a last minute dash of his competitors to secure a third with a
scoreline of 3-5-2-3-4-4-5 for 21 points. Tied for fourth and winning
the tie-breaker was Paolo's MONTPRES with a 6-1-4-6-12-3-2 tally for 22
points. On the losing end of that stick was Giorgio's ORSO J with a
5-3-5-4-2-7-3 for 22 points. For more J/80 Italian Championship Sailing information
