Done Italian-style with a Turkish Touch(Lavagna/ Genoa, Italy) - CHESTRESS 3 won the 1st Championship of Champions, the event dedicated to all the winners of the 37th Edition of the Winter Championship of Tigullio Gulf that had sailed across several fleets and in different types of boats. The weekend event was sponsored by TURKISH Airlines and BLUE Project.
The event was unique in that all the boats were supplied to the competitors and the crews were assigned their J/80s by drawing lots.
The
teams were greeted by a nice, steady Scirocco breeze of 8-10 kts for
the weekend. Such steady conditions allowed the regatta's PRO to
conduct the races without changing the race course! Taking advantage of
the nice weather were the CHESTRESS 3 crew, skippered by Giancarlo
Ghislanzoni. With the victories in the 2nd and 4th races and second
places in races 1 & 3, the CHESTRESS 3 crew were declared the
Champions in the Championship of Champions 2013- winning complete
round-trip airline tickets for the entire crew on TURKISH Airlines
between Genoa, Italy and Istanbul, Turkey!Following the CHESTRESS 3 team were AIA DE MA sailed by Luca Olivari in second overall, then SEA WHIPPET skippered by Vittorio d'Albertas taking third overall. Rounding out the top five were JENIALE! sailed by long-time J/80 Italy class champion Massimo Rama in 4th and CHICA sailed by Renato Mignone in 5th.
On Saturday night all the participants had a massive BBQ in a friendly atmosphere at the Club Nautico Lavagna. "All our participants have been very happy with the competition and with the J/80 - said Michele Rayneri of BLUE Project - and this is our greatest satisfaction and victory. BLUE Project's aim is to make the "Championship of Champions" an annual tradition and we hope with the support of Turkish Airlines again next year"!
Of note, the award-winning airline Turkish Airlines was voted "Best European Airline" 2011 and 2012 for "comfort, efficiency and top catering". Perhaps some of their American airline counter-parts could learn a thing or two from them!! After expressing his satisfaction with the the event, Mr Ufuk Unal, General Manager Turkish Airlines' Genoa HQ, awarded all crew members of CHESTRESS 3 with their prize- round-trip tickets Genova / Istanbul. For more Championship of Champions sailing information
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