(Scarlino, Italy)- The J/70 class continues to grow in Italy, with
increasing participation by top Italian sailing teams in this new
class. Many are planning to participate in the upcoming J/70 European Championships being sailed at Riva del Garda from September 23rd to 27th. Some teams are also considering sailing in the J/70 World Championships in Newport, RI from September 8th to 13th at New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court.
An emerging leader in the Coppa Italia J/70 Circuit is one of Italy’s top sailors- Carlo Alberini sailing his renowned CALVI NETWORK.
Carlo has sailed for years at the top of the game in the M24 and M32
classes around the world as well as sailing in the European offshore
circuits on the Mediterranean. His “Lightbay Sailing Team” are now
currently leading the Coppa Italia J/70 Circuit.This past weekend, the third event in the circuit was sailed off picturesque Scarlino, a beautiful seaside town in Tuscany. The J/70 teams enjoyed six races during the weekend sailing in the challenging waters of the Gulf of Follonica, bordered to the west by Elba Island, to the north by the headlands of Piombino and to the south Punta Ala.
On the first day of sailing, Carlo and crew aboard CALVI NETWORK sailed “lights out”, taking three bullets and managing to keep themselves out of trouble. With the wind from the South up to 20 kts with short waves and irregular chop, sailing upwind took some skill to navigate the seas, rewarding those who had fine-tuned their sail-trimming skills. Downwind was full-on planing-mode, extremely exciting and fast downwind with gennakers flying.
While
CALVI NETWORK enjoyed their evening with newfound J/70 friends, it was
clear some of them were listening to “go-fast” tips on sailing their
boats. As a result, there were three different winners on the second
day of sailing- PENSAVO ITA-262 (1-5-5) sailed by Beppe Zavanone; MAGIE
ITA-455 (3-1-4) skippered by Gianluca Grisoli; and ITA-570 (7-4-1) led
by helm Andrea Zaoli. Hanging on tough was CALVI NETWORK, sailing to a
2-3-2 to clinch the regatta and the overall lead for the Coppa Italia
circuit; their team was comprised of Carlo (owner-driver ), the
Slovenian Olympic sailor Karlo Hmeljiak (tactics), Irene Bezzi (mainsail
trimmer) and Sergio Blosi (trimmer). Just behind them in the standings
were PENSAVO in 2nd, MAGIE in 3rd, SPIN ONE with skipper Peter
Saccomanni in 4th and Zaoli’s team in 5th.The next stage of the Italian Cup will be staged again in the waters off Scarlino between May 31 and June 2. Thereafter, the last two events are both being sailed at Riva del Garda- the first one on 26-27 July and the last one from 23-27 September for the J/70 European Championships.
For more Italian J/70 sailing information, please contact Paolo Boido at J/Boats Italy- email- jboats@jboats.it or mobile# +39-335-688-5005.
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