(Scarlino, Tuscany, Italy)- The fourth regatta in the Coppa Italia J/70
series was just completed in the beautiful, quaint seaside town of
Scarlino, a gem in the Tuscany region of western Italy. With nine races in three fantastic days of great sailing no one could complain. In fact, it was just about perfect sailing conditions for the J/70s; the typical Westerly breezes that grace the lovely gulf blew a very steady 20-25 knots all weekend!
Warm, wonderful hospitality was provided by the Scarlino YC and hosted by Claudia Tosi. The experienced RC Chairman Ettore Armaleo provided perfect courses and excellent organization.
The Italian J/70 class is seeing a tremendous increase in the fleet’s overall competitiveness. More experienced sailing teams are starting to participate in the class and the J/70s themselves put on a great show sailing well-balanced and fast upwind and were surfing/ planing at full speed down to the leeward mark. Continuous changes in positions and close-crossings at the finishing line made for exciting sailing for everyone.
Like
they had in the previous regatta, CALVI NETWORK’s skipper Carlo
Alberini combined with Olympic caliber tactician Karlo Hemlik to take
the overall win due to very consistent scoring. Alberini's Team is still
leading the Italian J/70 National Circuit, but they had a much harder
time competing in this past weekend’s fleet— everyone is learning how to
sail J/70’s faster!Second place boat was the newly launched WHITE HAWK, sailed by owner Igor Lah and sailing with tactician Michele Ivaldi- one of Italy’s best national sailors. In fact, in a unique show of “fair play”, they reported to the RC their mistake in crossing the finish in race 8 incorrectly, consequently taking a DSQ for the race.
In third place was SPREAD, sail by Paolo Boido, J/Boats Dealer for Italy and Class Secretary of the newborn J/70 Italian Class. Helmsman Juan Pablo del Solar from Chile, sailed for his first time on a very standard, just “out-of-the-box” J/70 fresh from the factory in France!
Andrea Magni, Chairman of the new J/70 Italian Class thanked YC Scarlino and promised the J/70 class will be back in 2015- a lovely place, a great sailing location and hoping that some foreign Teams will attend as well!
The Italian J/70 Fleet will now move to Riva del Garda for 5th regatta of the series on 26/27 July, a good opportunity for Teams who want to practice on this windy Lake before the 2014 European Championship- sailed from 23rd to 27th September at Riva del Garda. For more J/70 Italian Circuit sailing information
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