BABY-J is European Corinthians Champ(Riva del Garda, Italy)- The first J/70 European Championship saw a fantastic turnout of 35 teams from 8 nations. From the competitors’ perspective, it was an exciting event and one that many were looking forward to with great anticipation. Clearly, the J/70 momentum is building rapidly in Europe and many top teams from across many other competitive international classes have jumped into the class, hoping to test their talents against the best J/70 teams from across the continent. After having led the J/70 Italian Circuit all season, Carlo Alberini and his CALVI NETWORK team just hung onto their lead going into the last day to be crowned the first J/70 European Champions. Sailing like a man possessed, Charlie Esse’s crew on BABY-J from Great Britain won the J/70 European Corinthians title with all top 12 finishes (the only boat to do so in the entire fleet!).
As
everyone had hoped for, the Fraglia Vela Riva did a magnificent job
both hosting the on-shore social festivities as well as providing
excellent racing on the famous Lago di Garda. The fleet was blessed
with a perfect first day, with three races completed in southerly winds
of 16+ knots. After the first race in 8-12 kts, the wind grew in
strength, with puffs climbing into the high teens. Coming out ahead
amongst the Brits and Slovenians were the Italians, with Alberini’s
CALVI NETWORK posting a commanding 1-2-2 for a 12 pt lead over Esse’s
BABY-J, who posted an 11-1-5. In fact, BABY-J was tied on points at the
end of day one with Mario Beraha’s Italian team on SASHA GREY Sailing
from La Spezia. A strong performance was also put in by the Slovenian
crew on TEAM CEREEF, skippered by Igor Lah with tactician Michele
Ivaldi- both leaders in the challenging RC-44 regatta circuit pioneered
by “Mr America’s Cup”- Russell Coutts. A ways behind the leaders was
the Olympic 470 bronze Medallist and J/80 World Champion Hugo Rocha of
Spain, sailing NEW TERRITORIES. His first race 20th was followed by a
7-3, good enough for fifth place overall.
For
the second day of sailing, Riva del Garda provided gorgeous weather,
sunshine and winds of 12-18 knots from the south. It was an eventful
day for some sailing teams, in particular for the former 420 European
Junior Champion and 470 Italian Champion, Simon Sivitz Kosuta- he was
forced to pull out of the competition after suffering serious damage to
his boat in the fourth race (first race of day two)! After three more
races were sailed, the fleet could now count six races with one
discard. As a result, Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK was still in the lead
after adding a 1-1-14 to his scoreline (the 14th being his discard).
Second place was now taken over by the Italian UJI team skippered by
Alessio Marinelli from Porto Civitanova, they had gradually built-up
their confidence racing J/70s to achieve a 4-3-1. Rocketing into third
place, not surprisingly, was Rocha’s NEW TERRITORIES after they posted a
7-2-2 and discarding their 20th. Still holding onto fourth place was
TEAM CEREEF. Dropping into fifth place was Esse’s BABY-J, but still
holding onto their Corinthians lead. At this stage, second in
Corinthians was Andrea Magni’s PENSAVO PEGGIO from Alassio, Italy and
third was David Atkinson’s British team on JAWBREAKER.For the first time all week, Friday dawned with light airs and it stayed that way all day. It was a beautiful “harvest fall day” on the lake, with temperatures in the 70s and 6-8 kts of breeze from the south. Closing their gap on the leaders was Rocha’s NEW TERRITORIES team, posting a sizzling 2-1 to narrow the gap to just 6 pts going into the last day. Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK added a 4-6 to their scores, clearly not liking the lighter winds as much as they enjoy the moderate to heavy breezes. Still hanging on to third was Marinelli’s UJI with a 17-4. Esse’s BABY-J posted an 8-7 to stay in fifth and retain their lead on the Corinthians.
It
was a long last day of sailing for the fleet. Racing started early in
the morning on a clear day with winds from the north, it was the fleet’s
first opportunity to race with the north wind that is usually present
in the morning on Upper Garda. The previous 9 races had all been raced
with the winds from the south (the bora). Racing started at around
8.45am after a general recall and the fleet was able to complete the
ninth and penultimate race. A stiff breeze brought out the most prepared
of the competitors who tactically played between the shore and the
center of the lake. The wind, however, soon dropped forcing the race
committee, chaired by Ennio Pogliano, to hold off further racing until
the wind changed, which it did at 12.30pm for the tenth and final race.
Carlo Alberini and his crew managed to keep their cool despite Rochas of
Spain closing in on them. After winning the morning race, Rochas had
come to within 4 points of Alberini. But, in the final race Alberini
left no doubt about the ultimate outcome of the regatta by convincingly
winning the last race. Rocha held onto second by taking a 3rd and
Marinelli secured third after getting redress for the last two races (he
got hit and holed by another boat in the 9th race). Esse’s BABY-J
sailed the third best record of the final day by posting a 2-4, securing
fourth overall and winning Corinthians by a significant margin. Fifth
was Lah’s TEAM CEREEF, the best regatta yet for this strong Slovenian
team. The balance of the Corinthians saw Atkinson’s JAWBREAKER take
second and Magni’s PENSAVO PEGGIO take third.Fraglia Vela Riva did a great job with the organization of the first J/70 European Championship, as did the J/70 Italian Class Association and the Italian Sailing Federation. Furthermore, remarkable logistics support was provided by J/Boats Italy. Finally, special thanks to sponsor Toyota, Alcatel Onetouch and GILL Sailing equipment. Sailing photo credits For more J/70 Europeans sailing information
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