Loro Piana’s MARY J Wins Monaco Act V!

CARPE DIEM Wins Sportsboat Series
(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- The 5th and final Act of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series for the J/70s ended on Sunday after three days and six races, with Italian Giacomo Loro Piana’s MARY J from YC Costa Smeralda taking top honours ahead of Filippo Pacinotti’s Italian crew on PENSAVO PEGGIO and the Nicolas Groux’s Swiss team on APROTEC in third. The outcome of this last event was notable in that three “newbies” in the regatta series took the top three spots on the podium and there were six different winners in six races-  that has never happened before in any J/70 regatta worldwide and is evidenced that new teams are getting up the learning curve rapidly on the fun, easy-to-sail speedster.

Held once a month from October to March, an initiative of Valentin Zavadnikov (SYNERGY), the regattas give amateur and professional teams an opportunity to establish their winter training base in Monaco to prepare for the summer’s big meetings.

The win for Loro Piana was an exciting one as they were trading the lead back and forth over the first five races with Pacinotti, just three points separating them after four races.  However, a fifth race 2nd for Loro Piana over Pacinotti’s 3rd place virtually assured the MARY J crew of the overall win with just one race to go.  In fact, the final race proved to be Loro Piana’s toss race, counting a 5-1-9-3-2 for 20 pts net.  The PENSAVO PEGGIO crew posted a 1-3-9-3-6 record to take the silver.  Groux’s APROTEC from Switzerland took the bronze based on their record of 3-10-11-1-4 for 29 pts.

Rounding out the top five for the regatta was Ludovico Fasitelli’s ARROW-JUNDA with 31 pts in fourth and Jacopo Carrain’s CARPE DIEM in fifth place with 35 pts.  The British teams showed up in force for this final regatta, with three teams all finishing in the top ten- Geoff Carveth’s GILL RACE TEAM- JOYRIDE in 7th, Charlie Esse’s BABY J in 9th and Charles Thompson’s BRUTUS in 10th place.  The top German team was Jorg Saeger’s JUKEBOX in 13th, part of a contingent of seven German teams preparing for their famously competitive Deutsche Segel-Bundesliga.

CARPE DIEM Monaco Winter Series Champion
After 23 races for the 2015-2016 edition, which saw a total of 64 teams competing, the President of the Monaco Class Association, Jacopo Carrain (CARPE DIEM) retained his title in coming top of the overall ranking. Hard on his heels just half a point behind was the British boat led by Sam Carter (BRUTUS) and in 3rd place Monegasque Stefano Roberti (PICCININNA). “The level was very high,” commented the winner, “and it was great to see the Monegasque fleet of 18 boats, which has made such progress, with seven boats in the top ten this season at the end of five Acts. It really bodes well for the next challenge, the Italian J/70 Championship that starts in the Principality 1st to 3rd April before San Remo. It’s a great opportunity to prepare for the Europeans in Kiel as there are six teams from the Yacht Club de Monaco planning to make the trip.”  For more Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series sailing information