(Malcesine, Lago di Garda, Italy)- It was an exciting weekend of sailing
on Lake Garda, where the second event of the ALCATEL J/70 CUP series
took place along the eastern shores of the picturesque town of
Malcesine. The “wind machine”, known as the northern parts of the lake,
never ceased to amaze the visiting sailors that had not experienced the
regular mountain-based “adabatic” winds. By midday, the wind would
fill in like clockwork and provide sailors with nice southerly winds of
10-15 kts of wind, or more. Sixty-eight boats from sixteen countries worldwide (Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cayman Islands, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, & Turkey); of that twenty-six were sailing in the Corinthians division.
For the second time in a row, the victory went to Carlo Alberini’s CALVI NETWORK, scoring four bullets in eight races to win by an easy 17 pts. Alberini’s crew included Branko Brcin calling tactics, Karlo Hmeljak at main and Sergio Blosi in the double role of trimmer and skipper. CALVI NETWORK was also the winner of the Alpen Cup prize, awarded to the crew that scored the best result over the eight races without discard.
The two bullets scored in the last day by Marco Salvi's VERTIGO enabled the British crew (with Victor Diaz calling tactics) to take the silver. Securing third on a tie-breaker at 55 pts each was Krzysztof Krempec’s Polish team on MAG EWA (with Croatian tactician Tomislav Basic) over Franco Solerio’s Italian crew on L’ELAGAIN (the winner of the 2105 & 2016 editions of the ALCATEL J/70 CUP). Rounding out the top five was a past Farr 40 World Champion- Alberto Rossi’s Italian crew on ENFANT TERRIBLE.
The
Corinthian fleet, composed of 26 crews representing eight nations,
turned out to be very competitive and in many cases were able to keep up
with the professionals, with crews that in many races gained placements
within the top-five of the overall ranking. The Corinthians victory
went to Gianfranco Noè's WHITE HAWK, which had already earned some
success this season, finishing second the Adriatic Cup and winning the
first event of ALCATEL J/70 CUP in Sanremo in the Corinthian division.
Second place went to Andrea Magni’s PENSAVO PEGGIO (with Marco Laurino
on tactics) and taking the bronze was Alessandro Zampori’s MAGIE DAS
SAILING TEAM.The top three woman skippers in Malcesine were Italian Claudia Rossi’s PETITE TERRIBLE, followed by Russia’s Valeria Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE.COM, and Swiss Mara Bezel’s EMMA.
Every day after racing, aperitifs were offered by Aperol Spritz and Kitchen Aid, welcoming crews when they got back on dock. Many sailors also took advantage of exciting test drives with professional Alfa Romeo drivers. As in the best tradition of ALCATEL J/70 CUP, a raffle awarded prizes by Alcatel, Fitbit and Gill (official clothing supplier), so no crew went home empty-handed. The road-tour offered by “OhhItaly” to the best foreign crew in the overall ranking went to the Polish crew of MAG EWA.
The J/70 fleet remains on Lake Garda, where the third event of ALCATEL J/70 CUP is scheduled for June 20th to 23rd in Riva del Garda at the northern end of the lake- one of the world’s most famous sailing venues. Follow the Italian J/70 class on Facebook here For more Italian J/70 class sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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