J/24 Italy Winter Racing Report

(Rome, Italy)- The Italian J/24 class continued to enjoy a full-slate of racing in their on-going winter series events taking place in Cervia, Taranto, and Marina di Carrara.  Over fifty teams are competing in these various series, a wonderful turn-out for this 40th Anniversary class that has enjoyed over three decades of popularity in Italy.  Here are the latest reports from each fleet.

CERVIA
On the Mediterranean Sea, in front of the beach at Milano Marittima, sixteen crews from the Romagna J/24 fleet have now completed three regattas for their Winter Championship- the X Memorial Stefano Pirini Cup- hosted by Circolo Nautico Cervia  (www.circolonauticocervia.it ).

The day's winners for the three races were ITA 402 ARMED sailed by Marco Maccaferri, ITA 424 KISMET owned by Francesca Focardi and skippered by Dario Luciani from CN Cervia Amici della Vela, and ITA 400 CAPTAIN NEMO co-owned by co-armed by Guido Guadagni and Domenico Brighi from CV Ravennate.

As a result, of the third weekend of racing, the J/24 KISMET is still in the lead for the series. They are followed by CAPTAIN NEMO in 2nd place and in third place is ITA 382 VENTO BLUE sailed by Mauro Martelli.

The Winter Championship- X Memorial Stefano Pirini Cup is divided into two stages.  The first stage will conclude with races on Sunday, December 3. The second stage starts on February 18, 2018 and ends on March 18th.

TARANTO
Thanks to the three wins in the opening day and three more excellent races on the final weekend ITA 417 LA SUPERBA won the 2017 Cup Final, the closing leg of the J24 Trofeo Ciccolo National Circuit that took place off Taranto. The Italian Navy team sailing LA SUPERBA is skipper Ignazio Bonanno and crew of Simone Scontrino, Francesco Picaro, Francesco Linares and Alfredo Branciforte.

Taking second position was a new fleet member, ITA 427 JEBEDEE owned by Nino Soriano and skippered by Luca Gaglione from the Puglia fleet.  Included on the crew were Nino’s son Remo Soriano at the mast, Vittorio Renzi in the cockpit and Silvio Tullo at the bow- all of them are from the Circolo Nautico Sailing School.

Rounding out the podium in third place was ITA 467 CANARINO FEROCE owned by Massimo Ruggiero and skippered by Giuseppe Maglietta.

"It was an honor for us on JEBEDEE and for our fleet to be able to compete with crews like those who came to Taranto to qualify for the J/24 Worlds," commented Puglia J/24 Fleet Captain- Nino Soriano. “It was impressive to watch LA SUPERBA being at ease in the difficult sailing conditions.  It surprised us and incentivized us to practice and train more to raise our level of competition. It was a great event and very good organization!  Thank you!”

"It was a national qualifier for the J/24 Worlds with a very high level of talent. The presence of competitive teams such as JEBEDEE and CANARINO FEROCE (with tactician Paolo Montefusco) made the races very tough,” added the helmsman of LA SUPERBA, Ignazio Bonanno. “Taranto’s offshore winds made it very difficult to make the best tactical choices all the time and the conditions certainly favored the local crews.”

“The 2018 J/24 World Championship 2018 will take place from 24th to 31st August on Riva di Garda and with ten races scheduled.  The host is Fraglia Vela Riva. The Italian J/24 Class, as the regatta organizer, has the right to enter twenty-four boats, plus additional teams for a former World Champion, one for the 2017 National Champion, a female team, a youth under-25 team, and two boats selected by the organizing committee,” explained the President of the Italian J/24 Class, Pietro Diamanti.  “The worlds are limited to 80 boats.  As one of the world’s most beautiful and famous places to sail, with spectacular mountain landscapes, fabulous breezes, and the impeccable organization of Fraglia Vela Riva, we expect to fill all 80 entry slots (limited by qualifiers worldwide).”

MARINA DI CARRARA
For the opening weekend of the Autumn Cup sailed on the Golf of Poets off Marina di Carrara, five races were completed in a variety of wind conditions over a sunny Saturday and Sunday weekend.  The host RC crew from CN Marina di Carrera was pleased to run 2 races the first day and 3 very nice races on the final day.

Twelve teams headed out with great anticipation on Saturday, enjoying in particular the warm temperatures and the bright sunny day.  However, the conditions were not conducive for the regular seabreeze to build, so two races were barely completed in the dying breeze.  The day’s winners were ITA 212 JAMAICA sailed by Pietro Diamanti and ITA 449 RAZOR BILL owned by Giuseppe Simonelli and helmed by Davide Sampiero.

However, the standings changed dramatically on the second day. ITA 304 FIVE FOR FIGHTING sailed by Eugenia De Giacomo (with crew of Nicola and Matilde Pitanti, Lorenzo Cusimano and Bruna Marco) did not leave anything to chance for their erstwhile opponents, winning all three races in the sunny southwest winds of 8-10 kts.

Consequently, De Giacomo’s FIVE FOR FIGHTING team led the standings with a 3-4-1-1-1 for 6 pts net.  They are followed in second place by ITA 202 TALLY I owned by Roberta Banfo and skippered by Luca Macchiarini with a record of 4-3-2-5-2 for 11 pts net.  Sitting in third place is ITA 481 COCO sailed by Riccardo Pacini with a 2-ocs-4-2-4 for 12 pts net.

"These have been beautiful races, particularly Sunday, very fun and hard-fought," commented Pietro Diamanti. "The next and last event of our Autumn Cup 2017 is on Saturday 2 and Sunday, December 3rd."
For more Italian J/24 Winter series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.