(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- The 5th Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series of
monthly regattas from October to March ended last weekend. Organized by
the Yacht Club de Monaco, in collaboration with technical clothing
supplier SLAM, the meetings offer international teams an opportunity to
establish their winter base in the Principality before the main summer
season starts each year.Monaco, a veritable capital of yachting worldwide, attracts talent from all walks of life as evidenced by the 260-plus sailors from 11 nationalities on 180 boats, who descended upon Monaco over the winter to compete in a total of 58 races (that is not a typo- yes, it was fifty-eight races!).
Like
a diesel engine, the Russian team on the J/70 ARTTUBE tempered their
starts, remaining in contact with the fleet without ever taking the lead
at the start of a race. Led by the talented Valeriya Kovalenko from
Moscow, Russia, the boat obeys a golden rule: don’t take anything for
granted until the finish line. Constantly alert, eyes riveted on their
opponents and the course, the team is like a well-oiled machine,
nibbling away at their competitors with each maneuver.Valeriya strikes an imposing figure with her blonde hair and bright blue eyes and has certainly set the bar high as the indisputable queen of sailing J/70s in Monaco, winning all Acts in the 5th edition to win the series by an 84 points margin!
“I want to thank my crew- Victor Serezhkin, Alexander Bozhko, and Igor Lisovenko- from the bottom of my heart for helping me win here in Monaco, and the YC Monaco, whose superb facilities are ideal for organizing this type of event,” said Ms Kovalenko.
Stefano Roberti’s PICCININA finished in a well-deserved 2nd, an enormous satisfaction for the YC Monaco sailor. “I am really delighted with this result, which I owe to my team,” he said.
The Italian, Germano Scarpa, and his SPORT CUBE team completed the podium in third place.
The results for the final Act V saw Kovalenko’s ARTTUBE topping the ranking with just 7 pts, followed by Federico Leproux’s Italian crew on ALICE with 15 points in second position and the Swiss crew of Jean-Marc Monnand on CDE.CH in third place with 23 points.
The
J/70 class remains very dynamic in the Principality, with 20 boats
flying the YC Monaco burgee. Perhaps most exciting of all, an eye to
the future.“In 2021, we will be hosting the J/70 World Championship,” announced Monaco J/70 Class President Michel Boussard. “From today, until the 2021 J/70 Worlds, we will continue to organize regattas, training sessions and clinics run by professionals in order to be ready for J/70 sailors around the world.”
In the Corinthian category for the final regatta, competitors pulled out all the stops and managed to upset some of the best teams. The Swiss on Alain Stettler’s QUARTER2ELEVEN won and finished 4th in the overall ranking, all categories combined. Taking second was Tom Studer’s crew on JERRY, also from Switzerland, with 30 pts, a scant one point back from his countrymen. Third was Mario Rabbio’s Italian team on CAIM2, with 38 pts total.
For Corinthians Overall for the five regattas, it was Rémi Piazza, a youth sailor from the Sports Section in YC Monaco that made excellent progress, but is now a loyal fan of the Monaco J/70 Winter Series. He won the season in the “Corinthian” and the “Youth” category with a team comprising of all YC Monaco youth sailors. Second overall was Pawel Tarnowski’s Polish team on APOTEX and third was Loïc Pompée’s crew on ALLO 3.
The Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series returns November 8th to 11th, 2018 for the first Act of the sixth season. For more Monaco J/70 Winter Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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