LA SUPERBA Crowned Italian J/24 Champion

(Cervia, Italy)- The Circolo Nautico “Amici Della Vela” hosted one of the highlights of their racing season this past week. The Cervian club hosted the 2019 edition of the Italian J/24 Championship for thirty teams on the gorgeous Adriatic Sea.

After three days of racing, a familiar grinning, happy face was sitting atop the podium, that of Ignazio Bonnano and crew from the winning LA SUPERBA (fresh from winning the J/24 European Championship!). Taking the silver was Eugenia de Giacomo & Roggero di Lauria’s FIVE FOR FIGHTING, and the British team of NOTIFY ME (Mauro Benfatto & Fabio Mazzoni) took the bronze medal.

This was the third time in a row that the team of LA SUPERBA (Ignazio Bonnano and crew Vincenzo Vano, Francesco Picaro, Alfredo Branciforte and Francesco Linares) was crowned Italian Champions. Notably, this makes it their sixth win in eight years!

The Regatta Committee was chaired by Stefano Boscolo Bragadin, assisted by Maurizio Martinelli, Franco Minotti, Claudio Brolli and Paolo Collina. Riccardo Savorani chaired the Protest Committee, with the collaboration of Edo Stramazzo and Bruno Cecchini.

"The Championship progressed very well,” commented Franco Minotti. “The very technical field and the demanding sailing conditions for the current, and the wind, contributed to making the races beautiful and engaging. It was a very impressive for the fleet of J/24s here in Cervia.”

The 39th Italian Open J/24 Championship was supported by the main sponsor Alce Nero- the brand of over a thousand organic farmers and beekeepers, committed, since the 1970s, in Italy and around the world. Other sponsors included XService, Orplast Packaging, AutoSica Citroen, and North Sails. For more Italian J/24 Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

ENJOY 1.0 Wins Italy J/70 Cup Ancona

(Ancona, Italy)- The second leg of the Italian J/70 Cup Series was hosted by Marina Dorica on the Adriatic Sea on Italy’s eastern shore, a third down the coastline from Venice (east of Florence, NNE of Rome and west of Split, Croatia). Forty-five boats from eleven nations (Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland) enjoyed great sailing for the first two days of the regatta, with the last day getting blown out by 30+ knot winds.  Winning his first major regatta in the Italian J/70 Class was Carlo Tomelleri’s ENJOY 1.0 with crew of Alberto Taddei, Daniele De Luca and Umberto De Luca.

Saturday’s most amazing comeback, with a mind-blowing 3-2-1 tally, was one of Italy’s most famous sailors- Alberto Rossi's ENFANT TERRIBLE- ADRIA FERRIES. They jumped eleven spots on the leaderboard in one day into the silver medal position!

Needless to say, Alberto could not have been more pleased after starting off so slowly on the first day with a 21-13-11.  In short, his team of Alberto Bolzan, Bianca Crugnola, Branko Brcin, and Stefano Rizzi sailed better, faster, smarter every race!  Not a bad recipe for success!  Olympic Silver Medallist- the Slovenian Branko Brcin- was calling tactics for Alberto.

Rossi commented, “It would have been nice to be able to compete in the last two races to arrive at a complete series of eight races and compete to the end.  We love to sail in strong winds like we saw today. But, the Committee's choice to cancel was the best choice. In any case, Ancona proved to be an excellent regatta field, and the organization of the event by Marina Dorica was once again excellent. As a participant, I congratulate all organizers both at sea and on land.  We have dispelled the myth that in the Adriatic there are not the right conditions to race!"

Completing the podium was J-CURVE, sailed by Mauro Roversi, with Manuel Weiller on tactics, and crew of Carlo Fracassoli, Federica Salva and Manuel Modena. The balance of the top five included two more top Italian crews. Fourth was MAGIC DAS skippered by Alessandro Zampori and fifth place went to Francesco Farneti, with the Olympian from Marche Filippo Maria Baldassari on board.

In the Corinthian rankings, it was Gianfranco Noè’s WHITEHAWK team (Emanuele Noe, Giuliano Chiandussi, Irene Giorgini, & Maurizio Planine) that took the crown.  They were followed by WHY NOT #SLAM sailed by Alessio Zucchi and the Russian team on M-SAILING- Andrey Malygin.  Italian J/70 Cup entry list  Italian J/70 Cup results   For more Italian J/70 Cup Ancona sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/122 Eclipsing Adriatic Offshore series!

(Port San Rocco, Italy)- A J/122 sailing on the Adriatic Sea in Italy has enjoyed a very successful 2015 summer season so far.  Piero Santi, the owner of AOI ME, from the YC Porto San Rocco, described their recent good fortunes:

“We had a good start to the season for AOI ME, we have made it to the podium in all races that we have participated in so far!

Sailing in the Adriatic Sea, we participated in the “39th Muggia-Portorose-Muggia”, with more than 120 boats on the starting line; this race was hosted by Circolo della Vela Muggia.  We won both legs going from Muggia, Italy over to Portorose, Slovenia and back!  As a result, we won overall with two first places!  Even more impressive was the fact we came in 5th and 7th on elapsed time on both legs against much, much larger boats!

On the 20th to 21st of June, the Trofeo Internazionale dell’Adriatico IRC was sailed in the Golfo de Trieste, the easternmost part of Italy on the Adriatic Sea.  AOI ME was not in her best form, but despite an OCS in the 2nd race, we still managed to finish 3rd in IRC Racing Class!

Then, over two weekends in July, the 11th-12th and 18th-19th, we sailed in the Mittel Europe IRC Criterium.  In IRC A class, we won the class with six straight 1sts!  Even more importantly, we sailed well enough to finish 2nd in IRC Class Overall!  We love our J/122 AOI ME, such a wonderful, beautiful, easy boat to sail!  Ciao! Piero”