Italian Offshore Championship: what a spectacle in the Tuscan Mistral

The God of wind kissed the first day of the Italian Absolute Offshore Sailing Championship with the Punta Ala race course showing virtually perfect wind conditions for racing. Regatta Committee Chairman Alfredo Ricci called the fleet into the water at 12 noon, as soon as the typical “Tuscan” Mistral thermal breeze lay over the course and after the dredging of the harbor mouth had been completed. The northwest began blowing around 10-12 knots, then rising during the day’s second trial to 16-18, and going down in the latter part of the afternoon.

Two races completed that showed two fleets, Group A and B, extremely compact and of good standard. Minimal real time gaps at the top of the rankings, just as close are the results in compensated time.

In Group 1, of the largest Classes A and B (12-14 meters in length), after two races the ranking sees Carlandrea Simonelli’s Swan 42 Fantaghirò (CN Marina di Carrara) in the lead thanks to a 3rd and a 1st in the heats. In second place was another Swan 42, the Estonian Katarina II, and in third place was Raffaele Giannetti’s (CN Riva di Traiano) Vismara 46 Duende Aeronautica Militare.

In Group 2, of Classes C and D (9-11 meters), hint of a breakaway in the lead for three boats enclosed in just 2 points, three identical Italia Yachts 11.98 hulls: in first place Scugnizza by Vincenzo De Blasio (CC Napoli) (1-2), in second place another crew with the Estonian flag but with Italian sailors on board, Sugar 3 by Ott Kikkas, and in third place Tridente Mext 3M by Francesca Manfredonia (LNI Vieste) (2-3). A long, no-holds-barred title sprint looms.

The next few days will then also highlight the rankings for the individual Classes that make up the two Groups, each awarding the respective Italian titles. The Italian Offshore Sailing Championship will conclude on Saturday 26.

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