Gazprom Swan 60 World Championship – Natural Parks Regatta Inaugural

by Gazprom Swan 60 Class on 14 May 2015 2015 Gazprom Swan 60 World Championship – The first ever ‘Natural Parks Regatta’ was held today on the second day of racing. The inaugural race at Marina di Scarlino is confirmed as an annual distance race in the ClubSwan calendar. The Gazprom Swan 60 fleet raced 30 nautical miles starting near the rugged Tyrrhenian coast on the mainland before reaching the quaint bays of the island of Elba.

Leonardo Ferragamo, Chairman of Nautor’s Swan, has a special vision for this new race. “With nine spectacular natural parks in the vicinity, the Marina di Scarlino is the ideal starting point for the inaugural Natural Parks Regatta. The extraordinary beauty of the Tuscan archipelago, its perfect sailing conditions and extraordinary geography provides for varied race courses, which will comprise this event in the future. Today, we hosted the first Natural Parks Regatta during the Gazprom Swan 60 Worlds, an event of international standing - the perfect occasion to bring this unique new event to life and share these beautiful parks with the international competitors.”

After a solid and consistent first day of racing yesterday, Bronenosec continued their success taking yet another win. The defending champions now have a clean scorecard with five wins and sit a comfortable six points in the lead from Peter Lerbrandt’s, Vertical Smile safely in second place.

Peter Lerbrandt has made a noticeable leap on the scoreboard at this year’s Gazprom Swan 60 World Championship. The Danish team is relishing the Mediterranean conditions this week at Scarlino. Today they added a third to their tally of podium finishes, a success in the light airs afloat.

Petite Flamme made the biggest jump today securing valuable points. A second in the Natural Parks Regatta means they are only two points from securing a third place overall. Riccardo Pavoncelli’s team needed this push today to realistically take an overall podium position when racing completes this coming Saturday, May 16th.

The improvement in Petite Flamme’s performance is a worry to the Gazprom Youth Sailing Challenge racing Tsaar Peter. Their finish today is a drop from the concrete second and third finishes yesterday. The team will need to pull up again to retain their third overall position.

Tomorrow is a lay day for the Gazprom Swan 60 World Championship competitors with plenty of activities planned by ClubSwan shoreside. Then racing continues on Friday, 15 May with windward /leeward courses.

Provisional results

Bronenosec (RUS): 1-1-1-1 Total 4
Vertical Smile (DEN): 3-2-2-3 Total 10
Tsaar Peter (RUS): 2-3-3-4 Total 12
Petite Flamme (RUS): 4-4-4-2 Total 14
Spirit of Europe (RUS): 5-5-5-5 Total 20
SGM (RUS): 6-6-6-6 Total 24