Memorial Falck wraps up in Tuscany at La Marina di Scarlino

by Tessa Wiechmann on 14 Apr 2009
With three more races, the III edition of the Memorial Falck powered by Jaguar wrapped up today in Tuscany at La Marina di Scarlino. Despite the challenging weather conditions over the Easter weekend 8 (Swan 45) and 10 (X35) races were held over a period of four days in the Gulf of Follonica, once again proving the excellence of the Tuscan racing grounds.

In the Swan 45 class, which has its own international base at Scarlino’s Marina Yacht Service, an exciting duel unfolded between Dutch 'No Limits' owner Bol and Italian 'Talj', owner Vittorio Ruggiero. Starting the day on equal points, the two teams sailed a virtual match race in different weather conditions ranging from 5-8 knots of north-easterly breeze to gusty north-westerly that reached 24 knots in the late afternoon. Dutch 'No Limits', with tactician Portuguese Afonso Domingos, brought home the overall victory (1-4-2) beating 'Talj', with tactician Lorenzo Bressani, by 3 points after today’s three races (2-5-5). In third place another Dutch yacht, 'Charisma' owner Nico Poons (today 3-2-1) with Danish Jesper Radich calling tactics.

The X-35 class was also very balanced. 'Lelagain' owned by Alessandor and Franco Solerio and 'Tixelio' owner Carlo Brenco (tactician Branko Brcin) finished the series at equal points. The final victory went to 'Lelagain', tactician Italian Michele Paoletti, Olympic athlete in Sydney 2000 in the Soling class and on board 'Mascalzone Latino' in the last America’s Cup.

To dissolve the equality Lelagain got three first and two seconds from the three first and one second of Tixelio. The tie was broken according to the rules and the III Memorial Giorgio Falck went to 'Lelagain'. In third place 'Blue Sky' owned by Claudio Terrieri with tactician Lorenzo Bodini on board (today 2-4-1).

Portuguese Afonso Domingos, 'No Limits' tactician, stated: 'The Race Committee did an excellent job in difficult conditions and made some very good calls. La Marina di Scarlino is great for this kind of events. Today we focused on keeping Talj in check and we had a good results. I am very pleased. I had already raced in this area with TP52s and find it ideal for sailing. '

Franco Solerio, Italian Snipe champion and helmsman of the winning 'Lelagain' owned by his father Alessandro, was pleased with the organization: 'Coming to Scarlino is always a pleasure.' he said, 'These were challenging days weather-wise, Thanks to the high level of the X35 fleet I don’t miss regret the fun I used to have coming here with my Snipe. As a crew we managed to sail well together, also thanks to the support of our tactician Michele Paoletti. The fact that the shopping & dining areas at La Marina di Scarlino will soon be open , will give us even more reason to come back and party after the races.'

The III Memorial Giorgio Falck powered by Jaguar is yet another of the great events scheduled in 2009 at La Marina di Scarlino. Upcoming races include another Grade 4 Match Race, the District Star Championship, Audi Melges 20 sailing series Audi Melges 32 sailing series, X41 World Championship to name the highlights.