Persico 69F Cup at Gargnano, Lake Garda - Day 1
by Wordpower srl 17 Jul 2020 23:06 PDT
17-19 July 2020
How do you turn a day of light winds into a six-run naval battle? You start with a fleet of Persico 69F monotypes and five super smart crews competing in the "world premiere" of the Persico 69F Cup circuit, which started today with the Grand Prix 1 in Gargnano, on the Brescia side of Lake Garda.
After six races, with winds between 6 and 12 knots, the favorite Roberto Lacorte's Flyingnikka 47 was crowned at the top of the provisional ranking (with Enrico Zennaro on the mainsail and Lorenzo Bressani as fly controller). The second place was earned "on the field" by Flyingnikka 74 (Razeto - Fornaro - De Felice) but was then overturned due to the electronic points and penalties to the benefit of the Swiss Team (Nicola Celon - Phil Raphoz - Marco Fedrigucci), so tomorrow will be a day of revenge for Flyingnikka 47.
"Great feelings, today" - said the leader of the provisional ranking Roberto Lacorte - "these boats are exceptional even with very little wind. This boat has two main strengths: on the one hand, when you are foiling, you feel very safe, on the other you need a great crew, capable of communicating and being in real harmony to achieve the best result".
"We spent two years preparing to race, we have been planning for the first run for months, and Garda has done us a great favor, offering us light and improving wind conditions, allowing us a great run and a successful close to the first historic day. We are all excited and satisfied" - says Dede Deluca, Chief Sailing Officer of Team 69F. "Roberto Lacorte certainly made the most of his team's experience on foil and the harmony he achieved on the test days aboard the Persico 69F; congratulations for this first place of the day. The Swiss crew knew how to make the most of the regulations, and the Supernikka 74 team had a penalty that weighed on the ranking".
The Run Analysis highlights four victories out of six races for Supernikka 47. Both in very weak wind - six knots during the first run - and then with more sustained wind, up to twelve knots in the fifth run - Lacorte was always up to the challenge: responsive and sensitive, looking for "full power" even when the wind was low. What started as a five-man fight, for Lacorte turned out to be a nice "home derby". Supernikka 74 closed with two first, three second and a fifth placement: They would have been second if the classification was that of a normal race, but penalties and electronic points relegated them to third place. Swiss Team was consistent in their results - with two second, three third and a fourth place finish, and their attention to the GPS rewarded and elevated them to second place. The team of the Societé Nautique de Geneve never gave up a meter and became the protagonist of a scuffia (capsize) a few steps from the mountain overlooking the lake thus allowing the circuit to have the first epic image captured in the nascent history of these super regattas.
Showing excellent potential and growth, with a training gap that will soon be closed, the Ksenia Team of Carlo Brenco, Michele Regolo and Francesco Rubagotti and the One up Team of Vacchino-Zaoli-Bianchi, today respectively finished fourth and fifth in the general classification.
The Top Speed Team of the Day was Flyingnikka 74, which won the bonus point by recording the maximum top speed of the day: 24.2 knots with a wind of 12 knots.
Tomorrow, the second day of event 1.1, starts with an early morning briefing and then will hit the water.