Italian crew wins J/70 European Championship at Kiel Week

by SVG Verlag on 26 Jun 2016 The J/70 European Championship as part of the Kiel Week was finished with a packed program of three races. And the weather on the race course at Buelk made it a perfect day, after difficult wind conditions and a huge number of disqualifications had caused lots of turbulences in the young class.

The number of participating crews for the second European Championship of the J/70 was impressive with 91 boats at the start line. And Claudia Rossi was the sporting highlight. The sailor from Italy did win the continental title on the sailing territory, where her father had become ORC World Champion two years ago. The perfect final series of Stefano Roberti (Monaco) with three victories did come to an end with rank two overall, followed by Gonzalo Araujo (Spain). Two German crews did make their way into the top ten, Carsten Kemmling (Hamburg/Germany) and Magnus Simon (Hamburg/Germany) did finish on rank nine and ten.

Claudia Rossi was a surprise for the whole elite of the J/70 sailors and also for herself: 'I had not expected that, when I came here. We have only had the boat since February. But the crew had an ambitious objective and made us fast.' The young sailor from Italy has only been sailing since three years. But sailing seems to be the nature of her family. 'And Kiel is a very lucky sailing territory for our family. Now I am looking forward to come home, where my boyfriend is waiting and we will have a huge party.' The private jet was supposed to leave already in the evening to fly her home.

Even the second-placed Stefano Roberti, sailing under Monegasque flag, was outshining the sun in Kiel with his happiness: 'I am happy with the medal. I had never expected that before.' After the first day, when he was leading the fleet, he already had started to think about the chances. 'But on the third day, we had given away the title with an early start and moderate results.' But they have not made complaints against the race committee, when they had disqualified 38 crews in a race due to an early start: 'Maybe it would have been nicer to cancel the start. But everyone knew, that we had been starting under black flag and had to take over responsibility. It was our mistake.' He congratulated Claudia Rossi: 'The team just stayed cool, hardly made any mistakes and did sail a consistent series.' Roberti is traveling home with a good feeling: 'I enjoyed it here. To be part of this big event, is lots of fun. Being in the middle of the young sailors from the Olympic classes, makes yourself feel even younger. “