Platu 25 World Championships - Strong Italian contingent

by Sabrina Bonaiti on 29 May 2011 Just one day before the beginning of the 2011 World Championship in Gmunden, in the Traunsee Lake waters, the Italian teams are warming up for the most important Platu 25 event of the year. From all over Italy Platu 25 crews are arriving in Austria. Some of them are very competitive and determined, with Olympic Sail Champions on board.

Among them, there are at least three boats that, for sure, will give the others a hard time. There will be, indeed, 'Nanuk' helmed by Luigi Ravioli, from Rome; 'Euz II Monella Vagabonda' helmed by Sandro Montefusco from Bari and 'Five for Fighting2' helmed by Alberto La Tegola also from Puglia.

Trying to make forecasts, 'Nanuk' is one of the favourites. The boat helmed by Ravioli, this year it has already won the Primo Cup in Montecarlo. Recently, it conquered the highest step of the podium in the First Act of the Alpen Cup that took place in Malcesine, Lake of Garda. Moreover it won the 2009 and 2010 Italian Championship. Without doubt, 'Nanuk' has every chance to do well in Gmunden. As Luigi Ravioli assured: 'We created a good team. Thanks to the enthusiasm and the work of Gianrocco Catalano and Giuseppe Tesorone (the owners), this season is going in full sail. The team further grew and strengthened. Now we are a strong and tight-knit'.

For the appointment with the Words it will be even stronger. Here it is the crew line-up for Gmunden: Luigi Ravioli as a skipper, Giuseppe Tesorone as Centre, Fabio Montefusco as bowman and… Lorenzo Bressani as a tactic. Lorenzo Bressani doesn’t need to be introduced. Everybody in the Sail world knows him and how talented he is. So, if we put together the Luigi Ravioli’s Palmares with the Lorenzo Bressani’s one, we could fill pages and pages of results and awards. Briefly, Ravioli won the 1999 J24 European Championship, the 2005 J24 Italian Championship. Third on the J24 Worlds, twice first in the 'Giro D’Italia', twice ORC Italian Champion, he obtained a lot of other prizes in the Laser class. Luigi Bressani won almost everything in almost every class, it’s enough to think about the recent successes on board of ITA 817 Uka Uka Racing, in the Melges 24 class.

Luigi Ravioli had already sailed in lakes waters, as he confirmed: 'I have already raced in Austrian Lakes. The conditions are comparable to our sea regattas with wind flowing from the land. By the way, with a very good tactician, we should manage well. We hope to have a regular breeze but we are also ready to face wind shifts, in case of disturbance. It’s very important to do well in the first two days in order to gain room for manouvre in the last races'

Also Sandro Montefusco with his team is ready for the big challenge in Austria. The Italian 'Euz II Monella Vagabonda' owned by Francesco Lanera and helmed by Montefusco has just won the II Act of the Platu 25 Alpen Cup that took place in Ebensee on the Traunsee Lake last week end. The Italian boat won against a very competitive Austrian cvrew, 'La Burra' helmed by Thomas Laherstorfer, one of the favourites in these Worlds.

'Euz II' is an original Pugliese-Swiss team. As Sandro Montefusco remarked: 'The crew was created from a Markus Sigrist proposal. Last Winter, he asked me to organize together a team for the Worlds. Later on, taking to Francesco Lanera I discovered that he was without crew. In that way our group was born, a mix of people from Puglia and Switzerland'.

The crew is composed indeed by the Swiss Markus Sigrist (tactic), Corrado Capece Minutolo(tailor), Francesco Lanera (piano), Elisabetta Picca (Jocker), the Swiss Lukas Gerig (Bowman). All of them are talented and determined. Markus Sigrist, together with Lukas Gerig, won the 2009 Alpen Cup and the 2010 Kieler Woche in the Platu 25 class. Francesco Lanera was second in the 2010 Italian Circuit, fifth in the 2009 Platu 25 Italian Championship and eighth in the 2009 Platu 25 Italian Circuit. Sandro Montefusco is a very good skipper: he won - just to talk about Platu 25 class - an Italian Championship and twice the Italian Circuit, in addition to other Acts, and a third place during the 2005 World Championship in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia.

Sandro Montefusco is optimistic and a bit worried for the difficult conditions on the Traunsee Lake: 'We expect to perform well, possibly in the first positions. For sure this World Championship will be very tough for the light and changeable breezes , typical of these lakes. I often sail on Lakes, especially on the Garda Lake. I sailed just once in the regatta field in Ebensee, in the same Lake where the Worlds will take place. So we had a very brief but also a very useful training. If the normal weather conditions will be the same that we tested last week end, I think that it will be necessary to have steady nerves'.

The Montefusco Sails sponsored the Platu 25 Alpen Cup and now Sandro Montefusco took part to an Act of the Alpen Cup and is one of the protagonist of the next Worlds. 'In the last years we had a good appraisal for our sails by the Swiss and Austrian fleets. Therefore it was natural to accept their sponsorship request.'

'Five For Fighting2' is an other boat from Puglia that will be one of the protagonist of the Platu 25 World Championship in Gmunden. Owned by Tommaso De Bellis and helmed by Alberto La Tegola. 'Five For Fighting2' has been on the top of the Platu 25 Italian Ranking List continuously from its first victory in 2008. The boat finished fourth in the 2010 Italian Championship.

La Tegola is one of the strongest Italian skippers. He started sailing when he was a child, together with the Montefusco brothers, they sailed using beach umbrellas - and his palmares is simply fantastic. He took part to his first Italian Championship on the Garda Lake when he was 14 years old. After a long training in FJ, 470, Tornado, Flying Dutchman and Star, he passed onto the offshore boats and he won two Copa del Rey in 1989 and 1990, and one Sardinia Cup. He sailed together with Rod Davids and Francesco De Angelis ( as a tailer on Brava) winning some Italian championships. Recently he was many times on the podium of the Surpise Italian Championships, winning it in 2006. The 'Five for fighting2' team was founded in 2004 and since then Albert La Tegola has been the skipper.

For the appointment with the Worlds in Gmunden, on board there will be the owner Tommaso De Bellis (piano), Miki Rinaldi (Bowman), Valerio Galati (Tailer) and Massimo Foglia (tactician). Alberto La Tegola will face his friend Sandro Montefusco, sailing on 'Euz II', an adversary boat. But he doesn‘t seem worried: 'We started sailing together in 470 when we were children. There is a healthy competition between us but on the water we are oponents. There is a total reciprocal trust. It’s not by chance that I use his sails. I don‘t know what it will happen: we didn‘t train a lot this year and it seems that in the Traunsee Lake there’s a very changeable wind with considerable shifts. It could be tough even for the best crews'.

English edited by Kevin Scott