Persico 69F Cup event 1.2 kicks off tomorrow

Persico 69F Cup day 2 © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi

Event 1.2 of the Persico 69F Cup starts tomorrow, Friday, July 24th, in Gargnano. After the first act, ending last week with the victory of FlyingNikka 47 (Lacorte - Zennaro - Bressani), it is already time for the second set of races.

The event brings to the water crews who have a history: from the historic "reunion" between Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol, who sailed together on 470 at the London 2012 Olympics, now coming together again for their debut in foiling as part of Marco Gradoni's crew. Gradoni is a three-time (consecutive) Optimist World Champion and the winner of one of the most prestigious awards in the sailing world, the "World Sailor of the Year"; what will the most promising 17 years old sailor in the world do on foils?

Also present at the starting line is the "infamous" Claudia Rossi, who returns to racing with Persico 69F after the lockdown. She is hoping to perform well, because she is looking to also participate this season in the "mixed", with her Olympic dream connected to it.

Also participating will be the young crew of the Dutch Kingdom Team: four under 25 who have chosen to train on the Persico 69F to fulfill a dream, to take The Netherlands to the Youth America's Cup. In Gargnano they will participate in the official training - two boys and two girls, born between 1998 and 2000 - who will be called upon to storm the YAC in early 2021 in New Zealand: attention is focused on them, because the games for the America's Cup under 25 have just begun, and the Persico 69F is the only single-type foiling crew currently able to train teams in the set up similar to that of the YAC.

Closing out the teams is the Swiss crew, who already participated in first event, and brings to the second stage new crew members and extra experience.

The training started on Tuesday and will end today: beginning tomorrow, Friday July 24th through Sunday July 26th, three days of regattas are scheduled, with weather that promises sustained gliding and "full foil" mode in all races.

"What is there to say about this second leg? We can't wait to see what the dynamics will look like in the water" - says Dede De Luca, Chief Sailing Officer of Team 69F - "many super-fierce women with strong personalities in the race, the very young Gradoni new to foils, the Dutch crew who have a lot at stake, because they are being watched by all the other teams enrolled in the Youth America's Cup., and then the Swiss crew, with many more hours of navigation than all of them under their belt. And not to mention Conti-Micol. There will be a lot to see and talk about in Gargnano in these three days."