Swiss team Okalys take Persico 69F Cup lead and prepare for the great duel in Puntaldia
by 69F Sailing 15 Sep 05:37 PDT
28 September - 9 October 2021
Swiss team Okalys © Kevin Rio / 69F Media
Great week of sailing for the crews of the Persico 69F Cup who battled in the Grand Prix 3.2 in Torbole, Lake Garda.
Decisive races in view of the grand final of GP4 in Puntaldia from September 28 to October 9, where the winning team of the second edition of the Persico 69F Cup will be determined.
The Italian team Young Azzurra, which was sitting at the top of the overall ranking before the Torbole Grand Prix, will have to roll up their sleeves because the final will be anything but easy.
Ettore Botticini, Young Azzurra' s skipper comments: "We knew that by missing this Grand Prix we could lose the advantage we had but Young Azzurra is also part of bigger sailing project and therefore we are now in Newport, Rhode Island for the Rolex Invitational Cup. Anyhow, we will soon resume training on the Persico 69F for the final in Puntaldia where we will have to work hard to regain the lost positions. For us, GP4 will also be a great occasion to train even more for the Youth Foiling Gold Cup circuit which is our main goal of the season".
Okays Youth Project does not miss the opportunity and takes the top of the Persico 69F Cup with 43 points; Arnaud Grange says: "The duel with Section16 was pretty tight until the end, they managed to improve quite a lot during the week which made our life a bit harder. It was really interesting racing with them. At the moment we're first in the overall ranking and there is only one GP to go... for sure it will be a very fierce fight! It will be hard to keep the first place, but in Torbole we stepped up our game and we feel more confident about our speed and manoeuvres. We think we can keep our first place until the end of the season".
Great comeback also for Section16 team led by Richard Davies who with the new set-up Davies / Colaninno / Rast wins second place in Torbole and reaches fourth position in the overall ranking; the flight controller, Federico Colaninno comments on his first experience aboard another team: "I am very happy to have contributed to the success of the Section16 team, I found myself very well and from the beginning they made me feel at ease. Thanks to the hours spent on the boat with Young Azzurra and their experience in great sailing competitions we found the right balance that allowed us to recover all these positions. Sharing the boat with two sailors of this caliber was very important for me and I can't wait to be able to sail with them again".
Now, we just need to wait two weeks for a spectacular end of the season that might see a totally unexpected podium.
Overall ranking - Top 10 Teams - Persico 69F Cup 2021:
1 - 43 pt - Okalys Youth Project
2 - 38 pt - Balthasar
3 - 33 pt - Tixwave
4 - 32 pt - Section 16
5 - 30 pt - Young Azzurra
6 - 30 pt - SDS Swiss Dental Solutions
7 - 28 pt - Fly Marga
8 - 25 pt - FlyingNikka 47
9 - 25 pt - FlyingNikka 74
10 - 15 pt - Fantastica 2