Coppa Italia Waszp at Circolo Vela Bellano, Lake Como
by Elena Giolai 28 May 11:23 PDT
24-26 May 2024
2024 Coppa Italia Waszp © Matteo Garrone
In Bellano (Lake Como, Italy), under a new racing format for ACT 2 of the Italian Cup foil, in the WASZP class, racing took place 24-26 May by Circolo Vela Bellano and was contested by over 50 helmsmen from 6 nations.
After the five course races held over the first two days, Sunday saw things change to a sprint slalom, a discipline proposed for the first time in Italy for the class. It is a downwind slalom with a crosswind start and three buoys positioned in a line one downwind of the other, up to the last one that finishes on the leeward mark.
It is a very short course, to be completed in a time range of 5-10 minutes, where everything is on the line especially at the start and in the gybe, a bit like in the slalom sprint of the iQFoil Olympic board.
The discipline may have changed, but the leader of the overall results did not: Emanuele Savoini (YC Imperia) maintained consistency, beating by 8 points his next rival Francesco Bertone (Porto Maurizio YC), who came second.
If the gap between the first two was consistent, the same cannot be said of the positions to follow: Federico Bergamasco (CN Mandraccio) finished in a tie with Bertone, winning the Under 21 category.
The young Italian Mosé Bellomi (Circolo Vela Arco) was sixth overall and second in the under-19 category, just behind the German Caspar Ilgestein, fifth overall.
The last slaloms, however, made all the difference in the women's category with Germany's Fernholz overtaking France's Louise Metenier in the lead after the first five course races, and still first under 19.
The Asacert Trophy was awarded to the Yacht Club Imperia as the best team performance with the two Savoini brothers, Emanuele and Enzio, in first and fourth place overall.
There was excellent organisation by the Circolo Vela Bellano, who also fielded a large team of young sailors.
Marco Francialancia, President of the Waszp Class, spoke on the subject of the new Sprint Slalom regatta format: "We have finally managed to experiment for the first time with the slalom, which only entered the official courses this year and has gone very well overall. It is a format that people really like; there are of course some small things to revise based on the feedback received from the participants: the aim is to improve this format more and more and make it an integral part of the regatta, which will alternate with the traditional formats.
"The sprint slaloms give a lot of adrenaline and are very spectacular to watch. They also have their own role within the overall classification, being an integral part of the regatta; it is a way of making the events much more dynamic and varied. The class is very happy with this first experience and will now work to improve in the next events".
Alessandro De Felice, president of the Circolo Vela Bellano, commented on the event: "During the first two days with bad weather we had a tough time, but the teamwork between the Class, the Circolo and the Race Committee made it possible to take advantage of every window to get out on the water and race, with a total of nine races. The spectacle of more than 50 Waszp boats out racing was exciting not only for those who, like us, have always bet on this class, but also for the many tourists who watched the regatta from the shore of the lake, enchanted.
"I am particularly satisfied that the complex organisational machine worked: we put our commitment and passion into it and I thank the Waszp Class for having had faith in us."
Full results
Photo galleries:
Day 1: photos.app.goo.gl/yuKnBaiwfm5nMECY8
Day 2: photos.app.goo.gl/FwJx8XmDApcM1cTa6
Day 3: photos.app.goo.gl/KTuDoAkh7za3bQfX7