KONG EASYNET GRIFONE J/24 Italian EuroCup Winners

The Italian J/24 National Circuit concluded recently with the final stage in their series determining the winner at the Trophy Credito Valtellinese hosted the by Societa Canottieri Lecco. The great yacht “KONG EASYNET GRIFONE” sailed by Marco Stefanoni, Fabio Mazzoni, Massimo Consonni, Roberto Santomanco and Giusi Riva won the XXXVIII edition of the Winter Championship. They took the lead on the second day of racing and never looked back, accumulating a scoreline of 2-2-1-4-5-1-4-6-5-1 for 20 pts net. Joining them on the podium was JAMAICA sailed by Gianluca Caridi, Ginesi Fabrizio, Giuseppe Garofalo and Paul Governato who sailed a very strong series but after losing the lead on the second day could never gain it back. Their record of 4-3-4-1-1-14-1-5-5-8 for 24 pts was good enough for second place. Lying third was JJ EXTRALARGE sailed by Roberto Spata, Robert Martignoni, Michele Malandra, Andrea and Stefano Zamboni Carnelli. They had a great comeback on Saturday and Sunday but not enough to overcome the other leaders with their record of 8-7-2-5-4-3-3-1-3-7 for 28 pts net. The opening day of racing saw the “breva” wind (local wind from the south) around 6-7 kts, providing the fleet with two good races that didn’t complete until sunset! After all, this is what you must do when sailing high in the Italian Alps! On the following day, the crews started in the early morning to take advantage of the “tivano” wind (typical wind from the north of the lake). However, despite starting twice in these conditions, the sudden drop in the wind forced the race PRO’s to postpone racing until the afternoon “breva” wind would show up to complete two races very late in the day. For Saturday’s racing, the decision was made to start even earlier in the impetuous “tivano” winds, sailing from 0800 hrs to 1300 hrs! It resulted in getting in four races in 5-8 kts of wind and was a good test for the sailors. Sunday’s racing started under a light rain and the schedule was for two more races in the “tivano” breeze of about 6-9 kts, much to the satisfaction of all the participating sailors! This was the seventh and last stage of the Italian J/24 Circuit that began in February in Monaco with the Primo Cup! Many thanks for this contribution from Paola Zanoni. http://canottierilecco.wordpress.com/interlaghi-2012/