MOLLICONA Wins Trofeo Nino Menchelli

Despite the adverse marine weather forecasts, two beautiful sunny days with big waves and breezes of 10-12 knots greeted the fleet over the weekend of May 20-21 off Marina di Carrara in Italy. Six races were completed by the PRO for Club Nautico Marina di Carrara, and the dozen crews participating in the event used it as a “warm-up” for the Italian J/24 Nationals being sailed in the same waters the following weekend. The racing was very tight and more competitive than most had expected prior to the start of the series. In fact, it was such an epic battle that a razor-thin crossing on the final leg determined victory in the great duel between MOLLICONA and JAMAICA. After the crossing, MOLLICONA’s crew (skipper Giacomo Carrara Del Nero with Riccardo Marini, Benedetta Beba Tognetti, Paolo Bottari, Nicholas Marchini and Massimiliano Biagini) were overwhelmed with emotion as they crossed the finish line, cheering wildly but also congratulating their fellow protagonists on JAMAICA—skippered by Italian J/24 Class President Pietro Diamanti. The ultimate finish scenario might have had a slightly different outcome had the leader from Saturday’s racing continued to sail on Sunday. Ignazio Bonanno’s LA SUPERBA had racked up three bullets but one of his crew got dramatically sick Saturday evening and had to go to the hospital. The balance of the podium was TAKE IT EASY sailed by the team of Eugenia De Giacomo, Nicola Pitanti, Mark Brown, Matilde Pitanti and Massimo Cusimano. The rest of the top five included NINA in fourth and LA SUPERBA in fifth. “This year, as in previous editions, the Trofeo Nino Menchelli was kissed by luck,” said Pietro Diamanti. “We managed to have six good races. Fun sailing and very close battles! Excellent training for the Championship.” Nicola Pitanti confirmed, “I think the two days were very beautiful and fantastic sailing; we were especially very lucky with the weather.” For more Trofeo Nino Menchelli sailing information, visit http://www.clubnauticomarinadicarrara.net/.