The Italian J/24 Class continued to enjoy a full-slate of racing in their ongoing winter series events taking place in Cervia (Rome), Taranto and Marina di Carrara. Over 50 teams are competing in these various series. Here are the latest reports. CERVIA: On the Mediterranean Sea, 16 crews from the Romagna J/24 fleet have now completed three regattas for their Winter Championship—the X Memorial Stefano Pirini Cup—hosted by Circolo Nautico Cervia. The day’s winners for the three races were ITA 402 ARMED sailed by Marco Maccaferri, ITA 424 KISMET owned by Francesca Focardi and skippered by Dario Luciani from CN Cervia Amici della Vela, and ITA 400 CAPTAIN NEMO co-owned by co-armed by Guido Guadagni and Domenico Brighi from CV Ravennate. As a result, of the third weekend of racing, the J/24 KISMET is still in the lead for the series. They are followed by CAPTAIN NEMO in second place, and in third place is ITA 382 VENTO BLUE sailed by Mauro Martelli. The Winter Championship X Memorial Stefano Pirini Cup is divided into two stages. The first stage will conclude with races on Sunday, December 3. The second stage starts on February 18, 2018 and ends on March 18. TARANTO: Thanks to the three wins on the opening day and three more races on the final weekend, ITA 417 LA SUPERBA won the 2017 Cup Final, the closing leg of the J/24 Trofeo Ciccolo National Circuit that took place off Taranto. The Italian Navy team sailing LA SUPERBA is skipper Ignazio Bonanno and crew of Simone Scontrino, Francesco Picaro, Francesco Linares and Alfredo Branciforte. Taking second position was a new fleet member, ITA 427 JEBEDEE, owned by Nino Soriano and skippered by Luca Gaglione from the Puglia fleet. Included on the crew were Nino’s son Remo Soriano at the mast, Vittorio Renzi in the cockpit and Silvio Tullo at the bow (all of them are from the Circolo Nautico Sailing School). Rounding out the podium in third place was ITA 467 CANARINO FEROCE owned by Massimo Ruggiero and skippered by Giuseppe Maglietta. “It was an honor for us on JEBEDEE and for our fleet to be able to compete with crews like those who came to Taranto to qualify for the J/24 Worlds,” commented Puglia J/24 Fleet Captain Nino Soriano. “It was impressive to watch LA SUPERBA being at ease in the difficult sailing conditions. It surprised us and incentivized us to practice and train more to raise our level of competition. It was a great event and very good organization!” MARINA DI CARRARA: For the opening weekend of the Autumn Cup sailed on the Golf of Poets off Marina di Carrara, five races were completed in a variety of wind conditions over a sunny weekend. The host RC crew from CN Marina di Carrera was pleased to run two races the first day and three on the final day. Twelve teams headed out with great anticipation on Saturday. However, the conditions were not conducive for the regular seabreeze to build, so two races were barely completed in the dying breeze. The day’s winners were ITA 212 JAMAICA sailed by Pietro Diamanti and ITA 449 RAZOR BILL owned by Giuseppe Simonelli and helmed by Davide Sampiero. However, the standings changed dramatically on the second day. ITA 304 FIVE FOR FIGHTING sailed by Eugenia De Giacomo (with crew of Nicola and Matilde Pitanti, Lorenzo Cusimano and Bruna Marco) won all three races in the southwest winds of 8-10 knots. Consequently, De Giacomo’s FIVE FOR FIGHTING team led the standings with a 3-4-1-1-1 for 6 points net. They are followed in second place by ITA 202 TALLY I owned by Roberta Banfo and skippered by Luca Macchiarini with a record of 4-3-2-5-2 for 11 points net. Sitting in third place is ITA 481 COCO sailed by Riccardo Pacini with a 2-ocs-4-2-4 for 12 points net. For more Italian J/24 Winter series information, visit https://www.j24.it/.
International Class Association
