X-41 World Championship at Maremma, Tuscany - Day 1
by Lorenza Priamo 17 Sep 2009 09:10 BST
13-20 September 2009
Day 1 of the X-41 worlds © Max Ranchi
The X-41 World Championship – organised by the Yacht Club Italiano and Club Nautico Scarlino in collaboration with X-Yachts Italy – started today in Marina di Scarlino, in Tuscany.
The weather in the morning was stormy with strong and changeable breezes. At 15:00 the fleet of 14 boats from six countries left the moorings sailing towards open sea.
The southeast breeze stabilised nicely building to 15 knots which allowed the allowing the start of the first race of the day, a windward-leeward of just more than 6 miles.
The race started at 16:20 with breeze was gradually increasing, peppered with gusts up to 20 knots.
Gianclaudio Bassetti’s WB Five made a strong start, with Alberto Signorini at the helm and Tommaso Chieffi as tactician having chosen to start on the committee boat end of the line.
The competition was close and tough from the gun, especially amongst the leading group. But after the strong opening. WB Five lost the lead to Pier Vettor Grimani’s Sideracordis who held on for three-quarters of the course, only to be finally overtaken again by WB Five on the last downwind.
The race which lasted a bit longer than once hour, saw WB Five winning, followed by Siderarcordis, with MurizioPavesi’s Le Coq Hardi in third with Aurelio Dalla Vecchia at the helm and Francesco De Angelis as tactician.
The second race of the day started just before 18:00 with the breeze dropping to 14 knots. WB Five lead at the start again, followed by Siderarcordis and Le Coq Hardi. The competition between these three boats was always close, while the breeze dropped to eight knots at the end of the race.
The winner was Siderarcordis with WB Five second and Joe Borghetti’s C-Map third with Matteo Simoncelli as tactician.
The provisional leaderboard after 2 races is : first Siderarcordis (2-1) and WB Five (1-2) with the same score, third Le Coq Hardi (3-5).
After the racing has ended for the day, the crews will gather at a welcoming cocktail party at Cala Felice restaurant, organised by BMW Group Italy, sponsor of X-41 World Championship under the control of Yacht Club Italiano.
BMW is also involved with the Drive & Sail operations in Scarlino.
Event Partners
The X-41 World Championship is sponsored by BMW, Atlante Marinas, Dab, Maremma Tuscany, Relais Vedetta, North Sails Italy sailmaker, Vela Mania and Nexus.