D-One Volvo Cup Act 3 at Cattolica, Italy
by Sue Cobb, Suntouched Sailboats 4 Jul 2012 16:11 BST
16-17 June 2012
Act III of the D-One European Volvo Cup was sailed in perfect conditions in Cattolica on the north-east coast of Italy. 2 days of racing were held with both air & sea temperatures well into the 20s, a sea breeze socially arriving around lunchtime and building towards 10knots on both days, perfect race management, great Italian hospitality and a 6 course Italian meal with wine for €30 Euros in the evening - what more could a sailor ask for! As well as that, the D-One class continues to grow internationally with 20 boats from 4 countries taking part in Act III and up to 70 sailors from 10 countries expected for the Worlds in October in Alassio, Italy.
Races 1 & 2 were held in a gently building breeze reaching 10 knots by the end of the day giving full hiking & planing downwind in these powered up, high performance boats. Nick Craig (GBR) won the opening race and came back to 3rd in race 2 to hold a small overnight lead from race 2 winner and 2009 World Champion Agustin Zabalua (ARG), Riccardo Pontromoil (ITA) on 8 points and leading master Andrea Magni (ITA) on 9 points.
With a slightly earlier midday start on Sunday, there was a little less wind building from 5 to 8 knots through the day with more brilliant sunshine and faultless race management. Zabalua won race 3 after a close battle from countryman Andrea Gencia (ARG) with Craig catching Pontromoil at the finish.
This set up a close last race, which was a double points non-discardable race with Zabalua going in with 2 points, Craig 4, Pontromoil 6 & Magni 7 so all four of these could easily win overall.
Zabalua made a great start and showed excellent upwind speed once again to open up a useful lead with all 3 rivals out of the top 5 at the windward mark. Craig had a strong run to keep the pressure on and the two exchanged several gybes on the last run with Zabalua hanging on to crucially win the double pointer by 1/2 a boat length in some great racing. Luca Isvolella's 3rd in last race whilst the leading pack were outside the top 5 elevated him to 3rd overall with Magni hanging on to 4th overall.
Overall Results:
1st Agustin Zabalua, ARG, 4pts
2nd Nick Craig, GBR, 8pts
3rd Luca Isvolella, ITA, 16pts
4th Andrea Magni, ITA, 19pts
5th Andrea Gencia, ARG, 20pts
6th Nicolo Saidelfi, ITA, 26pts
7th Alessandro Novi, ITA, 27pts
8th Riccardo Pontromoli, ITA, 28pts
9th Giando Boglione, CRO, 30pts
10th Guido Falcola, ITA, 39pts
The next act of the Volvo Cup D-One will be the Italian Open Championship, to be held in the magnificent scenario of Argentario, Tuscany, hosted by Yacht Club Santo Stefano from July, 20th to 22nd.