Reaction

We reacted! Carlo did a good start near the pin, we played the left all the way and that was the key of the race. Then we managed to keep Chris Larson behind(not easy) during the rest of the course.

On the second race our start was  not the best at the pin, but we were able to suffer and keep on going to the favourite left side.At the mark we were 7-8th, but Uka Uka came on port and tacked against us, and forced us not to lay the mark:we had to gybe and retack on the layline....loosing 10 boats. 

We recovered some positions on the run,got closer to the front in the second beat, and then passed somebody else in a big crowd at the top mark, which had been carried away by Terry Hutchinson.On the last run we passed Barbarians team to finish 7th.8th overall.

1.Larson-Clarke

2.Zandonà-Cassinari

3.Melleby

4.Celon-Reutsch

5.Favini-Col

6.Bressani-Mckee

7.Porter-Melges

8.Fracassoli-Fonda

9.Hutchinson

10.Hardesty-Brun

8th place overall. Incredible level at this event. I've been impressed by the consistence of the winner.

Chris Larson at the party told me he's living on the shore close to the sailing area....I understand many things...Congratulations to him, his tactician Richard Clarke ,and his crew!

Shit happens when you don't start

 I have to say Carlo today wasn't in his best shape for the starts.

Again an unconsistent 3-5 knots SE breeze, with strong tide.

As I mentioned the start was something more than disastrous. I nearly cried on the boat. We were last with distance. After that I did one of my best races ever:we gained 10 boats on the first beat(easy), then we've got a good opportunity from the right on the second beat, and we took it perfectly, passing many boats, and then again on the last run we used the last right shift to arrive 14th, getting really close to the front of the fleet.

On the second race  we were sucked in dirty air at the gun and we started rebounding without clear lanes.That was terrible. We stayed all the race around the 20th position, and then lost some boats on the final run because I decided to gybe too early.

m24 WORLDS- DAY 4

What the hell I was thinking before race 7. Probably I coulnd't believe that the starting procedure was really on. Light wind,1-4 knots, current. We started middle-right and called back by radio because ocs. It took a while in almost no wind to restart. The boats on the left got some breeze and were miles ahead.15 min after the leader at the top mark. finish 35th.Probably it would have been discard also without being over early, since I didn't plan the beat properly. At least we've got some motivation for the next two days.We'll give 100% to kick some asses. I'm getting very tired of Annapolis and its grey sky,and very impressed by the consistence of Chris Larson's team. Ciao

bad luck good luck

Very tired today, not much will to upload this blog. 8th after being 4th in the first and 14th after being 48th in second....mixed feelings tonight.I think today I really understood what "shifty" means. Still 5th overall, but behind many teams got really close. Great organization here for the after sailing, every day. I'm also understanding how sailing is lived here in the US and I really like this way. Great day today since I introduced myself to one of my sailing idols, Bora Gulari, 2009 moth world champion. I'm really enjoying this championship for the competition. The level is really tough. Terry Hutchinson, Morgan Reeser, Alan Field, Chris Larson,Charlie and Jonhatan Mckee,Bill Hardesty,Sebastian Col,Flavio Favini,Lorenzo Bressani,Gabrio Zandonà, Daniele Cassinari,Harry Melges are really big names!

M24 WORLDS- DAY 2

Today Annapolis was rainy and quite cold. The wind was northerly, with the left side favourite most of the time. On the first race we started near the pin to go left, but the comittee was more to windward and we couldn't cross in front of the fleet. We gained some boats during the course to finish 10th. On the second race our start was terrible and we had to duck the whole fleet, and head to the right side of the course. We gained again some boats in the second lap to finish 13th. We are 5th overall, but the results are very very open. Tomorrow the wind should be westerly, hopefully no rain...

justin interview

M24 WORLDS- DAY 1

As you can see we made a bullet in the second race today. The first race was a 9th, after a bad start.3rd overall. Very happy for the day. Tomorrow is another day.

ANNAPOLIS - MELGES 24 PREWORLD

After some passport problems, I arrived in the USA on Wednesday. The new boat "Gullisara", ITA 803 was already there with the team: Carlo Fracassoli, Giovanni Ferrari,Carlo Zermini and Stefano "Aicic" Nicolussi.

We spent most of the time getting the boat ready to go. It still isn' t perfectly ready to compete, since the championship starts tomorrow and we have sailed so far just 3 hours yesterday for the preworld races. We were not quick  in my opinion, struggling to stay in mid fleet. We couldn't rig our new mast: the class said the new masts must use the new forestay system, and we don't want  to do it because we don't have the settings. So we borrowed Blue Moon's old "white"  mast. Thanks a lot to Franco Rossini and his team!

Today we used the new north sails, but we couldn't make any speed test because the wind dropped when we went sailing.

So we are not very ready for it ( the team is new for 3/5 )...let's try do our best!

In  the meantime we are getting used to american habits...

MELGES 24, IL 2009 DI SAETTA

Last Saturday we had a meeting in Salò to prepare and fix the boat, plan the fixtures schedule, and, most important, to go skiing the day after in Campiglio...

Down here the schedule for the Nose Sailing Team season

Lo scorso weekend c'è stata una riunione a Salò per sistemare la barca, pianificare il calendario e, soprattutto, andare a sciare a Campiglio.

Ecco le date che vedranno coinvolto l'equipaggio di Saetta,ITA 716, nell'arco della stagione ormai alle porte:

20/2 TRAINING - ALASSIO

21-22/2 WINTER CUP - ALASSIO

14-15/3 TRAINING - GARDA?

19/3 TRAINING- ALASSIO

20-21-22/3 VOLVO CUP 1st LEG- ALASSIO

23/4 TRAINING - PUNTA ALA

24-25-26/4  VOLVO CUP 2nd LEG - PUNTA ALA

14/5 TRAINING - LERICI

15-16-17/5 VOLVO CUP 3rd LEG - LERICI

9-10/6 TRAINING - CAGLIARI

11-12-13-14/6 ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP, VOLVO CUP 4th LEG- CAGLIARI

27-28/6 TRAINING - TORBOLE

2-3-4-5/7 VOLVO CUP 5th LEG - TORBOLE

20-21/8 TRAINING - HYERES

22-28/8 EUROPEANS- HYERES

Still not sure our trip to the worlds in Annapolis at the end of october.

Cheers

Ancora non certa la partecipazione al campionato del mondo di Annapolis a fine ottobre.

Ciao

VOGLIA DI REGATA

Già durante la crociera la voglia di regatare era fin  troppa........RIMINI ARRIVIAMO!

Foto dal Mondiale Melges 24

Ecco una serie di foto di "Saetta" al Mondiale Melges 24 di Porto Cervo. La prima immagine dall'alto riguarda l'ultima prova del Campionato dove, grazie alle decisioni tattiche del nostro Chicco, siamo riusciti a vincere con circa mezzo lato di vantaggio sul secondo! Un ringraziamento speciale da parte mia va anche a Michele che ci ha dato la possibilità di divertirci un mondo facendo delle regate al top, a Cesare che senza la sua energia e bravura saremmo tutti finiti e al mitico Aicic, vero "uomo chiave" dell'equipaggio.

Gran finale!

Gran finale per Saetta al campionato mondiale di Porto Cervo! Con un secondo, un terzo e un primo posto ci siamo scrollati di dosso la prestazione opaca di giovedi, recuperando fino al settimo posto della graduatoria finale.

Campionato ventoso!

Rimane senz'altro il rimpianto per la prima regata del campionato , in cui abbiamo girato la boa di bolina al primo posto per poi successivamente vedere le posizioni stravolte a causa di effetto "scovazzera" nel primo lato di poppa. In tale prova il piazzamento che siamo riusciti a rimediare è stato solo un 27 esimo: se pensiamo  che con 15 punti in meno potevamo essere sul podio........

Tutto l'equipaggio di Saetta merita comunque un elogio: in un mondiale così numeroso e di livello così alto  un settimo posto è da incorniciare, soprattutto se condito da due primi parziali!

wet melges

La nuvoletta di Fantozzi mi perseguita e anche in Sardegna mi becco la pioggia..... Ieri abbiamo lavorato sulla barca e questa mattina l'abbiamo messa in acqua. Per oggi abbiamo deciso di non partecipare alle regate del pre world per via del maltempo. Ciao