Lake Garda Persico 69F Cup

YachtBoatNews19/07/2020

446 3 minutes read

Persico 69F Cup day 1 ©Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi

Roberto Lacorte’s FlyingNikka 47 dominated again on the second day of the Grand Prix 1 – Event 1.1 of the Persico 69F Cup under way in Gargnano, on the Brescia shore of Lake Garda.

Working off their advantage obtained yesterday, the team won today three of the four runs and, although losing points due to a penalty incurred in Run 9, leads the provisional standings with 8.5 points.

The lack of wind made it vital to be the first team to get up on the foils and Lacorte, Bressani and Zennaro were super precise in accomplishing this task; this is the real secret weapon aboard the Persico 69F when there is little wind.

Persico 69F Cup day 2 – photo © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi

“Today we had a light to medium wind” – explains Dede De Luca, Chief Sailing Officer of Team 69F – “but it was a good day. We are seeing closer races, interesting buoy placements, boats in closer proximity, and penalties: it is a sign that the crews are improving their confidence with the Persico 69F and with the format of the regatta”.

While FlyingNikka 47 leads the rankings unchallenged, the fight for second place is tight, with the Swiss Team maintaining second place and only one point ahead of FlyingNikka 74, who could not benefit from fair play points, having received a penalty. Ksenia Team also charged ahead to 34 points, now finding themselves in great shape: the Brenco-Regolo-Rubagotti team earned points by dominating Run 9. Applause for One Up Team, which continues to show signs of improvement and clocked their top speed in Run 8: Andrea Vacchino reached 17.16 knots of speed.

Persico 69F Cup day 2 – photo © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi

The “King of Speed” of the day, and top performer among the challenger crews, was instead the Ksenia Team, reaching 17.47 knots in Run 9 when the wind was 12 knots.

“Light wind today” – said Lorenzo Bressani, Fly Controller of FlyingNikka 47 – “and although from Garda we would all want more, even so we’ve had very nice and fun regattas. We are good to be the first to get up on the foils and this guarantees us the advantage: hence the victory in three of the four races today. As the days go by, other teams are getting closer and better, so we need to be responsive and ready. Overall, the experience has been super positive despite the penalty we took today, as it is part of the game”.

Runs Analysis

Day 2 was characterized by an L course and three quadrilateral reaching starts. There were two runs with light wind and two with gusts reaching 14 knots, before the weather system currently stationed over northern Italy extinguished the Garda wind.

In the first Run, contended between the boats in dislocation mode with wind from 210 degrees up to 6 knots along the L route, the Swiss Team (Celon – Raphoz – Fedrigucci) immediately asserted dominance by rounding the first buoy first: it was only the beginning of the skirmishes, because then FlyingNikka 47 (Lacorte – Zennaro – Bressani) took the lead of the regatta.

Persico 69F Cup day 2 – photo © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi

However, the real excitement began at the start of the second race: the wind increased and finally the “rollercoaster” of Garda took off, even if it was short lived. With just ten knots of wind, it becomes a sport of a different nature, which FlyingNikka 47 continues to manage with great skill, also winning the second Run of the day, with the Swiss Team in hot pursuit.

Run 9 proved decisive and livened up the leaderboard: 13 knots of wind and Ksenia Team’s resounding victory: Brenco – Regolo – Rubagotti came first and also took home the electronic points of the race, thanks to their top speed (17.47 kn) and short distance (4.53 miles). FlyingNikka finished third, preceded by FlyingNikka74 with a penalty point.