If anyone had ever wondered why, at the end of August, we hoisted an enormous Italian flag on the crane in Porto Vecchio of Sanremo, the answer is that it seemed to us the most beautiful signal to celebrate, with our city, the victory of the World Cup 8mR Class, historic boats category, of our two members Flavio Grassi and Vittorio Zaoli on board the 8 meter VISION from 1930. A hard week of strong wind, rain, and cold in the Scottish waters of the Clyde to win the Neptune, Sira trophies, Generation, and the prestigious and historic Italian Yacht Club Cup!
In the same month, the ITA 79 dragon with the flag of our yacht club – the only Italian representation – took third place in the European Class Championship in Parnu, Estonia. At the helm, Olympian Yevgen Braslavets with the Zaoli brothers: “It was a very demanding championship, characterized by days of little wind and very unstable, with a very large and very high-level fleet – comments Andrea – a big thank you to Transbunker, to Yacht Club Sanremo and to all those who have supported us along this journey!”. In June, ITA 79 had already recorded an eighth place at the Dragon Grand Prix of Travemuender, the class championship in Germany, one of the two Italian dragons with ITA 50 of our member Marco Gerbaudo.
There was no shortage of great victories in offshore sailing too. First of all, Sarchiapone Fuoriserie ITALIAN OFFSHORE CHAMPION in Brindisi with our partner Gianluigi Dubbini, always in the lead in the four days of regattas, very demanding and hard-fought given the excellent level of the crews present. With average wind between 12 and 16 knots, the Italia Yachts 9.98 is always very fast in the water, even compared to the other sister boats, and the crew is always reactive in maneuvers and in moments of difficulty. “For Sarchiapone this was the target regatta of the year and we are very satisfied to have achieved it – helmsman Roberto Dubbini tells us – we arrived at the Italian knowing that we could achieve a good result, also following the series of regattas leading up to the Championship and which has always seen us protagonists and excel in our group: Sanremo Winter, Alassio Offshore Sailing Week, Punta Ala Silver Buoy, Punta Stendardo Gaeta Trophy and victory of the IV Champions Cup in Trani. We have been close to winning the Italian title for several years and… we have finally managed to achieve it!”. The Yacht Club Sanremo banner also waved on the podium of the 151 Miglia with Marco Babando’s Swan 45 Miss K Checkmate which took third place in the ORC ranking, followed in eighth position by Andrea Statari’s Comet 45.5 Gorilla Gang XL.
A few weeks earlier, our Figarò 3 finished the Giro d’Italia Nastro Rosa Tour of the Italian Navy in fourth place, after 1400 miles of navigation and 9 stages along the peninsula (including the second in Sanremo, at our yacht club ). “We are satisfied that, in a very demanding regatta, made up of very high-level crews, we too managed to participate with a Yacht Club Sanremo boat!” commented our president Beppe Zaoli. “It was an honor to be able to represent our yacht club in this race, and we are thrilled with the wonderful people we had the opportunity to meet on this maritime journey which saw us all very united despite the competition – say the athletes of our team. “Those who love sailing know how to be adversaries at sea and friends on land, because, in the end, the thread that unites us is fueled by a single passion that we all share equally” comments our partner Max Kuester, who raced further half of the stages of the Giro together with the team coordinated by him with Davide Ortelli, Federica Monacelli, Carlo Macchi, Carlo Sessa, Enrico Tamanini, Giacomo Galimberti, Francesco Bianchi and Lorenzo De Felice.
And again Max Kuester and Anna Marsano aboard Suspiria the Revenge of their friend Antonino Venneri won the 33rd Formenton Trophy, Regatta category, and Swan classification, in the waters of the Maddalena archipelago.
For our member and advisor Paolo Bonetto, very passionate about the Smeralda 888 class, a nice second place at the Invitational in Porto Cervo, followed by fifth place at the European Cup, aboard Marco Favale’s Millenium Falcon: “three days of fantastic wind and gentleman racing in the large international family of Smeralda 888s, all enthusiasts of the highest level”.
Moving on to the waters of Lake Garda, Vittorio Zaoli took first place in the RS21 CUP YAMAMAY 2024 on board the owner Edoardo Lupi’s Torpyone, while Diego Negri took fourth place on Alessandro Zampori’s Das Sailing Team. Valerio Mugnano, who is preparing for the 2028 Olympics in the 470 class, is also part of a young and very competitive team that, aboard Melgina owned by Paolo Brescia, won the title of ITALIAN CHAMPION in the MELGES 24 class, challenging the best Italian and European crews.
CONGRATULATIONS to the boats and their crews who paid homage to our club. And thanks, always, to all our members! Continue to follow us: subscribe to our newsletter and, in case of any reports to make, you can send us a message here: contacts