Down to the wire!
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act II – 9-12 December 2021 – J/70
Sunday 12th December. Fifty one international teams, 15 nations and three days of racing were on the menu for Act II of the 2021/2022 Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series. Launched 2013, these monthly regattas have become established as events not to be missed for many high level teams, with the added spice of familiarising themselves with the race area of the upcoming J/70 World Championship (14-22 October 2022) organised by Yacht Club de Monaco.
Stubborn to the end
While some were experiencing Monaco bay’s particularities for the first time, others seized the opportunity to perfect team coordination during the five races completed in a moderate southwesterly flow. The first races quickly set the pace and outcome for the regatta, with YCM’s Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio (G-Spot) topping the provisional ranking on the Friday, followed closely by the Russians on Tenzor Sport and Ludovico Fassitelli (Junda). The game of musical chairs began the next day as the Russian team led by Milena Nikitina muscled in, winning the day’s one race to move into 1st place.
On Sunday, the southwesterly breeze was back in force to produce some superb tussles between Découvertes, Tenzor Sport and G-Spot. After a clean start under the U flag, competitors pulled out all the stops in a battle won by Tenzor Sport, putting them at the top followed by G-Spot then the Moscow team on Dolce Vita. YCM’s Ludovico Fassitelli (Junda) was 4th. In the Corinthian (amateurs) category, the Swiss on Jerry beat their compatriots on Jalla jalla who in turn pipped the Germans on Wikiwiki to the post.
Having won Act 1, Ludovico Fassitelli (Junda) maintains his lead in the provisional ranking for this Winter Series, five small points ahead of his pursuers: the Russians on Tenzor Sport and Dolce Vita. In the Corinthian category, YCM’s Cesare Gabasio (Tinnj70) is lying 2nd just a point behind the Irish on Wild Card after ten races.
A Russian-Monegasque duel
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act II – 9-12 December 2021 – J/70
Saturday 11th December 2021. For this second, and final event for the year, the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series is hosting the cream of the one design crop. A total of 51 international teams, the majority of which have a track record to make the best skippers blush, are here to compete, test and master the race area that will host the J/70 World Championship, organised for the first time by Yacht Club de Monaco (14-22 October 2022).
50 teams out on the water!
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act II – 9-12 December 2021 – J/70
Friday 10th December 2021. Pressure is mounting with each Act. For the second meeting, nigh-on 50 teams descended on the Yacht Club de Monaco with 15 nations represented on the Monegasque race area.
Strong showing by Monegasques
From the start, Ludovico Fassitelli (Junda), winner of Act 1, set the pace. The Yacht Club de Monaco member and his crew won the first race hands down in a brisk 12-16 knot southwesterly. But the men on Junda who this evening are lying 3rd in the provisional ranking, after three races, are not the only ones with big ambitions.
After a short break due to a 90° wind shift, the fleet set out on the second race, won this time by another YCM member, Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio (G-Spot) to put his team in 1st place, with the Russians on Tenzor Sport squeezed between the two in 2nd at the end of the first day.
Winning at home
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act I – 4-7 November 2021 – J/70
Sunday 7th November 2021. With 15 nationalities represented and around 40 teams, including the best Europeans, Act 1 of the 9th Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series set the tone for the season. With the J/70 World Championship scheduled here in Monaco 14-22 October 2022, this international Winter Series of regattas, instigated in 2013, showcased the high level of this class.
From start to finish
Friday kicked the event off in style with a steady 15-18 knot easterly, warm sunshine defying autumnal weather, and a well-formed swell that saw some memorable surfs downwind under spinnaker (speeds up to 18 knots clocked by some). The three races completed were enough to reveal the level and challenges facing even the best teams, here to try out and get to know the race area where the Worlds will be held in just under a year. Monegasques also have everything to fight for as the four stages of this Winter Series are qualifying events for them.
From the start, Monegasques showed their teeth like Ludovico Fassitelli and his crew on Junda, comprised of sailors as talented as they are complementary including young Leonardo Bonelli from the Yacht Club de Monaco’s Sports Section. “It was a great start to the season. The level has increased across boats from all nations,” notes Ludovico. “We pulled off some good things for this first act with a newish crew as we’d changed tactician. It was the first time we’d sailed together”. The YCM member was delighted as they won the trophy after a nail-biting five races.
Fassitelli moves into 1st place
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act I – 4-7 November 2021
Saturday 6th November 2021. Second day and suspense is mounting in Act 1 of the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series. With a 5-knot 240°-260° (west, south, west) breeze and pronounced swell from the east, a cool head and keeping up the pressure on the competition was key. Two races were completed during a light air day when contestants had clearly not left their determination and grit in the changing rooms.
Junda takes off
Among Monegasque teams who know the race area well, it was a question of jostling hard for position to survive in a fleet where the level is so consistent, difficult to make up ground and catch the leading group once over the start. On the other hand, all lights were green for Junda led by Ludovico Fassitelli who posted a 4th and 2nd place to top the provisional ranking this evening, just ahead of the Spanish on Patakin who made a comeback worthy of the history books.
There’s still one more day to go and all eyes will be on the Americans aboard Good to Go, still very much in the running but having dropped to 3rd place today.
Americans show who’s boss!
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act I – 4-7 November 2021
Friday 5th November 2021. Decks were awash and faces whipped by a 15-18 knot easterly as contestants surfed under spinnakers at nigh-on 18 knots on this bracing first day. The 40 teams on the start have now got the measure of this meeting, as this 9th Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series season is a chance to try out the race area which will host the J/70 World Championship (14-22 October 2022) organised by Yacht Club de Monaco in partnership with FxPro.
Major on-site test for the Worlds for international sailors
Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Act I – 4-7 November 2021
Thursday 4th November 2021. Act 1 of the 9th Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series starts on Friday. Launched by Yacht Club de Monaco at the instigation of Valentin Zavadnikov, the series of monthly regattas has become a tradition for many international teams, with this season’s series taking on special significance for J/70 sailors with just under a year to go to the J/70 World Championship in Monaco (14-22 October 2022), organised by YCM.
Surfing the wave
A major force in the sailing world, Yacht Club de Monaco knows how to give competitors who decide to rig up in the Principality what they want. To set a precedent, YCM are pulling out all the stops for this season’s Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series which is set to attract some of the top sailors for this ninth edition, with around 40 teams from 14 nationalities for this first Act. From Friday an 8-10 knot easterly is expected, strengthening over night to an up to 20-knot westerly on Saturday. Great conditions to warm-up competitors.
The Germans on Grün and Americans on Good to Go will be joining the meeting’s regulars, like the talented British team on Brutus II. Also of note are newcomers among the Monegasque ranks, with Moonlight II and the Russian teams on Tenzor Legal and Tenzor Sport signed up.
Monegasque Loïc Pompée and his men on Sailing Racing Team will also be there, buoyed by their 5th place in the recent European Championship, their hearts set this time on a podium finish at home.
Qualifier warm-up
This season the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series is part of the qualification system for the J/70 World Championship (14-22 October 2022) being organised for the first time by Yacht Club de Monaco in partnership with FxPro. The 120 teams that qualify will be in two groups: one for those competing in the Open category and the second for the Corinthian (amateur) teams, and this Winter Series is a great opportunity for contenders to get to know the Monegasque race area.
The 38th Primo Cup-Trophée Credit Suisse (3-6 March 2022) counts as the fourth and final Act, and will be the last major on-location test event for those qualifying for the J/70 World Championship.
A breezy edition
Grimaldi Trophy – San Remo – Monaco – San Remo – 16-17 October 2021
Sunday 17th October 2021. Around 30 boats lined up on the start of the Grimaldi Trophy, an inshore race between Sanremo in Italy and the Principality, jointly organised by Yacht Club Sanremo and Yacht Club de Monaco. Four entrants were representing YCM, including its flagship Tuiga, Valter Pizzoli’s Ange Transparent II, Gorilla Gang XL helmed by Andrea Statari and Alain Mazzoleni’s Alcyon.
Three races on the programme
For 2021, there were three stages, the first an 11.6 nautical mile race launched in Sanremo on Friday in an 8/12 knot easterly taking the fleet to Ventimiglia. YCM’s Valter Pizzoli (Ange Transparent II) came 2nd in the ORC A while in the IRC Tuiga crossed the line in 5th. The next day, contestants were out on the water again for the second race covering the ten nautical miles from the new Cala del Forte marina in Ventimiglia to Monaco, with Valter Pizzoli (Ange Transparent II) again clinching 2nd in ORC A while Tuiga upped her game to arrive 4th in the IRC.
Great art!
Smeralda 888 – Championship Finale – 16-17 October 2021
Sunday 17th October 2021. There can be no doubt that Smeralda 888 teams are totally in control of their boats as their talent was again on display at the Championship’s finale in Monaco. After the Primo Cup – Trophée Credit Suisse, Trofeo Luigi Carpaneda in Alassio, Corsica Cup in Calvi and Coppa Europa in Porto Cervo, the ‘Band of Brothers’ were keen to meet at home for the finale which included a team composed of young sailors from Société Nautique de Genève (Geneva).
Like a metronome
The tone was set from the word go. With three races started without any general or individual recalls and mark roundings negotiated in magisterial style, the magic of this class of gentlemen sailors again saw everyone in agreement. Friday evening, title holder Timofey Sukhotin (Beda) of a championship that only gets tougher as the years go by, was neck and neck with Vamos mi Amor of Charles de Bourbon des Deux-Siciles who is also President of this class.
Loïc Pompée at his peak
J/70 – European Championship – Denmark – 27 August – 4 September
Saturday 4th September 2021. They let the fun last to the final race. Loïc Pompée and his J/70 crew brought home an excellent 6th place in the European Championship hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club.
Qualifying heats: a second wind
The cream of European J/70 sailors made the trip. With 98 teams from 18 nationalities lined up on the start, the qualifiers were far from easy, but the YCM member kept a cool head from the start to win two of the five races. “It’s always nice to finish the qualifiers at this level (in 10th position), just ahead of teams like the European Champion, the Italian Claudia Rossi,” he says.
In the big league
Galvanised by a superb start, the Monegasque team had no trouble making it into the gold group, then set themselves the objective of scavenging points that separated them from the top rankings. Lying 4th in the Championship after three races, the YCM boat faced several tactical challenges, but while they may not have made it onto the podium they finished a very respectable 6th.
Next year, Loïc Pompée takes on a new challenge at the J/70 World Championship on a race area he knows well – in Monaco – 14-22 October 2022.