The 38th J24 Italian Open Championship recently saw thirty-two crews face each other in the waters of Riva del Garda for five days. It ended with victory for La Superba from the Naples J24 Sailing Center of the Italian Navy.
There was great satisfaction for the helmsman Ignazio Bonanno and his crew. “ We wish to thank the Italian Navy and in particular the Sport and Sailing Office for allowing us to be at our best here in this championship. We are very happy, especially because we won the J24 Italian Championship on a lake for the first time.”
Second place in the Open classification went to the American, Keith Whittemore sailing Furio.
Third place but second Italian on the podium went to the crew of Aria from LNI Olbia with the Sardinian fleet commander Marco Frulio, who was ahead of the Hungarians in Jukebox with Milos Rauschenberger.
Bronze medal in the national classification and fifth place overall went to NotiFyme-Pilgrim fitted out by the J24 fleet commander from Lario, Mauro Benfatto, and steered by Mr. Fabio Mazzoni (with Lorenzo Airoldi, Alberto Benedetti and Pietro Kostner). “It was a wonderful championship and I had a great time”, commented Mr. Mauro Benfatto. “We had the opportunity to race against people who are really up to this challange, of the highest calibre. Overall a very positive and enjoyable championship that made us keep up to it until the very end”.
The championship, organised by the Sailing Fraglia of Riva del Garda chaired by Giancarlo Mirandola under the aegis of FIV and in association with the National J24 Association, was an excellent opportunity to test the regatta field, logistics and adversaries in view of the J24 World Championship scheduled from 23rd to 31st August once again at Riva del Garda.
See you at the end of August then!
