Austrians lead Mixed Offshore Europeans

Venice, Italy (October 10, 2019) – After the start yesterday for the long distance stage of the inaugural EUROSAF Mixed Offshore European Championship, the seven national teams were divided by two different sail strategical approaches.

Some of the teams were using a “code zero” heading mainly “on route” (approximately 120° to the first mark, the island of Susak in Croatia) while others were sailing more south with the Gennaker, heading toward a foreseen southerly wind-shift, with the Scirocco wind filling in the Adriatic Sea later in the evening.

All teams are using the L30, a 30-foot one design monohull selected for World Sailing’s Offshore World Championships in 2020. Despite the two different strategies the fleet arrived almost packed at the rounding of the first mark after about 10 hours from the start.

Only the Italian team had a technical problem big enough to make them losing a bit of time but the Team is now back in the race trying hard to close the gap.

Conditions last night were breezy with some bumpy sea but the south direction wind was helping the fleet to keep the race on a fast track.

As visible on the tracker the fleet, after reaching the mark of “San Giovanni in pelago”, a very beautiful rock with a light house on the top “floating” on the crystal waters of the Croatian costs, is now heading to the finishing line in Trieste right in front of the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano.

The Austrian team is, at present, leading in front of the French team and the Belgians, but the advantage is not yet big enough to make them feeling safe of their lead.

In fact, the approach of the Trieste gulf maybe tricky as the wind is expected to drop and this maybe a factor that could mix the ards again.

Teams are expected to arrive tonight or very early morning tomorrow depending on weather condition in the gulf of Trieste

The event is the very first premiere of this new Olympic event which will be held a the Paris 20204 Olympics. “There is a lot of talking about this new discipline in the sailing world and I was, personally, really interested in making a very first practical experience,” said Riccardo Simoneschi, Race Manager of the event.

“I think we have learned a lot and seen the high potential of this discipline for sailing despite many shadows that still have to be enlightened to make it working at the best. I’m very positive and think that like every new idea, it will find the right balance.”

Registered teams and sailors:
Austria – Lisa Berger and Christian Kargl
Belgium – Jonas Gerckens and Sophie Faguet
France – Mathilde Geron and Pierre Leboucher
Great Britain – Henry Bomby and Hannah Diamond
Italy – Andrea Pendibene and Giovanna Valsecchi
Spain – Guillermo Altadill and Ana Santamaria
USA – Peter Beker and Barbara Karpinska

The Live Tracking of the races will be available online at:
Inshore Race – www.ssi.events/tracking-nastrorosa-inshore
Offshore Race – www.ssi.events/tracking-nastrorosa-offshore

Event details – Twitter – Facebook

The race finish will coincide with the Barcolana festival with trophies and medals to be awarded in Trieste’s main square on October 12.