28th International Lake Garda Optimist Meeting

by Fraglia Vela Riva 9 Apr 2010 09:05 BST 2-5 April 2010

With the two last races held early in the morning the 28th International Garda Optimist Meeting came to an end. This year we had yet another record with 943 participants. The Italian young sailor Patrick Zeni placed 2nd in the cadet fleet, whilst Carlotta Omari, presently one of Italy's top Optimist sailors placed 3rd overall and 1st in the female division.

This 28th edition of the meeting was not expected to have such a large turnout, in fact it's the second largest turn out since the conception of the meeting. As usual the staff at Fraglia Vela Riva were ready to receive the 943 participants together with the 160 accredited coaches ,who every year enjoy coming to the Garda Trentino area with their athletes to take part in this event, which apart from being a sporting event is also a yearly meeting for sailing enthusiasts.

In the cadet division Patrick Zeni was leading up to the last day, but the young Spaniard Albert Gelpi was invincible placing first in four races and second in one race with a discard of 32 points. Ushov Mikail from Russia placed 3rd, with the young Polish sailor Ilski Arthur sharing the podium in 3rd position. The Italian cadet team placed well having 4 sailors in the top 10 positions out of a total of 201 cadets. Ugo Zunardi (CN Punta Piccola-Agrigento) placed 5th Massimo Massini (CN Cervia) in 6th position. Davide Ducchi played home and placed 7th. Laurine De Seroux from France was the winner in the Female division and placed 8th overall, whilst Elisa Navoni from the Fraglia Vela Desenzano was declared the 1st Italian girl and also placed 2nd in the female division and 18th overall.

In the Junior division, today's 2 races decided the final result. Frederik Rask from Denmark won this division with a 6 point lead from the German sailor Vieregge .The young female sailor from Trieste Carlotta Omari sailed her Optimist with great confidence and gave a spetacular performance, and she is already regarded one of the top Italian sailors. Matteo Pincherie (CN Sanbenedettese) placed 8th in this division and yet again another girl to follow in the 9th place. Francesca Russo (Societa Barcolo Grignano) finished up 3rd in the female division and 16th overall.

The President of Fraglia Vela Riva, Mauro Stagno said that even though the weather was not what we all wished for, the meeting went well and ended up on a positive note. The race committee managed to hold as many races as was possible, considering the weather conditions. The International Jury members also worked continously and efficently throughout all the races. Our Lake did not leave us without any of its usual wind. I am glad that champions can still emerge from a large fleet of sailors and we have also demonstrated that this meeting is an important annual event and that both technically and physically we can host these large numbers. Mauro Stagno concluded by saying that this is not only a sporting event, but it is also a cultural and educational event. One has to say that even though it rained everyday except for one day, the lake was still transformed into a spectacle of colour, and in four days 6 races were raced and this made it possible for the competitors to discard their worse race.

The FIV representative Walter Cavallucci said that this event was evidence that the club is capable of organising such a successful event. It is also an great tribute to Italian sailing and to the Optimist class and in all the sailing schools and clubs all over the world. All I have left to tell you, is to invite you to next year's meeting, hoping for some sunshine.

Click here for overall results.