J/24 European Championship at Patras, Greece - Overall
by Julie & Chris Howell 10 May 19:47 BST
4-10 May 2019
Day 1 - J/24 European Championship at Patras, Greece © Christopher Howell
Ignazio Bonanno's La Superba of Italy, with crew Simone Scontrino, Vincenzo Vano, Francesco Picaro and Alfredo Branciforte, only needed nine of 10 races to earn the title of J/24 European Champions for the second time. They also won in 2012 in their home country.
The team logged scores of 1,3,4,3,2,3,1,2,3 for 22 net points, able to stay ashore for Friday's final duel which determined the runner-up positions. Anthimos Nikolaidis' Evniki of Greece secured the silver spot with the race win for 37 net points.
Two fellow countrymen followed in third and fourth overall: Panagiotis Kampouridis' JMania (43 points) and Alexandros Tagaropoulos' Hellenic Police (46 points). German Stefan Karsunke's Schwere Jungs completed the top five with 51 points. Thirty J/24s competed May 7-10 from the Sailing Club of Patras in Greece.
Bonanno and the La Superba team from the Italian Navy race together regularly, and are working to come to Miami, Florida for the 2019 World Championship in October. Conditions in Patras were postcard-perfect every day, with winds generally starting near 10 knots and increasing throughout the day.
Bonanno shared, "We prefer light breeze usually, but on the first day, we had a good day even when the wind increased to 15-18 knots." Of the venue, he added, "Really nice races and a good race area. We took the European Champion the day before, so we are really, really happy!"
Complete results may be found at j24europeans2019.gr.