The Persico 69F Revolution Cup - Preview
by Wordpower srl 7 Aug 19:07 BST
14-19 August 2020
Persico 69F fleet © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi
Which are the ingredients of a (good) revolution? In our opinion they are enthusiasm, new ideas, new needs and new responsibilities. Translated in our language: desire to give more speed to our sail, new technology, more sustainability.
From theory to practice: The Persico 69F Revolution Cup starts on Friday with 16 teams Under 25 on water, table formula, 12 races in three days, arbitrage on water, quadrilateral course and international teams and very young people. This week, on the line, there's a lot.
What brings to Gargnano, on the Lombardy side of Lake Garda, 16 Under 25 teams from Italy, Hong Kong, Denmark and even two from Holland? Definitely the desire to have fun and fly on water, the need to race after the lockdown, but also the ambition to look over, in particular to Youth America's Cup, by appointment early in 2021 in New Zealand.
In fact, some teams are already registered at Youth America's Cup and they have chosen Persico 69F as hull for practice in view of this event. It's for this reason that they have come all the way from Holland, Hong Kong and Denmark - and, had it not been for the restrictions due to Covid-19, there would have been a crew from Argentina, as well - and it's for this that also in Italy teams are preparing with the goal of New Zealand 2021.
If that's not enough, there's also the pride factor. We call it this way, and it's translated with a picture of the gps when speed exceeds 30 knots, with the fun of "surpassing the buoy". Yes, surpassing, because here speeds are such that terms of circuits seem more appropriate, and this is also a revolution, in the constant search of sailing world to increase their audience, to bring people who love sports where speed and ability make the difference.
Anyway: the program is intense and a full immersion. Three days of training, from Friday 7th to Sunday 9th, and three days of competitions for a total of 12 races. It begins on Monday, August the 10th with "Round A": the 16 teams will be divided in four flight of four teams each, in every Run there's a race for four teams, the best two continue in the upper part of the table, the third and the fourth will have to commit to go up from the lower part, but they will be reachable and arrive to the finals.
"The goal of this event - explains Giorgio Benussi, CCO of the 69F Sailing project- is to give a new rhythm, allow to young people to approach the foiling world, define a new way of race. We have 48 boys and girls, born between 1995 and 2002: they're enthusiastic, fast, capable, ambitious. Our job is to make them have fun in a context of respect of the environment, make them important, give them the possibility to carry on the skills they have acquired on the boat".
Yacht Club Italiano and Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano form a crew
Together, with the aim of participating in one of the most revolutionary regattas of the 2020 season, Yacht Club Italiano and the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano announced today their joint participation in the Persico 69F Revolution, scheduled from the 14th to the 19th of August in Gargnano. The Cup is a team foiling regatta aboard the Persico 69F, in which 20 very successful crews from all over Europe and Hong Kong will participate. YCI and SVBG will field their own joint team, consisting of Giulio Desiderato (YCI), Michele Paoletti (SVBG) and, as a third man, Vittorio Bissaro, Olympian in the Nacra 17 class.
The YCI-SVBG team is further evidence of the ongoing collaboration that exists between the two yacht clubs, which has also been the basis for the "sister races" of Barcolana and Millevele and related events.
"Collaboration is in the DNA of those who go to sea, first and foremost, and that is the main mission of the YCI" - says the President of the Italian Yacht Club Gerolamo Bianchi - "who has relationships of reciprocity with the main sailing clubs of the world. Between the Adriatic Sea and the SVBG there is an even more special relationship, which is not solely a formal contract, but an active collaboration that starts from the "sister races" of Millevele and Barcolana and will continue with the participation of a joint team, in an innovative Class to which we all look to with great interest".
"This collaboration" - said SVBG President Mitja Gialuz - "stems from the will of two of our respective top athletes, Michele Paoletti and Giulio Desiderato, always ready to get involved and find synergies in order to excel. With the Yacht Club Italiano we have a solid partnership that is renewed with this regatta project on the 69F, an extraordinary boat that was introduced to us at the launch in the last edition of Barcolana and that will be present in October in Trieste. Good luck to the team, who cement an increasingly strong and constructive friendship."
"In the last few weeks" - said Michele Paoletti, a sailor from Trieste - "I participated in a series of trainings sessions and test runs on the Persico 69F and I was thrilled. The boat is very fun, the circuit is agile, and the quality of the sailors present will be very high: these are all winning elements, and I am pleased to be able to participate with a crew formed from the two yacht clubs, which highlights the importance of collaboration. For our part, the goal is to compete at the maximum level, because these boats highlight the skill of the crews, and the foil, when you try it, becomes an experience you want to repeat".
"With Michele during last season" - continues Giulio Desiderato, an athlete who flies the colors of the Genoa Club - "we spent at least 100 days at sea together, we are very good friends and have a special synergy on board. It seemed natural to involve our respective clubs in this new adventure. With Vittorio Bissaro, who is the most experienced of the three of us on "flying boats", we complete our unprecedented crew and prepare to meet the challenge of the next Revolution Cup."
"I always liked to push myself" - concludes the Olympian, Vittorio Bissaro - "and I immediately took the opportunity to take a break from training with the Nacra in order to participate in a regatta with a boat that intrigues me a lot". The 33-year-old sailor from Verona in the Fiamme Azzurre (the sporting association of the Italian Police Force), is a great athlete recently winning the 2019 world title in the Olympic Class Nacra 17 with Maelle Frascari and also has to his credit the participation in the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro in 2016.