Persico 69F Revolution FCL - Overall
by Wordpower srl 19 Aug 2020 17:05 BST
17-19 August 2020
Persico 69F Revolution FCL - Day 3 © Persico 69F / Studio Borlenghi
Never give up, even if you're defeated and end up in the lower part of the table, even if at the beginning of the crucial race you capsize, even if in the final your principal opponent starts like a rocket.
Never give up especially if you're Ruggero Tita, Francesco Rubagotti or Matteo Pilati and you name your team - with the right irony - "Top Gun Racing", because at the end you win with honour the Persico 69F Revolution FCL.
Three crucial races were run this morning, with an amazing wind from the North. Top Gun Racing needed two flights (one of them started with a capsize), both finished with the second place behind Young Azzurra, to get to the final. Waiting for them, fresh and rested, Zeta Racing and Dutch Sail Janssen de Jong, qualified yesterday thanks to a direct path in the upper part of the table.
At the start the Dutch, favourite after winning the first Revolution last week, got a great advantage but then completely lost it with the wrong decision to go left after the first buoy. Top Gun Racing gybed after the first buoy and were the first to get the best gusts, increasing the speed until they got the lead, then defending until the finish line.
What to say about Young Azzurra? Even here, never give up! The Italian challenge for the Youth America's Cup was officially announced by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda just one week ago and the chosen team went immediately on the water; they lost the first race on Day 1 but they never gave up until they won two races today and finished second in the final. That position shows how much they are promising, with great margins and potential, and it also gives you the starting points to improve. When the apprentice surpasses master - coach Zennaro, third-placed with his Zeta Racing - the competition, enthusiasm, and revenge can only increase.
Returning to the winners: "We had a lot of fun," said the tireless Ruggero Tita, "they were beautiful races and the satisfaction today is great. Now we stay friends but we'll go our separate ways." Tita jokes, but the racing season divides the team: "We all do different things, and it's for this reason it's great to meet on this boat; each of us puts in their skills and it's the perfect mix of ingredients." Tita will continue the Olympic Campaign, Pilati will be the coach in 49er FX, and Rubagotti will continue to contribute to the success of Persico 69F and to race offshore.
For Young Azzurra the program is strictly drawn up: "Great satisfaction today," says Ettore Botticini, "after losing the first race we learned to do the simple things and to focus on the essential things - we freed ourselves from pressure and the emotion to start something so big and important. We focused on the tactics and it got better and better. The team works very well, with Francesca Bergamo at the mainsail and Federico Colannino controlling the foil we started to create a routine. We just have to train, already from next week, because the road just started."
The young Francesca Bergamo has done both the Revolution events in different roles: "Last week I was at the helm and in Young Azzurra I was at the mainsail; two very different roles but one thing remains the same: this boat is so cool".
With the results of today, the leaderboard overall is completed, and the victory goes to Dutch Sail Janssen de Jong, followed by RHKYC Team Agiplast and FP Sailing.
One of the organisers Dede De Luca commented: "What the Revolution taught us is that these boats and this formula rewards tenacity. We saw continuous changes in the leaderboard, surprises, capsizes, protest... and the victory was delivered to those who always believed until the end, who never gave up, who took the opportunity to catch up. And I really like this, because our formula has to put on a show, entertain the competitors, keeping everyone in the game until the end. Thanks to the wind from north we learned that these boats are solid and safe: in training, we went out with 25 knots and waves, and everything has worked. The teams are used to going faster than 20 knots, the boat is solid and reliable and the feedback we get from water is more than positive."
In the following days, the Persico 69F will be used for a series of training by the teams that compete in the Youth America's Cup and then they will be at the start line for the Gorla Trophy and "100 Foils", the version of the classic Centomiglia for flying boats. Then they will be back with Persico 69F Cup, in Malcesine, for the second of four Grand Prix in program for the middle of September.