NORTH VICTORY AT THE J/70 ITALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

L’elagain Finishes The J/70 Season On A High

Confirming that consistent results are the key to success, Italian team L’elagain celebrated victory at the J/70 Italian Cup after finishing with all but one result within the top 10 and the best discard in the fleet. With a competitive fleet of 52 boats from 11 countries racing at Yacht Club Sanremo, the regatta marked the end of a jam packed J/70 season. We caught up with J/70 Class Expert, Giulio Desiderato to hear how L’elagain made their victory possible.

Sailing as part of L’elagain for one day of the regatta in replacement of Daniele Cassinari who sailed the remaining days, Giulio felt honoured: “I am very proud to have replaced Daniele who I consider one of the top Italian sailors. I was a little worried because this was my first time with the team, but sailing with them was amazing with a great atmosphere onboard and together we conquered the title!’’

The regatta could not have brought more varied conditions to test the teams; the first two days were light-medium wind conditions with choppy waves whilst the third and final day presented the sailors with an epic 20-22 knots of wind from the south and big waves. Talking about the team’s boatspeed, Giulio said “We felt really fast in the water in both sets of conditions and were able to recover well from race two and three where we didn’t get a good start.’’

With North Sails teams winning an impressive eight out of a possible nine races sailed in such a mixed bag of conditions, L’elagain adapted the shape of the sail through simple mast tuning. Daniele explains: “The XCS-2 Mainsail is a very good choice for my team since we are in the heavy side as crew weight. It gives us power in light/medium conditions while we can flat it enough with strong breeze. As usual, both the J-2 HC Jib and AP-1 Spinnaker have proven to be fast in all conditions, but it will be very interesting to also test the new F-1 Mainsail and J-6 HC Jib.’’ Browse our full J/70 Shop Inventory.

“As usual, both the J-2 HC Jib and AP-1 Spinnaker have proven to be fast in all conditions, but it will be very interesting to also test the new F-1 Mainsail and J-6 HC Jib.”

Sailing with a team he normally competes against brought an unusual opportunity to see what they do differently. Giulio explains “After sailing a lot of races against them, now I realise why they are such a strong team. I have to thank Franco Solerio and Daniele for the opportunity to sail at the event, as well as Nicolas, Simone and Manuel for the work done.’’

It is now time for Giulio to go back the team onboard Petite Terrible as they prepare for the South American Championships in December, hosted by Yacht Club Punta del Este. After conquering the 2019 European Championships, the Petite Terrible team are now setting their focus on retaining their title at the 2020 Europeans Championships in Denmark.