08/11/2023

MMNR Veloce, inside the Ionian Sea in the wake of Città di Taranto

Santa Maria di Leuca - After three days at sea, and with the Adriatic now behind the shoulders, the third edition of the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Veloce has come to life and confirms itself as a tough and extremely competitive regatta. Since the spectacular start, given from Piazza San Marco where the Organizing Committee found the collaboration of the Venezia Yacht Club, the fleet sailed almost compactly and at the moment of the passage abeam Santa Maria di Leuca, the extreme south of Italy, nine of ten Beneteau Figaro 3 were compressed into about 30 miles.

This after 72 hours characterized by the extreme variability of the weather conditions: in the Adriatic the fleet encountered strong Libeccio winds, interspersed with weak breezes of variable direction at north of the Gargano, followed, when descending towards Brindisi, by fresh gusts of Mistral.

Leading the fleet was the Città di Taranto: having taken the lead of the fleet just after Lido of Venice, the expert French sailors Alicia de Pfyffer and Eduard Goldbery expertly defended the leadership, but were never able to extend their pace decisively, followed with determined conviction by Giacomo Nicchita and Nicolò Gamenara. The undisputed protagonists of the start, Regione Sardegna crew followed a tactical approach similar to the one of the leading pair, from which they suffered a delay varying between 3 and 9 miles. This morning, at the entrance to an Ionian sea beaten by a stiff breeze from the north, the pacesetters were separated by 7 miles, with Regione Sardegna positioned a few miles upwind of their direct opponent.

The Marina Militare remains lurking, with Andrea Pendibene and Andrea Trani protagonists of a solid regatta so far: firmly in third place, they are about 15 miles behind the leader, but as the Sardinia Region they currently seem to be following a more northern.

First miles of the Ionian Sea for a small group made up of Carta Giovani (Andrea Cupaioli-Lorenzo Donati), Deas Sanfer (Pierluigi Capozzi-Alessio Brasili), Aeronautica Militare (Giancarlo Simeoli-Niccolò Bertola) and Città di Genova (Francesco Renella-Valentina Fixor). With them also DR Automobiles (Ambre Hasson-Aina Bauza) and Acone Associati (Nicola Brunotti-Michele Rinaldi). If we exclude Carta Giovani, the only one of the group that during the descent of the Adriatic have followed similar choices to the leaders who took it towards the Croatian island of Lissa, the others sailed further along the Italian coast and almost always by sight, constantly exchanging positions.

Closing the provisional ranking, significantly detached from the rest of the fleet, is Waving Meadow: during the first night of navigation, the pairing of Matteo Bandiera and Paola Alrcolin hit a submerged body, probably a trunk, with the rudder to the left, causing a small water infiltration from its bearings. He made an immediate pit stop at Marina Dorica, where he found the shore team of the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Tour waiting for him who, having hauled up the boat thanks to the support of the staff of the Ancona marina, and checked the state of the hull, repaired the cap of the bearings allowing the team to get back to sea after about three hours.

We remind you that the Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Veloce is organized in close partnership between Difesa Servizi SpA, a company of the Ministry of Defense that deals with valorising the assets of the Armed Forces, and SSI Events, a company specialized in organizing international regattas. The Navy supports the event as title partner. The record of the regatta, which at 1,492 nautical miles is by far the longest double-handed race in the Mediterranean, was set by Sophie Faguet and Pierre Lebouchers in 2021 with Team Urban Value and stands at 8d 8h 27m 23s.

Follow the regatta
The Marina Militare Nastro Rosa Veloce can be followed live, thanks to the TracTrac system, via the website www.nastrorosatour.it