Taranto - Thanks to a weak breeze coming from the southern quadrants, the Double Mixed Offshore World Championship, an event organized by Difesa Servizi S.p.A. and SSi Events, in collaboration with the Marina Militare and with the support of the Municipality of Taranto, Molo Sant'Eligio and the local Section of the Lega Navale Italiana, kicked off from Taranto at 12.05 today; the event is officially recognized by World Sailing.
The ten international crews, representing as many nations and three continents, headed towards Capo San Vito, the south-eastern entrance gate to the Gulf of Taranto, and then set their bow on Santa Maria di Leuca, where they will have to pass through a virtual gate, and then continue towards the Greek island of Merlera, which will round after leaving the Fanò island on the right. Having said goodbye to Merlera, the crews will begin the return towards Taranto, which they will reach after leaving the island of Sant'Andrea on the right. A route almost 360 miles long, which, according to the latest weather forecasts, should bring the protagonists back to the finish line in the early morning of Saturday.
The ones who best interpreted the start were Maren and Karl Book (Team Norway), able to sprint at the pin with perfect timing and lead the fleet in the very first minutes together with Team Southafrica of Michaela and Ryan Robinson and Team Italia of Matteo Sericano and Cecilia Zorzi . The Italian duo took command of the operations in the phases following the start and after about four hours of racing they showed the way to an almost compact fleet.
Yesterday, the wait for departure passed between the enthusiastic visit of the students of the fourth classes of the Vico De Carolis Comprehensive Institute, accompanied among others by Fabiano Marti, Councilor for Educational Services, Youth Policies and Entertainment of the Municipality of Taranto; warm up race, won by Ellie Driver and George Kennedy (Team Great Britain), who collected 0.065 points, over the aforementioned Team Italy (0.13 pt) and over Maggie Adamson and Finlayson Calanach (Team Scotland, 0.195 pt); the visit at the Aragonese Castle and the opening ceremony, attended among others by the Councilor for Sport of the Municipality of Taranto, Gianni Azzaro, by the Division Admiral Flavio Biaggi, commander of the Southern Maritime Interregional Command of Marina Militare, and by the leader of SSi Events, Riccardo Simoneschi.
You can follow the race here.