Notaro Team is the new J/70 European Champion
Motecarlo, Oct. 16 – The Race Committee, chaired by John Coveney assisted by PRO Thierry Leret, launched six races during the championship in widely varying conditions, with a steady wind filling in for the last races and light airs for the first, testing the seamanship of even the top sailors. The spectacle on the water, racing rules employed to the nth degree and the presence of an international ISAF jury led by Baran was essential. Of the 60 teams competing, representing 11 nations, any one of the first 25 boats could have claimed victory. It is not by chance that no team managed to pull off a string of race wins.
The Mexican World Champion Fernandez Neckelmann Julian (Flojito y cooperando) for example won the fourth race which was their best performance, evidence of how fierce the contests were. Not once did the team leading the pack to the first mark win the race, with the downwind legs proving as tactically difficult as the upwind legs. All the finishes on a reach saw some dramatic luffs with spinnakers flying, delighting spectators and getting the adrenaline pumping.
There was everything to play for among the top ten right up to the last race as the slightest mistake on the start putting them OCS risked any hope of being on the podium. For example the Bretons Quentin Delepierre and Mathieu Salomon (Chariot Plus – Vannes Utilitaires), J/80 European champions who came 3rd in the fifth race, will no doubt be regretting their performance in the sixth race and premature start in the first. This evening they are 8th.
The Italian Luca Domenici (Notaro Team), who is used to the Monaco race area having participated in the last Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series and Primo Cup-Trophée Credit Suisse, is the first ever J/70 European Champion ahead of his compatriot Franco Solerio (L’Elagain), winner of the 2015 Italian Championship. The Spaniard Hugo Rocha (New Territories), winner at Kiel Week completes the podium ahead of his compatriot Gonzalo Araoeja (Sailway).