Piada Trophy – Final

Cervia, June 28-30, 2013. Results, photos and regatta report by Alberto Perdisa

This past weekend the seventh edition of the Piada Trophy was sailed in Cervia, Italy.

After the calm on Friday that prevented racing, on Saturday and Sunday competitors enjoyedoptimal weather conditions with winds from the northeast from 7 to 12 knots.

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A total of six races (out of seven scheduled) were domainated by the currently best Italian team, Enrico Solerio and Sergio Simonetti. They enjoyed five wins due to good speed and masterful interpretation of the difficult sailing area. Paolo Lambertenghi and Marco Rinaldi endend in second place, fast and consistent, ahead of Francesco Granchi and Marco Rinaldi from Tuscany, on the podium, who also showed high skills. The team of Pietro Fantoni and Nicola Gerin, finished fourth; they took a clear victory on the first race of the series, but then were a little bit inconsistent in the other races, preceding Fabio and Daniela Rochelli (a.k.a. the “Rockets”), who won the first edition of the regatta in 2007. Stefano Marchetti and Paolo Sangiorgi, newcomers to the class, but good and fast upwind, showed a good performance, while Enrico Michel and Stefano Longhi ended in seventh place, maybe because they tried new settings on their boats. Filippo Perdisa and Ermanno Massini were also in evidence, finishing in in eighth place overall with a third as their best result.

First of the foreign teams was Bibi Juetz and Felipe Sebino in ninth place. Bibi is a real legend in the Snipe Class and an example for everyone for her sportsmanship and kindness, after fifty years of races and victories. The Brazilian team, thanks in part to the skill of the young Sebino, made it difficult for those in the lead, particularly when racing in light air. In the top ten we find also Francesco Rossi and Frenk Filippini.

I want to point out two teams who came from Croatia: Damir Vranic andRatko Sparozic and Igor Staraj with her young son Tom. I would remind that the “Piada” and Kvarner Cup in Omisalj, next weekend will award the coveted Summer Circuit Trophy offered by SCIRA Italy.

The Piada Trophy has remained an event able to entertain the sailors at sea and ashore with many and of unique social events. On Friday night, we had the traditional “Piada Grand Prix” (look the video) —a go-kart race at the Happy Valley circuit, won for the umpteenth time by Lorenzo “Lollo” Baldi, made possible by a big mistake in the round robin qualification series of his main historical rival Fabio Rochelli. In the final, Lollo had to defend himself from the attacks of a super-fast Francesco Rossi, who closely followed him throughout the race a few meters behind, trying, without success, to take advantage of the slightest mistake of the strong driver from Florence. Alessandro Colinucci was third, and fourth was Damir Vranic. Stefano “O Animal” Longhi, after a good start, finished only sixth behind Filiberto “Serpico” Perdisa.

On Saturday, we had dinner at the yacht club with piadina, cheese,s and grilled meats, all washed down with excellent Sangiovese, the most famous wine in this part of Italy. The dinner was followed by “Piada Bingo,” the famous raffle with great prizes.

The prize-giving was a beautiful ceremony on Sunday in the garden of the club, followed by a buffet with two giant cakes to celebrate the birthdays of Felipe Sebino and Filippo Perdisa.

Final Results – Piada 2013