Italian Riccardo Sepe romps home to win the 33rd Garda Optimist Meeting
Italian Riccardo Sepe romps home to win the 33rd Garda Optimist Meeting out of 676 juniors. Gaia Bergonzini also of Italy is first among the girls. Maxime Thommen of Switzerland takes first place in the cadets.
An unforgettable edition for the varied wind conditions, good weather at the beginning of the event which brought out the best in the technical skills of the participants who sometimes competed in winds of over 20 knots. Satisfaction on the part of all the organization of Fraglia Vela Riva who thanks to the parents, members and personnel were able to organize an event which for its high numbers alone was a challenge on all fronts.
For the third year running Italy tastes victory at the Garda Optimist Meeting, organised by Fraglia Vela Riva and Guinness World Record holder, which this year hosted 29 nations and 863 young sailors (187 cadets and 676 juniors). Riccardo Sepe (Circolo della Vela Roma) managed to hold his concentration throughout the 4 days of competition in the conditions found on Garda, Trentino, first with strong winds and high waves then with light winds of 10-12 knots for the last two races on Easter morning. Tensions were indeed high among the leaders before the final race all within 2 points of each other but in the end it was Sepe who gave it his best shot and with the two discards in the classification for the 9 races total and two excellent final races, he won by an impressive 23 points over Christian Spodsberg of Denmark. Sepe finished ninth in the penultimate race against 93rd of the Dane. In the last race he dominated from the first buoy giving him a well-deserved win in the 33rd Garda Optimist Meeting. Today his rivals literally bombed with the second place taking a 93 and 22 partial and the third Norwegian Uffe Tomasgaard a 25 and a 57. Arthur De Jonghe of Hungary won the penultimate race.
It was another Italian victory among the girls (participant in the World Optimist Championships in Argentina, 2014) for Gaia Bergonzini ( Fraglia Vela Malcesine), who day after day climbed position after position until she won the category as well as a 4th place overall. Fifth was Gabriele Centrone ( today with a disappointing 97, 17). The second female and tenth overall was Giorgia Cingolani sailing the colours of Fraglia Vela Riva. Third in the category was German Theresa Steinlein, third overall in the eighth regatta.
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