Four days of sailing, of which only two were actually held due to very light and unstable wind conditions, for the boats engaged until last Saturday in Alghero, Sardinia, in the Swan Sardinia Challenge, the second event of the Nations League 2024, the circuit reserved for one-design boats from the Nautor Swan shipyard that began at the end of May in Bonifacio, France.
A circuit that this year can also count on the presence of the Club Swan 50 Vitamina Cetilar, a boat racing for the Yacht Club Repubblica Marinara di Pisa, supported by the sponsor Cetilar®, brand of the pharmaceutical company PharmaNutra, with an all-Italian crew on board led by helmsman Andrea Lacorte.
Only two days of actual racing, therefore, for a total of three trials between the buoys completed (two on the first day, the third on the last), and mixed results for Vitamina Cetilar, who finished in seventh place in a very close ranking (just two points from the podium) that saw the German Club Swan 50 Hatari prevail over the Monegasque Moonlight and its compatriot Earlybird.
For Vitamina Cetilar – second, eighth and seventh in the three races held – a placing that represents a step forward after the unsatisfactory debut in the Swan Bonifacio Challenge, when the crew led by Lacorte was unable to express its full potential, closing ‘eleventh place in the final stage classification.
“These were complicated days from a meteorological point of view and unfortunately we only managed to bring home three races, few compared to expectations. The only noteworthy day was Wednesday, the weather and sea conditions were excellent and we came very close to winning the first race, closing in second place, just a hair’s breadth from the winner, after a beautiful duel with Cuordileone”, explains helmsman Andrea Lacorte, who in the cockpit is flanked by the Triestine Alberto Bolzan on tactics and Gabriele Benussi on the mainsail. “It’s a shame that in the following days the wind was lacking and that even on Saturday, the last day, the conditions were really at the limit. We expected a much windier Sardinia but in sailing, as we now know, that’s how it works, we have to adapt to what the weather offers and take note of it”.
With the Alghero event now over, the crew of the Club Swan 50 Vitamina Cetilar will be back on the water at the end of the month in Spain, in Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands) to be precise, to take part in the famous Copa del Rey (27 July-3 August), the most important event of the summer in the Mediterranean which precedes the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo (15-21 September) and the grand finale of the Swan-class World Championship OD Worlds, also scheduled in Palma de Mallorca from 23 to 27 October.
On board Vitamina Cetilar, in addition to the aforementioned Lacorte, Bolzan and Benussi, the bowman Matteo De Luca, who also holds the role of Team Manager of Vitamina Sailing, the navigator Nico Sanfelici, Giovanni Bucarelli, Diego Battisti, Leonardo Chiarugi, Giuseppe Filippis , Stefano Ciampalini, Marco Furlan and Alessandro Costagliola.
