Nacra 17s @Marseille 2018: Tita & Banti 1st

All images Pedro Martinez / Tomás Moya / Sailing Energy / World Sailing. For a change on their total domination on past Nacra 17 events,  Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti needed to actually compete on the Medal Race for the points. Past regattas the Italians had won the event before the MR had even started.

Their current performance is Besson-Riou all over again in terms of owning the Nacra 17 fleet.

Second place at Marseille 2018 was for Bissaro-Frascari, another Italian crew. Happy for them,  great attitude by Vittorio after a super tough Rio 2016 event, coming back to the top spots with his new crew, Maelle Frascari, is a sign of professionalism & talent altogether.

Ben Saxton & Nicola Groves continue their podium finishes showing a super consistent performance. The British teams had excellent results previous Rio, strong squad with many top riders, we hope they can get a spot on the podium at Tokyo on their dedication & investment to the Multihull Olympic dream.

Speaking of Olympic dreams, 2016 Gold Medalists Santi Lange & Ceci Carranza, had equipment failure in the 2nd race and couldn’t complete two, relegating their chances for podium. They showed their level winning the Medal Race.

But it was not an easy win, in fact they sailed 1 to 1 against the other Arg crew. Mateo Majdalani & Euge Bosco led to the first upwind mark along Lange-Carranza, who managed to squeeze first past the mark followed closely by their fellow Arg crew.

Majdalani & Bosco went behind ARG 1 and managed to pass them on an earlier lift and faster downwind foiling run. The young guns established a big gap with Lange and went to control the course.

Second windward mark , youths still in control but Super “Nono” Lange split the course , chosing the favored side for the last downwind leg which was done floating mode mostly.
Majdalani & Bosco covered a little too late , giving away their lead and finishing in second place.
The more experienced Arg sailors got a sweet Medal Race, to compensate a bit on their initial event equipment failure.

Young Guns: Still a tremendous performance for Mateo & Euge, racing 1 to 1 with the Champs it is not an easy task . Checking results you can see how they sailed pretty close in many other races. A detail we already saw in past regattas.
Maybe a tactic of the young guns to put extra pressure on the Gold medalists?
Whichever the case Majdalani & Bosco finished in 6th overall, one of their best results after some top 10s or near misses. Bright future for them, and we hope both crews can push together to the max towards Rio.
We know they wont work together, although they should… Budgets are not even also, but I think it is a good situation eitheway for the Arg youths, as tight budget campaigns campaigns bring the best out of talented sailors.

For Santi & Ceci, it is a good chance for to stay focused elevating even more their game, as they cannot even blink during the entire pre 2020 Olympic stage. This time they will have serious competition for the Argentine spot selection towards Tokyo 2020.

Top ten below, full results here