Italian Championship Hobie Cat 16 and Italian Cup Hobie Dragoon – Cesenatico
A successful first-time event in the waters of Cesenatico. 2-4 June, the sea of Cesenatico was tinged with rainbow, hosting a multitude of catamarans with coloured sails in the Romagna waters. The 2022 Hobie Cat 16 Italian Championship and the Hobie Dragoon Italian Cup” was held at the Congrega Velisti Cesenatico.
The event saw the participation of almost 60 crews of which several from Germany and Austria. It all started on June 1st with the crew welcomed, and the start of the registration and weighing process. At the end of the day, a first welcome party with a welcome drink.
There were 3 days of the regatta, characterized by variable conditions, wind intensity, and direction, which ended with a total of 9 races.
On the first day, the boats gathered on the starting line at 2 pm. The sunny day and characterized by a good thermal of sustained intensity allowed us to run 4 races, with a peak of 16-17 wind knots in the second test. The first day of racing concluded with the crew Gini-Giannini in first place in the standings for the Hobie Cat 16 and Vascellari-Frau first among the Dragoons. While on the ground piadina and porchetta for everyone!
The second day was less fortunate due to a weather pattern that affected all of Italy which prevented the development of the South-East thermal. Despite the unfavourable conditions, the 2 fleets both completed a race with a light north wind.
Fortunately, on the third day, the sun returned, which after a bit of hesitation caused a thermal, albeit light but constant, to rise to 7-8 knots, which allowed a good recovery and the carrying out of 4 other races. With a total of nine races, the second discard also entered.
The event-winning crew Giammarco Gini and Malika Giannini were crowned as Italian Hobie Cat 16 2022 champions with a consistent gap between the second and third places on equal points, the Austrian crew Clemens Kitzmuller-Gundi Kitzmuller and the ageless Stefan Grismeyer and Caterina Degli Uberti. The award ceremony continued with the fourth and fifth classified respectively to the Germans Jens Goritz-Anke De Lins and Alessandro Cesarini-Carlo Centrone.
In the Hobie Cat 16 class, the youth (U21) classification Ruben Ginebri-Leonardo Fiorito, the Master (over 45) Franco Bove-Daniela Groos, the Grand Master (over 55) Stefan Griesmayer- Caterina Degli Uberti, the female Caterina Dall ‘ Oil – Camilla Di Tillio and the Hobie Vintage Vittorio Biondi-Roberta Grassi.
A special mention to the winners of the Federico Pecorini Alessandro Cesarini-Carlo Centrone Trophy. Winners of the Italian Cup Dragoon 2022 the Sardinian crew Leonardo Vascellari-Gaia Benedetta Frau with an impressive series of placings that left few chances to the excellent Luca Di Paolo-Giulio Zezza and Agnese Pozzi-Alice Cacciotti. In the Dragoon class, the female rankings were won by Agnese Pozzi – Alice Cacciotti and the newcomer’s good fifths Federico Sollai – Roberto Marras. A heartfelt thanks to all the crews who came with us to race in Cesenatico, it was an honour to have you race in our waters, hoping that Cesenatico is more and more a usual venue for Italian and European crews!
A heartfelt thanks also to the host club, the Congrega Velisti Cesenatico, and all its volunteers who both in the water and on land, with commitment and with the typical Romagna passion, have organized a fantastic championship! Thanks also to the race committee that despite the weather difficulties managed to complete almost the entire regatta program. Last but not least thanks to Alessandra and Federico di Bolsena Yachting who never lacked their technical support throughout the event and provided some beautiful prizes for the final award ceremony! After this fantastic experience, the Hobies of the 358 fleet is preparing to compete in the first heats of the 2022 XI Zone Zonal Championship, with a view to welcoming all the European crews for the HOBIE MULTIEUROPEANS in 2023 !!
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU IN CESENATICO TO SAIL AND HAVE FUN WITH US!
The Commodore of Fleet 358 Luca Ragazzini
