We are super excited to have Italia yachts join SA as our newest advertisers. Here is a report from their ORC Worlds…
In its regatta debut the new Italia Yachts 11.98 is already making waves as the 2019 ORC World Champion in Class C. This was the first championship event and first major regatta for the new Italia Yachts 11.98 Sugar 3 owned by Ott Kikkas of Estonia. Sugar 3 was skippered by Sandro Montefusco and designer Matteo Polli was also on board. Matteo Polli is also the designer of two time ORC World Champion Italia Yachts 9.98.
Two distance races were held and four windward/leeward races. The first event of the regatta was the 145 mile long distance race, where the 11.98 came off the line with speed and maintained her lead of the fleet for some time, eventually trading position with a modified Melges 32 in upwind then downwind bouts. The 11.98 was able to keep pace with the Melges and crossed the line just 30 seconds corrected in-front of Hebe V, the runner up to the championship. Race 5 was the short distance course, of 47 miles.
Both Italia 11.98s, Sugar 3 and Scugnizza, pulled away from the fleet at the start and maintained a sizable lead, participating in a deep match race against each other until the finish. The 11.98’s captured 1-2 line honors and Sugar 3 placed 4th just 48 seconds behind the race winner. Very tight racing despite the distance and wind conditions. In the last race of the regatta Sugar 3 was able to capitalize on it’s momentum to capture the win and take the title as World Champion.
“Today we left the harbor in the hope of doing as much as possible to fight with Hebe on the water until the last moment,” said Matteo Polli, designer of the Italia 11.98. “We knew it would be hard to get the Gold but we were ready for anything. For us it was also one of the first races we have done with the light wind [of today] and therefore we did not have much knowledge of the boat. In the end the boat did not disappoint, even in these conditions, and this allowed us to win the race.
“Its been a tough week out here, and mistakes can be made just as we did in the second race, so we want to congratulate our opponents for such an impeccable championship, we are honored to have fought with such a strong crew!”
Sugar 3 finished with a 1-7-1-3-4-1=17, beating runner up Hebe V, an M 37, which posted a 2-1-2-2-1-13=21. Competition was fierce between Sugar 3 and Hebe V throughout the regatta.
The Italia Yachts 11.98 is an evolution upon two time ORC World Champion Italia Yachts 9.98, where lessons learned from years of racing and study have fine tuned the design to produce an incredible racing yacht. The 2019 ORC World Championship Class C was a capacity 50 boat fleet and ended with all Italia Yachts teams finishing 19th overall and better. Italia 9.98 Lady Day 998 was also able to capture 3rd place in the Corinthians.
Sugar 3 team members included. Ott Kikkas, Sandro Montefusco, Paolo Montefusco, Matteo Polli, Maurizio Loberto, Paolo Bucciarelli, Siim Ots, and Marjaliisa Umb.
Other Italia Yachts racing at the ORC Worlds included:
IY 9.98 Giulia finishing 9th
IY 9.98 Take Five Jr finishing 19th
IY 9.98 Lady Day 998 finishing 11th overall and 3rd in the Corinthian Class
IY 11.98 Scugnizza finishing 13th
This summer an Italia Yachts 9.98 demo boat will be available for test sails in Annapolis. Italia Yachts is looking forward to participating in the 2020 ORC Worlds coming to Newport next September.
