IMCA SECRETARY GUNTER TZESCHLOCK REPORTS FROM THE ITALIAN OPEN

18 September 2002 - From 14th to 15th September the Italian fleet competed for the title "Italian Open 2002". Egidio Babbi organised the races on his home waters at Cesenatico /Adriatic Sea.
Most crews arrived on Friday 13th and prepared their boats for the racing – everybody got a warm welcome from Egidio who was organising craning, moorings and all the things to make racing as convenient as possible.

The hosting club (Circolo Vela Cesenatico) did all to support Egidio in his efforts. Sixteen boats have sent their entry-forms and all of them arrived until Saturday morning – among them a group of three boats from the German Class Association (Vito / Acqua / KH+P).

The first start was scheduled for Saturday 14:00 and the fleet left the harbour at noon to check the race area. Other classes on the race course were J 24 and Cruiser/Cruiser Racers which sailed under IMS-rule. In total approx. 60 boats and the fact that the Melges 24 showed the biggest fleet made Egidio smile all the weekend.

After sails registration the first race started in a 5-7 knots breeze on an "Up and Down" course which was won by ITA 421 Egidio Babbi, second was GER 507 Strosek/Batzill, third place was taken by ITA 490 Stimpfl/Santoni – the Melges class showed close racing and the whole fleet passed the finish line within 10 minutes.

Due to light wind the race committee decided to sail only one race on Saturday as better winds were promised for Sunday – so the fleet returned to the harbour and could enjoy an Italian meal at the veranda of the nice clubhouse.

A lot of J24-sailors seemed to be very interested in our class and KH+P (GER 191), which was lying in "pole-position" in front of the clubhouse, was visited like on a boat show.

For Sunday the first start was scheduled for 12:00 o’clock so everyone had the possibility to enjoy Cesenatico’s bars and restaurants and to have a walk through the historical city-centre on Saturday evening.

On Sunday there was a light breeze with 5-7 knots in the beginning which built up to 10-12 knots in the third race. These condition enabled the race committee to sail 3 more races to complete the series. The results were:

Race 2: 1. ITA 438 Andres Rachelli, 2. GER 507 Strosek/Batzill, 3. ITA 421 Egidio Babbi

Race 3: 1. GER 191 Günter Tzeschlock, 2. ITA 421 Egidio Babbi, 3. ITA 438 Andrea Rachelli

Race 4: 1. ITA 421 Egidio Babbi, 2. ITA 490 Stimpfl/Santoni, 3. ITA 501 Roberto Casadei

As a result of their constant series (1, 3, 2, 1) Egidio Babbi and his crew could win the series with an impressive 10 points lead in front of second placed ITA 490 "Hägar" Gregor timpfl/Silvio Santoni with 17 points - just 1 point in front of the third placed boat ITA 438 "Altea" Andrea Rachelli and crew. But two more boats "GER 191 – KH+P" and "GER 502 – Vito" finished with 18 points and were placed on rank 4 and 5.

The result shows how close the races were throughout the two fantastic days at the Adriatic Sea.

By this occasion we want to point out once more Egidio’s efforts to make our stay as pleasant and convenient as possible – everybody confirmed that they enjoyed this weekend very much.

Thank you very much Egidio - see you again at Italian Open 2003.