The Mascalzone Latino Sailing School, after some years of absence from the international races of the Marcello Campobasso Trophy which opens the Optimist class calendar, took four young cadets into the race: Miriana Silvestre, Gabriel De Luca, Christian Esposito and Gennaro Casella.
Three days of racing that gave the kids a splendid first chance in the New Year to match themselves against other very young helmsman from 12 different countries, including Spain, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Sweden and Croatia. Conditions were not the easiest, with a south-westerly of 5 to 8 kn for the first two days, a 1.5 m swell and a strong current from the west. The last day saw a south-easter and strong current from the east.
Our young students put up a really good show, making the first five in some races with some risky starts that sometimes led to some letters in the ranking for starting early.
All of them had moments with interesting tactical moves or wavering attention, but it was certainly a great sporting and training experience. And above all excellent training for the coming weekends of racing in the CRVI Challenge Cup, which starts next Sunday, January 14.
The Marcello Campobasso is an international regatta by invitation created by by the Federazione Italiana Vela, which relies on RYCC Savoia for the organisation.