The onboard account and rankings of a tough Millevele

It certainly cannot be said to have been a Millevele with summer weather that took place as usual in Genoa on the Saturday of the Boat Show, organized by the Yacht Club Italiano , during which there was, without consequences for the crew, the sinking of the Passatore Lazy.

Dark and foaming sea, gray skies, thunderstorms, this was the weather scenario in which the regatta-sailing event, which this year reached and exceeded 220 entries, was held. We tell you about it with reporting from our Mauro Giuffrè, tailer aboard Valerio Dabove’sItalia 998F Low Noise 2 , skipper Furio Francesia.

Millevele – The Chronicle on Board

The Italian Yacht Club’s super classic 1000 Sails is the first event of Low Noise’s 2022-2023 racing season, a chance to get the crew back together, add some young graft to the group, and knock some rust off the more “experienced” ones. Low Noise in 2021 won the 1000 Sails in the smaller boat group, but this year to make things more difficult we are running in the B-4 group, reserved for boats between 11 and 13 meters, in order to also participate in the Iren Trophy.

From the morning it is clear that it will be a Ligurian sirocco day, with a well-formed wave, and a few stormy variables to confuse the cards. As early as 20 minutes before the start, the wind has been blowing strongly around 15 knots, with gusts to 20, gradually but steadily increasing. We opt to start with full mainsail and jib 3, a choice that will prove suitable for the wind intensity we will encounter during the upwind.

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Our tactician Alessandro Smerchinich chooses to start on the left center of the line, to enter the left wind rotation immediately and be among the first boats to tack on the scarce. The plan succeeds, and Low Noise about 15 seconds after the start veers crossing in front of virtually the entire fleet, except for a few boats that managed to position themselves even further to the left. From that point, an upwind tacking on good and poor begins, trying to stay in phase with the wind direction swings, which, given the day disrupted by storm clouds, are much more nervous than what the Scirocco usually does in Genoa.

Millevele – Toward the windward mark

The first windward mark is for group C, we pass it and head for the second, which is the one to turn for group B. The wind now remains steadily above 20 knots, with a difficult wave to negotiate for a relatively small boat like Low Noise. Our tacking has been well phased, however, and on approach to the buoy we find ourselves sandwiched between a ClubSwan 42 and an X-41, little ones among the big ones, a sign that we are definitely in the race with the former. For the descent we choose an S2, and with some grit we decide to give it on the masthead halyard rather than the more conservative fractional.

Low Noise responds presently, starts on the first waves in glide: 8, 9 knots, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, the log stops at 15.8 knots speed. We lose the spinnaker for about 1 minute due to a stopper acting up and threatening to drop the sail into the water, but the problem is solved without too much fuss. With the Low Noise spinnaker, it manages to sail more rested than the X-41 with which we compare ourselves closely, armed instead with gennaker.

Millevele – The wind rotates

As expected, the wind drops and rotates to the north as it rains relentlessly. On deck, the bowmen bag the 3 jib and raise the light, lower the S2 and hoist the jib. The last mile to the finish line has now become pure upwind with the entry of the north wind under the storm. At the finish line we cross in front of the X-41, and at the end of the day we will find that in Group B Category 4 only the Swan 42 Spirit of Nerina comes ahead of us, keeping behind a large fleet of 40-footers including a Farr 40. Not bad for a 10-meter “barge” that continues to have a say, and plenty of it, even today.

FULL RANKINGS

Mauro Giuffrè

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