Davide Veronesi an Valerio Pucci are the winners of the 44th Garda Lake Opti Meeting
Riva del Garda – The forty-fourth edition of the Garda Optimist Meeting, the world’s largest regatta dedicated to the elite youth class, the Optimist, organized by Fraglia Vela Riva, has come to a close in Riva del Garda. The final day was marked by anticipation for the arrival of the Ora wind, which took a long time to establish itself on the race course, impacting the program.
The Cadets were the first to take to the water, with just one race remaining to complete the series. The final race saw Maurizio Domenici win, but Valerio Pucci, representing Club Nautico Marina di Carrara, consolidated his lead in the overall standings, with 28 total points, taking the overall victory of the Meeting in Division B.
Following him was England’s Archie Dowling with 34 points, while third place went to Poland’s Julia Saj with 40 points, also the first female. Rounding out the top five are Turkey’s Ruzgar Uras Sahin with 49 points and Britain’s Finn Simmons with 50.
The situation is more complex for the Junior fleets. Due to the 3:00 PM time limit, it was not possible to complete a race for all divisions, but the Gold Fleet—the one responsible for determining the overall winner of the event—managed to sail a decisive, non-discardable race that profoundly changed the balance of the overall standings, which until yesterday had been led by Jesper Karlsen.
Davide Veronesi (CN Bardolino) thus took victory at the 44th Garda Optimist Meeting, finishing with 19 points, ahead of Portugal’s Guilherme Magalhaes Costa, second with 31 points, and American Briggs Kossmann, third with 35.
Andrei Zhakov (Malta) finished just off the podium with 40 points and Manuel Braganca (Brazil) with 41. They were followed by Walter Heeley (Australia) in sixth place with 62 points, Emil Boss (Denmark) in seventh with 69, Pola Wojcik (Poland) in eighth overall and first female with 70 points, Ioannis Kotsovos (Greece) in ninth with 74, and Joshua Wenokur in tenth with 75.
The women’s podium therefore saw Pola Wojcik in first place, followed by Italy’s Elena Guidi, eleventh overall, and Irene Faini, twentieth.
Special prizes were also awarded during the final awards ceremony: the Foletti Prize for the best athlete born in 2015 went to Konstantinos Sfronas of Greece, while the ITAS Prize for the club with the best four placings in the Junior fleet was awarded to the Birzebbuga Sailing Club of Malta.
This concludes another successful edition of the Garda Optimist Meeting, which once again brought hundreds of young sailors from around the world to Riva del Garda for a great spectacle of sport, friendship, and passion for sailing.
