 “THE PLATU 25 SEASON GOES ON WITH A LOT OF INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL APPOINTMENTS, EDOARDO BARNI” SAID
GMUNDEN - The 2011 Platu 25 World Championship, has just concluded with success. The most important appointment of the Platu 25 season gathered in Gmunden - a nice and welcoming town on the Traunsee Lake, in Austria– forty six crews coming from Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, France and Russia. For five intensive days (30 May-3rd June) the crews had to face very competitive adversaries and difficult weather conditions.
Even if the ranking list changed continuously, interchanging Spanish and German crews on the second and on the third step of the podium, there was a boat that kept for five days the top position without permitting anybody else to have their place. It’s the Italian “Euz II Monella Vagabonda” owned by Francesco Lanera and helmed by Sandro Montefusco, with Markus Sigrist as a tactician. This original Pugliese-Swiss team struck since the first race, gaining an advantage that it wouldn’t lose in the following days.
Here it is the completed crew line up: Sandro Montefusco from Lecce as a helmsman, the owner Francesco Lanera from Monopoli at piano, Corrado Capece Minutolo from Trani as a tailor, Elisabetta Picca from Bari as a Jocker, Gerig Lucas from Luzern as a bowman, Markus Sigrist also from Luzern as a tactitian and at main.
Sandro Montefusco is a very famous Italian sail maker and of course he knows perfectly how to regulate them. He is also an experienced skipper. He won - just to talk about Platu 25 class - an Italian Championship and twice the Italian Circuit, in addition to other Acts, and a third place during the 2005 World Championship in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia
All of them are talented and determined. Markus Sigrist, together with Lukas Gerig, won the 2009 Alpen Cup and the 2010 Kieler Woche in the Platu 25 class. Francesco Lanera was second in the 2010 Italian Circuit, 5th in the 2009 Platu 25 Italian Championship and 8th in the 2009 Platu 25 Italian Circuit. So there were all the conditions to win this World Championship, and they did.
For the second and the third step of the podium, the fight was hard until the last day. At the end the Spanish “GAES Mundo Marino” owned by Juan Carlos de Haro and helmed by one of the best Spanish skippers, Paco Sánchez from Murcia, conquered the second step (on board Illan Ramon de Arias Far, Jesus Sanchez, Marina Femenia, Cristina De Haro Alvaro) . In the third position there is the German “Falkone” owned by Cornelius Heeschen and helmed by Falko Knabe (with on board Ole Von Studnitz as a tactitian, Thorben Nowak and Frank Wegener). They bought the boat last year and they trained just a few months before the Worlds. They are not professional, so for them this third place is really a good result.
Another protagonists of the Worlds was the German “Kyra” helmed by Lars Baeher, that concluded in fourth position, just two points behind “Falkone”. “Kyra” won the first race of the first day and it was very competitive until the end. The Spanish “Bribon Movistar” helmed by Marc de Antonio, was also very near to the podium and it had to be content with a fifth place. For the strong Italian “Nanuk” owned by Gianrocco Catalano, helmed by Luigi Ravioli and with the talented Lorenzo Bressani as a tactitian, this was a World Championship to forget. They suffered a disqualification in the last race of the second day that compromised all their possibilities. They finished sixth.
Also the Spanish “Comedia Coppel Dental” helmed by Perez Jose Manuel, had a brilliant competition (with a second place in the second day and a first place in the last) and finished seventh. Considering that the total of Spanish participants is five out of 46, it’s remarkable that all of them are in the top ten (Mata Hambre helmed by Alfonso Bonilla finished 8th and Mexillon de Galicia Movistar 9th) . The German “Murtfeldt” of Andre Tetenberg suffered an OCS in the second day and finished 10th. The favourite Austrian boat, “La Burra” helmed by Thomas Laherstorfer, started well, with two fantastic third places in the first day. At the end it finished eleventh, followed by “Pirillina” helmed by Claudio Fasoli, third among the Italians and first of the non professional Italian boats.
A very competitive World Championship has just concluded and now for the Platu 25 class there will be other challenges and appointments, as Edoardo Barni, The Platu 25 International class President underlined: “We competed a passionate World Championship. In Gmunden the crews met all the possible weather conditions and raced with all kind of wind. Every day they had to face different wind direction and intensity, different tactics and strategies. So it was exiting and challenging in the same time, and also very tiresome. Now almost all the Platu 25 German and Austrian crews are getting prepared for the Kieler Woche, a prestigious and competitive event in the Northern Sea. The rest of the fleets are going back to compete their National Championships. There’ll be soon two other International appointments for the class with the third and the last Act of the Alpen Cup involving fleets from Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany (26-28 August in Brunnen, Luzern Lake and 3 - .4 September Bellano, Como Lake). So, the Platu 25 season goes on with important appointments and competitive races all over Europe”.
Overall ranking after 9 races, one discard:
http://www.profs.at/index.php?id=783
Live again the emotions on board of “Euz II Monella Vagabonada” and watch the photos of crews in the last video by Jesus Renedo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoLHN091H-c
You can also see photos by Jesus Renedo in the Photo Gallery (link in the Home page, on the top http://www.platu25.com/PhotoGalleries/PhotoGalleries/tabid/289/Default.aspx)
Sabrina Bonaiti: Platu 25 International press: sabrinabonaiti@libero.it
Pep Portas: Platu 25 Spanish Press prensaplatu25@telefonica.net
Photo : Jesus Renedo : jrenedo@mac.com
English edited by Kev Scott (Thailand NCA)
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