Eleventh Edition of La Ottanta by Circolo Nautico Santa Margherita

7 April 2025 - Caorle, Italy - Even if the start was slow, the finishes were fast at the eleventh edition of La Ottanta, organized by Circolo Nautico Santa Margherita in collaboration with Darsena dell’Orologio, the Municipality of Caorle, and partners Antal and Cantina Colli del Soligo. Line Honours for Northern Light and Forever K in the XTutti division, and for Mayflower and Hauraki in the X2 division.

The conditions allowed the Race Committee to close the regatta within the time limit of 02:00 on Sunday, April 6. Weather forecasts and a regional alert for strong winds influenced decisions and led to an inevitable course shortening, with the fleet divided into two groups.

The regatta concluded at 23:55 on Saturday, April 5, with the arrival of Estilos, sailed by Francesco Filippi and his crew. They were awarded the Soligo Never Give Up Trophy, given to the last boat to cross the finish line.

From 17:22 onward, boats began to arrive almost non-stop, starting with Northern Light—an Eco-racer by NL Composite—helmed by Fabio Bignolini and crew, who were the first to finish in the XTutti division alongside Forever K, a Cookson 50 skippered by Claudio Bernoni.

Special mention goes to the Sportboat 30 by nlcomp®, built with low environmental impact materials and innovative technologies. It combines sustainability and performance into a single racing platform, bringing a clear message of ecological transition to the sport of sailing.

The Northern Light crew—flying the burgee of Società Vela Oscar Cosulich—included Matteo Velicogna, Lorenzo Latte Bovio, Piernicola Paoletti, Luca Carciotti, Sergio Caramel, and Fabio Bignolini.

“We are proud of this real-time result, the outcome of great teamwork and a boat that once again proved to be fast and responsive,” the Northern Light's team commented upon returning to port.

The first to finish in the X2 (doublehanded) category were Mayflower, sailed by Riccardo Zuccolo and Tommaso Pressacco, and Hauraki, sailed by the seasoned duo Mauro and Giovanni Trevisan.

In corrected time, among the XTutti boats sailing to the Paloma buoy, the podium went to Mecube, a Farr 400 owned by Stefano Novello in Class 0-A, and to Athena, owned by Giuseppe Mezzalira, in Class B.

In Class C, with a course to Grado, the young sailors on Drago Volante—a Farr 30 helmed by Amerigo Bottura with an all-under-18 crew under the guidance of coach Francesco Ivaldi—were unbeatable.

In the various Libera (non-ORC) classes, the winners were:

• Class Zero: Bliss, a Sly 47 skippered by sailor-blogger Elisabetta Maffei
• Class Alfa: Irina, skippered by Maurizio Guglielmo
• Class Bravo: Barraonda Go!2025, by Lucio Provvidenti
• Class Charlie-Delta: Anemos, by Emanuele Sacchetti
• Class Echo-Foxtrot: Northern Light confirmed its win here as well.

In the X2 division, under ORC corrected time:

• Class B victory went to Hauraki (Mauro and Giovanni Trevisan)
• Class C, on the shortened course, was won by X-Lady (Luca Barozzi and Vincenzo Bonaguri).

In the Libera classes:

• Charlie-Delta went to Oxygen, an X-35 sailed by Andrea Gozo and Angelo Marchesini
• Bravo was won by Fulcrum III, a Class 40 sailed by Marek Chatrny and Vid Jeranko
• Zero was claimed by Oryx, by Paolo Bevilacqua and Michele Toffano.

Among the Mini class, Brunilda, sailed by Carlo Scalmana and Stefano Paltrinieri, took the win.

This edition of La Ottanta welcomed 81 entries and served as an important tune-up and training opportunity ahead of the Adriatic offshore season, which continues in the coming weeks with La Duecento (May 2–4) and La Cinquecento Trofeo Pellegrini (June 1–7), both part of the Italian Offshore Championship organized by the Italian Sailing Federation.

Source: Saily.it