From May 26th to 28th 2017, Marina di Varazze will become the Mediterranean capital city of great sailing. The last weekend of May, the six teams of the M32 Mediterranean Series will indeed compete in the Ligurian sea for the second nautical event of the season.
Organized in collaboration by Sailing Series by B.PLAN Sport & Events with the logistical support of Varazze Club Nautico, the event is sponsored by Raymarine, Wave Channel and Sea Storm. This second appointment for the very fast Marstrom 32 catamarans will tell us whether the Italia Sailing Team led by Riccardo Simoneschi will remain to lead the race for the Mediterranean class championships.
The Italian crew can count on Lorenzo “Rufo” Bressani, a cockpit man coming from the prolific sailing school of Trieste, who, some years ago, decided to devote most of his professional activity to the navigation on multihulls even following the Olympic campaign on board the Nacra 2017 catamaran.
The Italian team will have to fight against other five competitors of the European Summer M32. Starting from the second Italian team, the youngest of the group, Vitamina Veloce of Andrea Lacorte that had its worldwide debut in Montecarlo last April gaining the third step of the podium. Another favourite is the Monegasque crew of Team Neverland, helmed by Guido Miani. Equally “aggressive” are the two Swedish teams that have chosen the warm waters of the Mediterranean to prepare for the next Scandinavian series: Cape Crow Vikings with Håkan Svensson, Patrik Sturesson and Lovisa Karlsson; and Johnnie Berntsson’s Flux.
Finally, the other two competitors come from the Alpes: the Austrian Candidate Sailing Team, led by Max Stelzl and Stefan Scharnagl; and the Swiss team of Section 16, led by Richard Davies.
The race includes three afternoons of very fast tests organized close to the coast in order to allow the audience to see the race from the marina. Every day, eight races will take place according to the so-called stadium race formula. The route replicates that of the America’s Cup. Each race lasts from 15 to 20 minutes. High speed will certainly ensure great emotions both at sea and on the ground, especially for those who will manage to have a hot seat to enjoy the race.
The M32 ( Marstrom 32) are catamarans with a length of 10 metres and a crew made up of 4-5 people. Totally made of carbon fibre, they just weight 510 Kg, which provides them with astonishing accelerations and a top speed of over 30 knots. Very popular in America and, as mentioned above, in Scandinavia, these catamarans can count on a fleet of about 70 boats.
