MARINA KAŠTELA CREW WINS OFFSHORE RACE

10.07.2013

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ORC World Championship – Marina Kaštela crew wins Offshore race – Excellent seventh position overall

This year’s ORC Sailing World Championship took place in Ancona, Italy between 22.06. and 29.6. Among the 110 top boats that participated twenty of them are reputable in professionals sailing circles, such as our own Marina Kaštela crew, which led by skipper Armano Zekan.

There were local storms throughout the whole week which passed over the fleet a number of times. There were a total of six Windward/leeward course sailing races and two offshore races.

Here’s a brief overview of our skipper Armano:

“The first day of sailing, conditions allowed only one Windward/leeward course sailing where our boat ranked 12th. The day began and ended with rain and strong storms. The next day, the crew prepared for the 132 NM long navigation offshore regatta, which went around buoys along the Italian coast. Calm and stormy periods interchanged throughout the 24 hour period it took us to finish the race. On the way we had to avoid numerous shellfish farms that caused an exceptional problem during the night.

The short navigation was scored for 63NM, and we finished second. The excellent sailing during the night and especially at dawn enabled us to ultimately win this prestigious off-shore race.

After the third day didn’t produce enough wind for a race, the fourth day the rain bought favorable conditions for sailing. A failure of the electronic equipment resulted in a false start, which meant that we had to return to the pre-line. Even though the result was not good, we made the most out of the situation and had a good training and ultimately reached the goal.

During the last day of the championship it was sunny, 25 knots NNW wind, strong currents and 2 meter waves. These ideal sailing conditions helped the race committee to organize three beautiful races. The wind changed directions and strength during the race which allowed smaller boats to punish larger ones in the final.

Although we sailed well all day in the last three races we took 15th, 12th and 9th place. Summing all of the results in the end, our crew took the 7th place overall.”

Armano was happy about the result and the experience overall: “I have a lot of sailing experience but I never experienced something like this. The weather was extraordinary spectacular, especially during the off-shore race, where three hail storms passed over us. The navigation was a real challenge, both for the crew and for our gear and boat. We wanted more, we wanted that medal, but we shouldn´t be unhappy. Seventh place in this elite group is more than a good result and after all, we are this year’s World Champions in the offshore ORC event. Furthermore, it was very nice to socialize and sail among many world famous sailors. On behalf of the entire crew I would like to thank everyone who made it possible.”

The Crew of Marina Kaštela including Armano: