420 Teams in the running for Italian Sailor of the Year Award
An impressive 2015 season has helped to place Italy's young 420 teams on the venerable list of 100 candidates up for the Italian Sailor of the Year Award, with Edoardo Ferraro/Orlando Francisco, Veronica Ferraro/Giulia Ieraldi and Matthew Zerbino/Giulio Maccarone all in the running.
Edoardo Ferraro/Orlando Francisco picked up the first ever U17 420 World Championship title on Karatsu Bay, Japan this summer. Their win was not insignificant, as they stormed to victory with a 21 point over the silver medallists. Going into the final race in Japan, they held a significant lead and were virtually assured of gold. Speaking after victory in Japan, Ferraro said, "This is a dream come true. Every sailors dreams of becoming World Champion and now we are the World Champions, under-17, but we are the World Champions.”
“We very happy, because it is the first World Championship we have won,” continued Ferraro. “We are much stronger than we were last year, which has helped us.”
Next step for the pair was the 420 Junior European Championships in Bulgaria, where they chose to race in the open fleet rather than the U17, and claimed a 7th overall.
There was extra pride in Japan as Edoardo's younger sister Veronica and crew Giulia Ierardi finished as top ladies in the U17 World Championship, in tenth overall. They also continued their racing season at the 420 Junior Europeans finishing 7th overall in the U17 division. Veronica and Iulia are also in the running for Italy's Sailor of the Year.
Matthew Zerbino/Giulio Maccarone walked away with a silver medal in the 420 fleet after 5 days of racing at the EUROSAF Youth Championships in France last year. A superb result for these young sailors who are both based in Venice, which puts them on the long list of candidates too.
Voting for Italy's Sailor of the Year
The announcement for the Sailor of the Year will take place on Friday 6 May in Genoa at the "Evening of Champions", but before then several rounds of voting will take place to narrow the 100 candidates down to a shortlist, with the public invited to vote. Voting gets underway on 29 January. Find out more at http://www.giornaledellavela.com/news/2016/01/22/22186/
