Italian 420 National Championships
Nine races and an all top 10 scoreline were notched up by the newly crowned Italian 420 National Champions, Matteo Pincherle/Ludovico Basharzad on 30 August 2013. Four days of racing were held for the one hundred and ninety-six sailors racing in the 420 fleet.
The 420 National Championships were held at the Marina Aregai, the town of Santo Stefano al Mare in the province of Imperia, and organized by the Yacht Club Sanremo, with the collaboration of the Yacht Club Aregai, the Yacht Club and Sailing Club Arma Cape Verde.
After qualification, the 420 fleet were divided into Gold and Silver fleets, to compete in the last three races of the series, in weather conditions which were quite different compared to previous days. Earlier in the week, bright sun and a medium-light breeze had become the norm, but on the last day the wind increased to around 20 knots and really put teams through their paces.
Matteo Pincherle/Ludovico Basharzad had already established a considerable lead going into the day, carrying 13 points, compared to the 39 point scoreline of the next placed team, the recently crowned 420 Junior European Champions Illaria Paternoster and Benedetta Di Salle. So whilst they could be quietly confident, there was no guarantee of a win yet.
It was a day of turnarounds on the leaderboard, as the scuffles on the race track intensified in the breeze. But Pincherle/Basharzad held steady to knock out a 1,2,7 scoreline and seal overall victory and also the first placed finishers in the under 19 category. A big step up from their result at the 420 Junior Europeans, where they didn’t qualify to the 48 boat gold fleet, instead taking victory in the silver fleet.
Paternoster/Di Salle finished in second overall at the Italian National Championships with Gianmaria Caiconti/Edoardo Portoraro in third.
