Athens – Greece, LIBERTINE is World Champion at “The ORC World Championships” (20-28 June) after seven races sailed. LIBERTINE, the Comet 45 R owned by Maurizio Biscardi had Lorenzo Bodini at the helm and Francesco De Angelis calling tactics. Sails were made by Banks Sails Italy and designed with Spidertech™ technology. LIBERTINE won by two points ahead of George Andreadis’s MELITI IV. Five races out of seven have been sailed in line, all with strong winds, like the long distance race of 148 miles, divided into parts, which had all participant boats in difficulties with winds in excess of 25 knots.

A good performance as well from FRA’DIAVOLO, the Comet 41 R owned by Vincenzo Addessi, with Luca Simeone at the helm. Sails were also from Banks Sails Italy and again designed with Spidertech™ technology. FRA’DIAVOLO came third in the Corinthian Class 1.

The World Championship protagonists, LIBERTINE & FRA’DIAVOLO, will meet again at the Italian ORC International Championships which will take place in Punta Ala from 24 - 30 August.

Dedicated to maximum performance, Spidertech™ sails won the MUMM30 World Championship last year but success did not stop there! During the current season Spidertech™ membranes have dominated the MUMM30 European Championship (Matrix, Montefusco Sails). Even in the ORC International Central European Championship held in Cres the winning yacht sailed with Spidertech™ technology (ShauaIII, Montefusco Sails). Recently, in the three most competitive Italian races like “Romax2” (Vento di Sardegna, Mura Sails), “Trofeo Gavitello” (in ORC FRAL 2, Banks Sails and in X35 Sberessa, Banks Sails) and “La Cinquecento” (Wanderlust, Ullman Sails) Spidertech™ sails have always reached the podium.

The winning secrets of Spidertech™ Integrated System are widely recognized abroad and the successes of our partners in France, UK, Spain & Sweden do confirm all the work carried out by the Research Team. In ORC at Giraglia Rolex Cup four yachts sailing with Spidertech™ were classified in the first three positions, also worth mentioning is the winning season of Spanish Xaloc (Banks Sails Spain), winner of the Barcelona Cup as well as Gilolo in France (Allard Voiles) that with a excellent Spidertech™ sail set has recently won the 120 miles d’Archachon. We are also proud of the exciting performance of A35 - Magic Roundabout (Kemp Sails) that won the King Sturge Triangle Race in IRCA.

Research and development are the key words that describe the work and the success of Spidertech™ Integrated System, created three years ago by the Italian company Fiorenzi Marine Group and now protected by a number of international patent. Spidertech™ Integrated System combines integrated sail design technology with production technology. A full Software package, called Spidertools, gives sailmakers a unique dedicated instrument helping them to make the best sail without renouncing their personal design experience. With Spidertech™ Integrated System in fact every sailmaker has the chance to use and enhance their experience, by adding new technical elements to a sail project.

The Spidertech™ Research Team follow sail designers on the entire path, from project design to production, by offering the most trustworthy laminate available on the market today.

Porto Santa Margherita di Caorle, Italy – First Overall in ‘La Cinquecento” crew division with Ullman Sails made with Spidertech™ technology the new Comet 45 by Furio Gelletti “Wanderlust” that took top honors in the 34th edition of the Italian IRC long distance race “La Cinquecento” last week, June 15-21, 2008. The race is a 500-mile course on the Adriatic Sea. Competitors start in Venice’s Porto San Margherita, racing to Sansego Island in Croatia, then to Tremiti Island in Italy before following the same course back to the finish line in Venice. Second place IRC overall and Class “Rosso di Sera” by La Ciurma-Gozo with a genoa designed by Baraonda Sailmakers with Spidertech™. First overall in Class 2 in 500 x 2 and second place IRC “Black Angel” with Paolo Striuli (boat owner) and Paolo Favaro aboard with a Spidertech™ sails set designed by Baraonda Sailmakers.
Here are the final results:

500X DUE

CLASS 1
1) Calipso IV (Paniccia/Capecci)
2) Città di Grisolera (Daniele/Bressan)
3) Confusa (Seno/Zanforlin)

CLASS 2
1) Black Angel (Striuli/Favaro)
2) Blucolombre (Juris/Rinaldo)
3) Chioggia Laguna d’Arte (Sambo/Tiengo)

CLASS 3
1) Tawhiri (Badiello/Pancino)

500 CREW DIVISION

1) Wanderlust (Furio Gelletti)
2) Rosso di Sera (La Ciurma/Gozo)
3) Raffica (Raffaele Massignani)

Porto San Rocco, Italy – The IRC International Trophy of the Adriatic has seen excellent weather conditions with a fresh Libeccio wind, ranging between 10 to 15 knots, during the entire regatta sailed over three days last weekend at Porto San Rocco. The event, organized by Yacht Club Porto San Rocco, in collaboration with Circolo della Vela Muggia, the Yacht Club Adriaco, the Società Triestina della Vela and the Società Velica Barcola Grignano, is scheduled in the fourth edition of the International week of the 3 Gulfs and intends to promote races under IRC, aimed at confronting different models of boat coming from different countries. The aim is to establish an international dimension to the competition.

Little “Vipera”, the Delta 84 owned by Diego Paoletti finished first, while “Sayonara” by Roberto Bertocchi came second and Yume 2 by Daniele Comboni third. Very pleased by the excellent results are Ullman Sails Trieste who again trusted in Spidertech™ Integrated System for this ambitious race.

Punta Ala, Italy – The Trofeo Gavitello d’Argento 2008 concluded last Sunday with an extended fleet including 40 ORC, 42 Irc, 17 X-35, 14 Este 24 and 14 Laser Sb3’s coming from 7 countries, competing for the Mediterranean IMS Championship and Italian Open Championship for Laser Sb3’s.
With constant winds between 10-12 knots lasting the entire week, the ORC fleet with 40 boats participating completed 5 races, of which one was a coastal race. The Comet 45 “FRAL 2” owned by Alessandro Nespega sailed a tactically brilliant race with Spidertech sails, designed by Banks Sails Italia and won in Class 1.
Exciting performance in the X-35 One Design Class with 17 boats, a class that is curently achieving excellent results with Spidertech™ Integrated System. Four boats in the top ten are designed by Spidertech™ technology, “Sberessa” Paolo Bonavolontà (Banks Sails Italia) claimed victory, “Dolcenera” by Pierluigi Schmid (Banks Sails Italia) came fourth, fifth place went to “Ave Maria” by Maria Balbo (3FL Sails), while seventh to “Oxs” by Romeo Piperno (3FL Sails).

Barcelona, Spain – Xaloc owned by Jaime Fullana is the winner of the RN Class for the sixteenth edition of REGATA BARCELONA, an ambitious trophy that is seen as the most prestigious event in Spain for those passionate to the RN. The regatta took place over three days during last weekend (30th May - 1st June) 20 miles of coast near Barcelona.
Xaloc managed to reach the podium with great technical skills and strength (1-2-2-1 partial results) for a prestigious trophy the Spanish Cup RN 2008 hosted by the Real Federación Española de Vela.

We congratulate Fullana and his crew on their excellent performance. A very pleased Juan Ignacio Merayo, sail designer with Spidertech™ technology and skipper said: “Our sails are made in Carbon/Kevlar and have proved to be the fasted under any conditions of wind and sea”. We hope for the Xaloc team to achieve further great results for the remaining scheduled events.

Fascinating regattas have characterized the sailing week that every year is hosted by Yacht Club Capri. In conditions which could only have been bettered, the first day with wind at 20/25 knots, the second with 15 knots, the third with 12 knots, the last day with 8/9 knots.
In the Comet class, the defending champion Libertine (Comet 45 R), owned by Maurizio Biscardi, with Francesco De Angelis helmsman, managed to prevail over the other Comets with excellent results (amongst the first three overall, six races out of seven), thanks to an immaculate sailing and a good sail plan designed with Spidertech™ technology. “We very much like this championship” commented Biscardi “because no one knew who the winner was going to be, due to the unstable weather conditions. Every boat was competitive and well prepared and every team was here to win. I am very pleased to win the Rolex Capri Sailing Week for the second time in a row” concluded Biscardi.

On the podium, with a fantastic performance, second position for Fra Diavolo (Comet 41 R) owned by Vincenzo Addessi, sailing with Spidertech™ technology (Banks Sails Sailmakers); third position for Agorà (Comet 45 S) owned by Marco Franco.
Ten boats in the Comet Class out of twelve sailed with Spidertech™ technology, confirming there is an increasing number of sailmakers in Italy and in Europe who recognize Spidertech™ as their valid partner.

Race ranking (after 7 races)

1. LIBERTINE - Maurizio Biscardi ITA, 1-3-1-3-1-5-1-15.00
2. FRA DIAVOLO - Vincenzo Addessi ITA, 4-2-4-1-4-3-4-22.00
3. AGORA’ - Marco Franco c/o Emmeffe Sail Srl ITA, 2-1-2-2-6-7-3-23.00

King Sturge Triangle Race
05 May 2008

Start

The Royal Western Yacht Club’s King Sturge - Plymouth to Falmouth to Fowey to Plymouth Triangle Race, sponsored by St Austell Brewery - began with a fresh easterly wind.

A 23 knot easterly wind at the start, together with a westerly flowing tide, ensured that all fifty three competitors in the King Sturge Falmouth - Fowey- Plymouth Triangle Race reached the finish line at Pendennis Point.

The second leg of the triangle, Falmouth to Fowey, met conditions which helped the first to be last and the last to be first as the breeze filled in from astern.

The start of the third leg, Fowey to Plymouth, began with a steady northerly breeze; the fleet quickly made progress towards Looe before the wind faded and many crews decided that they had enjoyed sufficient racing for the weekend. Seven competitors struggled on, amongst them “Magic Roundabout", and all seven managed to complete the course before the ebb prevented any more boats still sailing from finishing.

(more…)

Monaco, 7-10 February 2008

The traditional One Design appointment has successfully started the Mediteranean racing season. During the second regattas week-end, as protagonists resulted the M 30s and the brand new Melges 32s debuting in the European circuits. Good results for those boats with the Spidertech™ Technology sails: Diletta of Mauro Mocchegiani with Andrea Casale on board, and Compagnia della Vela Venezia of Francesco Rigon, ranked respectively 5° and 6° in the ranking where the Italian owner Serena won on Enfant Terrible.
International sailing characters as Paolo Cian, Tommaso Chieffi and Sebastian Còl have risen up the technical level of the races.

Diletta’s tactician Andrea Casale stated: “We didn’t start well, but at the end we ranked quite successfully: the 10th place in the first race was due to my mistake. Primo Cup is a fantastic event, however, tactical choices have been difficult to be taken because of closeness of regatta courses. During the first race we hit an other course, followed by the largest part of the fleet. However we successfully finished the later races (2-4-7-3-4). We have really appreciated the stability of the Spidertech™ membrane cloth. We didn’t use the latest main sail for the World Championship but the old one for the Circuito Italiano 2007. Despite it was an old sail, Diletta has the same windward performances and acceleration as the best boats of the fleet. This performance is another proof of the great products given by the cooperation between Spidertech ™ and Montefusco Sailloft regarding M 30. Don’t forget, we are speaking about World Champion sails!”

The Melges 32 class, to which all the best sailors in the world are already taking part, is giving more and more satisfactions to Spidertech ™. Here in Monaco, Parimor Thule of Rubbini, which ranked 2° having on board Sandro Montefusco, sailmaker of the Parimor Thule team, has good race results (1-2-1-6-4-3), showing great speed upwind, but not perfectly set up downwind.

Here follows what Alessandro Battistelli, tailer of Parimor said about the results: “Perfect the sails shapes and the upwind speed, considering that we have always started the downwind leg in the first two positions. We have not great downwind performances, we should be more confident in the boat particularly reaching.”

Giacomo Baldassari for Spidertech News

SpiderPlan is borne
As a logical development of Spidertech Integrated System a new piece of smart software has been added to the design tools range ST Authorised Designers are equipped with.
In this case though the software is out for sale at a real bargain price of 560 Euros and it’s the ideal tool for the designers of yachts, sails, masts, for the advanced rigger, for boatyards.

The software wants to be a common tool that can be used to iterate the design information between all the various engineers that at turn design and build each component of the propulsive yacht-system.