South Tyrolean sailors cause a sensation

The Alpex Sailing Team with Matthias Pirrone (31), Francesco Giudiceandrea (30), both from Bolzano, Simon Folie (35) from St. Pauls/Eppan and Hagen Niederkofler (32) from Bruneck debuted with an excellent 3rd place at the RS21 -Italian Sailing Championships.

07 April 2024

From: pm

In an exciting opening weekend of the season in Porto Rotondo (Sardinia), the Alpex Sailing Team showed impressive performances. Despite tough competition against some of Italy's best sailors, the team fought its way into the top group on equal points with the runner-up.

The adventure began in light winds on Thursday as the 29 racing boats made their way to the competition area off Porto Rotondo in Sardinia. But nature had its own plans. After four hours of waiting, the jury team had to cancel the first day of competition due to changeable wind conditions. Matthias Pirrone, team helmsman, said: “We still used the first day to prepare ourselves even better for the next day of competition. We adjusted the sails and rigging and were ready for the racing on the second day.”

On Friday the longed for wind finally came and the Alpex Sailing Team immediately showed their true skills. In the first race of the season, the South Tyroleans came in an excellent third place. Despite initial difficulties in maintaining the field, they fought their way to 1th place in the second race. In the 2rd race they took 5th place and were even the first to cross the finish line in the last race. “We were incredibly happy. We were able to exploit our full potential, especially in the fourth race. “No one would have expected that we were in second place after the first day of racing and even had the opportunity to come first,” explained Simon Folie enthusiastically.

The tension rose on the 3rd and final day of the race when the challenge was to defend second place or perhaps even land the big coup. Despite difficult wind conditions, the team was unable to quite match the previous day's performance. In the 2th race they only managed 5th place and in the 8th race the South Tyroleans came fourth. Thanks to the excellent performances on the previous day of the competition, the Alpex Sailing Team still secured an impressive third place.

The Alpex Sailing Team has proven that it is more than just an outsider. With their third place in the category of non-professional sailors, the South Tyroleans have shown that they have the potential to compete in this class and perhaps even get further to the top.