World Cup Series: Three bullets for the 'other' Italians

“I can’t remember any other time when we have managed to have a day like today,” said Bissaro. Which is saying something, bearing in mind he and Frascari have won many honours in the Nacra 17 fleet, including the 2019 World Championships. Throughout the last cycle leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Games, the battle to represent Italy at the Games was always very tight between the top two teams, Bissaro & Frascari versus Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti.

Tita & Banti ended up winning the spot for Tokyo and racing to Olympic gold. Since the latest technical upgrade to adjustable rudders and the possibility of full hydrofoiling upwind, Tita & Banti have set a fearsome pace. The reigning Olympic Champions have been the masters of the new era, dominating last season’s majors, including the Worlds and Europeans.

This week was the first opportunity for the whole fleet to check in against each other since the World Championships in Canada last August. Judging by today’s performance, Bissaro & Frascari have closed the performance gap to their arch-rivals, although Bissaro was keen not to make too much of the occasion. “They are the team, they are the standard in the fleet, that hasn’t changed, but what we did today, that does feel good.” Tita & Banti were racing in the other qualifying group and sailed an almost perfect day with scores of 3,1,1. So the real test of progress will come when all the front runners line up against each other in gold fleet competition.

For Bissaro & Frascari, today’s treble victory will feel particularly good after a lacklustre 2022 season. “We had a big problem at the start of the season,” said Bissaro, “because Maelle was out with injury for quite a few months. So we were very behind on experience with the new setup compared with the other teams. We were just lacking the volume of hours’ training, and that showed in the results.”

Today’s three victories were down to a combination of good starting strategy combined with great boatspeed, according to Frascari. “We were attacking the right-hand side of the course because we thought the wind was shifting that way, and it was windier on the right-hand layline. So we were starting on port tack behind the fleet. In the first race there were not many boats doing that, but by the last race there were a lot of boats starting on port which made it harder.

“The boat speed felt good. We have had a long winter of training Cagliari [Sardinia] with the other Italians and the Brits and Santi Lange, and we have got a good feeling for how to set up the boat for these conditions. I really enjoyed the last race. We had a good battle with the Dutch but we had enough of a lead to be able to enjoy the moment. That was a fun day.”

For some teams the Trofeo Princesa Sofía is an Olympic selection trials. So, what about the Italians vying for that coveted Nacra spot? “Well, we don’t know to be honest,” said Bissaro. “We have no mathematical trials, just a matter of observation by the Federation. Probably the trials started four years ago! But really, I don’t know anything more than this.”

Just as in the previous cycle, the challenge for the Italian Federation to work out which team is best to go to Paris 2024 is going to very difficult indeed. The national squad has been training hard together in Cagliari as Gianluigi Ugolini, the helmsman of the other strong Italian team (with crew Maria Giubilei), explained. “We have a big possibility to train together, and you can see the results here so far. Four teams in the top four from our training group.”

However, the squad mentality only goes so far. There are some cards that the teams choose to play close to their chest, according to Ugolini. “We go out sailing together, we train together on the water, but we don’t share technical information, we don’t share numbers and things like this. We only share the sensation of how the boat is feeling. So we are working together, but we are not sharing everything.”