Cecilia Zorzi and Matteo Sericano (Team Italy) crowned new Double Mixed Offshore World Champions

Coming second were Team Great Britain/Chilli Pepper, comprising Ellie Driver, the recent winner of the European women’s double offshore title and George Kennedy. The pair were engaged in a tight duel with Zorzi-Sericano for much of the race but had to pay a time penalty of one hour and three minutes at the finishing line.

Third place went to Maggie Adamson and Finlayson Calanach (Team Scotland), who arrived in Taranto about forty minutes after Team Great Britain/Chilli Pepper.

“It was an extremely hard-fought race and much more tactical than we imagined on the eve of the race,” commented Matteo Sericano. “We started to believe in the decisive breakaway during the second approach to Santa Maria di Leuca when we managed to gain a few miles on the English pairing, who up to that point were really close to us.”

Sericano’s statement was echoed by Cecilia Zorzi, who added, “I am experiencing a moment of great satisfaction: winning this event for the second time conveys magical sensations. Coming to the regatta, we thought it would be a simple speed race, but instead, very quickly, it became a battle of tactical choices: we were good at keeping things day by day without straying too far from the program we had drawn up before departure.”

With just minutes between the finishers, Team South Africa, Team Spain, Team Norway, Team Argentina, Team Poland and Team Germany, the last of the crews to reach the finish line, completed the arrivals. Team Sweden was forced to withdraw due to an error in reading the route.