Vela & Golf

The home team repeats last year's success and wins the 2024 edition

Porto Cervo, May 26, 2024. The eighteenth edition of Vela & Golf, a traditional event supported by technical partner Garmin Marine, opened the sailing season in Porto Cervo and has now come to an end. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda team achieved its second victory in a row, followed by the Yacht Club Adriaco in second place and tied for points. Third place went to the team from the Yacht Club de Monaco.     

The event, which combines the sports of sailing and golf, saw the six participating teams compete yesterday, May 25, on the renowned green of the Pevero Golf Club while today the teams sailed aboard the YCCS J/70 fleet.

The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda team, winner of the 2023 edition, was led by YCCS member Germano Scarpa and faced off 5 other teams: Marina Militare (skipper Aurelio De Carolis), Pevero Golf Club (skipper Italo Screpanti), Yacht Club Adriaco (skipper Alderico Paganini), Yacht Club Punta Ala (skipper Alessandro Masini), Yacht Club de Monaco (skipper Achille Onorato).      

The golfing part of the competition saw the team from Pevero Golf Club get the better of all their opponents, followed by the teams from the Yacht Club Adriaco and the Yacht Club Punta Ala. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Yacht Club de Monaco teams finished tied for points and in fourth and fifth place respectively followed by the Marina Militare team.

This morning the teams met promptly at 10:30AM in the waters off Porto Cervo Marina, but light and unstable breeze meant that racing only got underway around midday. The fleet completed a total of three races in northerly winds between 7 and 10 knots.      

From the first upwind leg of Race 1 it was a close battle between the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and the Yacht Club de Monaco. This friendly rivalry continued throughout the day’s three races and while the YCCS team won the first two races, the Yacht Club de Monaco’s team got a good start and the most favourable side of the final race. They led the fleet throughout while the YCCS team, having started from the opposite side of the course, found itself rounding the first upwind mark in third place behind the Yacht Club Adriaco. The last two legs of the windward/leeward course decided the winner of Vela & Golf and with this motivator the YCCS team managed to move up one position. They had to fight hard to fend off a relentless and determined Yacht Club Adriaco all the way to a few meters before the finish line. Their second place finish in the final race earned the YCCS team the overall event victory ahead of the Yacht Club Adriaco team which, despite a good score in the golf competition and today's sailing scores (3-3-3), finished second. Third place was for the Yacht Club de Monaco.

The winner of the event won an Approach R10, a portable radar for analysing golf performance with over 43,000 virtual courses in interactive mode. This prize was offered by Garmin Marine Italia, the event’s technical partner.     

The next YCCS scheduled event is the YCCS Clean Beach Day which will be held on May 30th at the Tre Monti beach in Baja Sardinia starting from 9:30AM. The Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta is scheduled from June 4 to 8.