OTT KIKKAS' SUGAR WINS THE 2024 ORC EUROPEAN TITLE
With a demanding series of eight races, the ORC European Championship concluded with the brilliant victory of Sugar IY 9.98, by Ott Kikkas (Est), in Class C. Held in the chilly waters of Mariehamn, in the Åland Islands of Finland, the race series proved to be quite challenging, starting with the first race, a long-distance course, launched under over 25 knots of wind and heavy seas. Conditions that didn’t faze Sugar at all, which seized the opportunity to immediately take the lead in the standings, closely marked by Madonna IY 9.98 owner Per Ovren (Swe) . From there, Sugar went on to secure five first-place finishes out of eight races, discarding a fifth-place result, with Simone Ferrarese on tactics, Sandro Montefusco at the helm, navigator Paolo Piccione, Siim Akermann on the mainsail, Paolo Bucciarelli and Marko Uulits as trimmers, Marjaliisa Umb on the pit, Ott Kikkas on the mast, and Siim Ots at the bow. “The first race went well right from the start,” commented Sandro Montefusco, “and we maintained our lead throughout the race. But it wasn’t the same in the second race: we didn’t start well, fought hard throughout the course, and only thanks to such a strong team did we manage to recover from a critical situation.” It was certainly a very interesting European Championship, with nights at sea under a magical aurora borealis, winds that left no trace on the water and stayed high in the sky, granite rocks lurking beneath the surface... and sandwiches with otter. "We are very happy with the progress made on the boat and the speed of our 9.98. Sugar works perfectly in line with the ORC system. We are not yet completely satisfied with the method used by the ORC for offshore ratings with weather forecasts, but otherwise, we are very pleased. On the final day, we headed out with just a one-point lead, and thanks to two practically flawless races, we claimed this European title, which was very important to us because we wanted to bring home some significant medals for our IY 9.98” said a tired but clearly satisfied Paolo Bucciarelli. Although they didn’t make it to the podium, we are certain that the other *Italia Yachts* in the competition also enjoyed themselves immensely: Madonna IY 9.98 with Per Ovren (Swe) finished the series in eighth place, after a strong second place in the long-distance race, right behind Sugar. In Class B, the IY 11.98s were lined up: Stony VII with Steen Toftebjerg (Den) took ninth place, never dropping below tenth, Arabela with Raimondas Siugzdinis (Lit) finished tenth, after a strong string of top finishes but slipping due to a disqualification in the first race for an incorrect buoy rounding, and Rhino with Saulius Pajarskas (Lit) placed eleventh after dropping in the standings with a sixteenth-place finish in the final race. Arabela and Rhino were the top teams in Group B on the penultimate day of the championship. We are happy and proud of Sugar's victory, and we extend our congratulations to them. We are also very proud to see so many Italia Yachts competing in the most important regattas.
