Six of the 470 Men teams in the Medal Race Top 10 race with Zaoli Sails
Zaoli Sails are the sails of choice for many of the world’s top 470 Men sailors, with sixty per cent of the teams who advanced to the Medal Race at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres, France using sails manufactured by Zaoli.
Croatia’s Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic headlined at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres, winning gold the day before the medal race in an authoritative performance. ISAF Sailing World Cup hosted five days of racing for forty teams in each of the ten Olympic events, in a format of eight races for all and the top 10 advancing to the medal race.
Germany’s Ferdinand Gerz and Oliver Szymanski took the lead on the opening day, before Fantela/Marenic claimed the yellow leader bibs from day 2 and wore them for the rest of the series. Gerz and Szymanski, who also racing using Zaoli Sails, finished fourth. The rest of the Zaoli Sails 470 men team line-up were Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion of France who finished in fifth, Lucas Calabrese/Juan de la Fuente of Argentina in sixth, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani in eighth and reigning 470 Junior European and Junior World Champions Jordi Xammar/Joan Herp of Spain finished in tenth.
The win for Fantela/Marenic also guarantees their place in the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, in November, when just twenty of the world’s top teams will compete in each of the ten Olympic events.
Zaoli Sails has been closely working with many of the top 470 teams, and the time invested in testing and improving the sails has produced valuable ‘weapons of choice’, as Zaoli Sails repeatedly prove themselves around the race track.
“Our sails have evolved over many hours on the water and intensive testing by the world’s top 470 teams,” explained Andrea Mannini of Zaoli Sails. “There is a lot of hype about the different sails teams use. We are really proud to have a proven world class performance. 470 teams who choose Zaoli Sails go out on the race track assured that our sails will perform, whatever the conditions.”
Reflecting on the importance of the partnership Zaoli Sails has with teams, Mannini said, “Zaoli has a dedicated team of sail makers and our sail loft is right next to the venue where many 470 teams come and train. This really helps deliver feedback direct to the sailmakers, as they can be out on the water observing the teams, and debriefs after testing sessions ensure the input is received first hand to the sailmakers.”
It is not just support during training that Zaoli Sails provided, as Mannini explained, “I also go to all the major events to support the teams and work with them. The ultimate goal is to ensure they are pushing every last bit of speed out of the sails.”
“It is great to see such strong results at Hyeres, straight off the back of our teams claiming the top four finishes at the 470 Spring Cup,” concluded Mannini.
The next event on the circuit is ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland, 8-14 June 2015.