Un anno di blog, un anno di D-One

E' passato ormai un anno dall'acquisto del D-One ma anche dalla nascita di questo blog.
In un anno insieme al barchino abbiamo fatto 5 tappe della Volvo Cup, un Campionato Mondiale a Valencia (con Jhonatan Lobert) con più di 35 regate disputate.

Tirreno, Adriatico, il mare di Valencia, lago di Bracciano e di Garda, poi il premio come barca dell'anno, insomma non male per il primo anno di vita del D-One.

Per quanto riguarda il blog, è la prima volta che ne gestivo uno, credo che l'esperienza sia positiva, ho fatto 76 post con 2.617 pagine visitate e 1.432 contatti da 36 diversi paesi.

Posso definirmi soddisfatto' direi di si: ho creduto e acquistato la barca che poi sarebbe diventata un anno dopo la barca dell'anno, c' ho fatto infinite planate (ma anche infinite scuffie), sono riuscito ad arrivare 5° alla Volvo Cup e me la sono portata anche in vacanza... insomma non riesco più a farne a meno sono completamente D-One addicted...

Il responsabile di tutto ciò: Luca Devoti

Nel frattempo sta nascendo il D-One under 70 kg con il rig 9.5 qui in foto.

LUCA DEVOTI WINS 2010 BEST ITALIAN DESIGNER AWARD

Monday evening was a high moment in the short history of the D-ONE dinghy as its co-creator, Italian Olympics medalist Luca Devoti together with Phil Morrison and Roman Teply, won the Velista dell'Anno 2010 award for the Best Italian Yacht Designer, presented in scenic Villa Miani (Rome) by Acciari Consulting in partnership with the Italian Sailing Federation and italian sailing magazines FareVela, Yacht Capital, Nautica and Yacht&Sail. Marina di Loano, Feudi di San Gregorio and Istituto per il Credito Sportivo sponsored the event. Andrea Mura (winner of the Route du Rhum 2010 in the Rhum category with his 50ft Vento di Sardegna) was awarded with the Velista dell'Anno for the Best Sailor.
The awards are recognized as the highest honours an Italian sailor can receive in recognition of their outstanding achievements during the previous year. Similar to the previous editions, the awards this year had the same guideline, not only to reward past results but also one's capacity to popularize the sport of sailing and the overall spirit with which they approach it. The jury's deliberation was exhaustive, since it was not easy to determine rankings among all the well-deserving nominees.

Luca Devoti was presented with the award of Best Italian Yacht Designer in 2010 for his D-ONE dinghy. According to the jury, Devoti's innovative D-ONE was key to bringing back to sailing a great number of sailors that had distanced themselves from the sport.

"I wanted to try everything in sailing", explained Devoti. "I raced, I coached younger sailors and then I dedicated myself to yacht design. Receiving this award is like going through a second youth, creating new challenges for the future."

FUN AND SUCCESSFUL D-ONE CLINIC IN VALENCIA

It was a perfect three-day sailing weekend for the first D-One Clinic of 2011. Luca Devoti and Agustin Zabalua, 2010 Gold Cup champion, coached ten sailors from 4 countries (Italy, UK, Switzerland and Spain) that practiced on the breezy waters of Valencia. The class had also the pleasure to host the first test sessions of the new small rig for the ladies, with two experienced female sailors from Italy (former 470 sailors Nathalie Testa and Francesca Cinque) testing the new rig.
Our friend Michele Tognozi, editor of FareVela.net, was in the clinic and shared his impressions: "The rig "chico" (small in spanish) has a mainsail 2 sq m smaller and a shorter upper part of the mast. It demonstrated to be perfect for weights from 55 to 70 kg. The ladies sailed with a lot of fun and smiles as it was real pleasure to sail this brand new boat in a steady breeze. The small rig will also be present in the 2011 circuit, the Volvo Cup, where the girls will join the male fleet with standard rig and will be competing on separate standings. We sailed that rig, feeling a nice control of the boat upwind in a 18-knot shore wind. Easier and more reactive for the lighter guys too, that's for sure.

The Real Club Nautico de Valencia base, with his perfect logistics, was once again a perfect venue for this kind of clinics. The days started with a briefing, boat mantainance and programmed sail testing (the new main by North Sails were scheduled on test). Starting at 1pm all participants enjoyed the breeze during the 3-hour afternoon session. Agustin Zabalua directed the Clinic with a program that consisted of upwind and downwind practice separately for each sailor followed by fleet races. There were the usual practice starts and then a regular upwind/downwind race. It didn't take long before the 10-strong fleet started getting warmed up, leaving behind them the winter inactivity. Alberto Ferrari from Rome and Tim Garvin from the UK were the top finishers in the majority of the races, with masters Guido Falciola and Gianni Tricarico working hard for the 2011 season."

The Italian D-One circuit, Volvo Cup, will kick off two months from now in Alassio.