Marco Nannini - Ocean Racing

Nannini-Peggs complete RBI qualifier on SunGard Front Arena Class40

Italian skipper Marco Nannini and British yacht racing partner Paul Peggs have completed their 300 miles qualifier for the Round Britain and Ireland Race race organised by the Royal Western Yacht Club of England due to start from Plymouth on June 6th 2010.  The duo will take part in the race aboard the Akilaria Class40 owned by Nannini, renamed SunGard Front Arena for the occasion following the sponsorship for the race.

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SunGard Front Arena Qualifies for RBI

Last night at around 9:30pm we arrived in Portsmouth after sailing just over 300 miles in the space of 34 hours, we went to Le Havre and back and to Fecamp and back, crossing the English Channel a total of 4 times in less than a day and a half.

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SunGard approaching land and RBI qualifier

We ve now been out for 31 hours, a gentle breeze and finally a helping tide are pushing SunGard Front Arena at 10 knots speed towards Portsmouth and the end of our qualifier for the Round Britain and Ireland race. We had to complete a 300 miles passage and with about 20 miles to Portsmouth we will have covered about 305-310 miles in total since leaving port yesterday just before lunch. We can now see the Nab Tower marking the entrance to the Solent and the isle of whigt to the left.
All going smooth on board.

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Fast miles aboard SunGard Front Arena

We left yesterday aboard SunGard Front Arena, the Class 40 named after our sponsor for the Round Britain And Ireland race that will start on 6th of june from Plymouth.
It s the first ever time that either of us sail the boat, i bought her on 1st March, launched on 1st April after a few re-commissioning jobs and
Here we are now first time out, been to Le Havre and back already!!! 150 odd miles of excellent sailing, well protected by a safe, fast and reliable formidable machine.

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Qualifier

we set off this morning at about 11:30, currently crossing shipping lanes headed for france, fetching in 20-25 knots of wind from the west. One reef and staysail, taking it easy, wind against tide giving up the odd steep wave to slam onto. Weather permitting we ll stay out till we ve completed our 300 miles, we ll keep you posted.
Cheers,
Marco and Paul,
SunGard Front Arena

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Sailor with Accountancy skills

Buying the class 40 is certainly proving to be the steepest learning curve i could have imagined, well, i did imagine that, i am just overwhelmed by the fact that sailing a boat seems to be just one of the trillion skills you need to campaign. And I cant even claim i can sail it, so that'll be one trillion and one.

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Mowgli and Hugo Boss

Lot's of work in the shed to launch beginning of april... No matter how big a boat you buy there someone has it bigger still! Ah ah...

Mowgli here looking like just more than Hugo Boss's tender...

Lots of excitment, flat out towards RBI.

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Nannini is entry #13 in Global Ocean Race 2011/12

The Global Ocean Race (GOR) can announce entry #13 for the 2011-12, double-handed circumnavigation in Class40s. Italian-born, UK-based yachtsman, Marco Nannini, has secured his place on the start line and will be competing against the event’s growing international fleet. In the past week, 32 year-old Nannini has bought Class40 Akilaria, Mowgli – the yacht sailed by the British duo of Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson in the 2008-09 Portimão Global Ocean Race – and can now begin planning for the race: “All efforts will be dedicated to preparing a proper campaign for the Global Ocean Race, which is my ultimate and most important goal,” said Nannini today.
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Mowgli! Mowgli! Mowgli!

It has taken me more than 4 months to seal the deal but finally I can announce I've just bought myself a Class 40! How exciting... It has not been an easy decision, first and foremost financially, all my life savings have been diverted to the boat, hopefully this is the beginning of a new road...
More news to follow soon, I'm just overwhelmed with bureacracy and keeping up with a sudden stream of invoices!

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Marco Nannini acquires Akilaria Class 40 Mowgli

The die is finally cast, Marco Nannini is the proud new owner of the Akilaria Class 40 Mowgli, designed by Marc Lombard and built by MC-TECsuccessfully campaigned around the world by Jeremy Salvesen in the 2008/2009 Portimao Global Ocean Race. Mowgli is an identical boat to Beluga Racer which was sailed into first place by Boris Hermann. Akilaria is a fast and proven design and Mowgli is one of only two Cat 0 modified boats, fully equipped and potentially ready to undertake another round the world race.

The boat is currently in Endeavour Quay in the big shed where she's undergoing a mini-refit ahead of the new racing season and the launch is expected to take place in early April.

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