Not even a start marked by technical problems was enough to keep Phytoervas 4z off the podium at the 53rd Ilhabela Daycoval International Sailing Week. After a week of recovery, the team led by Marcelo Bellotti and Fábio Bruggioni took the runner-up spot in the Super 40 class, confirming the competitiveness of one of Brazilian sailing's most traditional projects.
The campaign began in challenging fashion. In the very first race, a tear in the mainsail hampered the boat's performance and forced the crew to sail against the odds throughout the competition. Even so, the team managed to react, taking important wins in the decisive races and finishing the Ilhabela International Sailing Week behind only Onda, of Eduardo Souza Ramos.
"We did the impossible. We started at the bottom and made our way to the front. Everything seemed very hard at the beginning of the week: we had a tear in the mainsail, which set us back a lot. Without that, we could even have dreamed of more," said Marcelo Bellotti.
The skipper stressed that confidence in the team's work was decisive for the recovery.
"We knew we had potential. The boat was good, we had technical quality. The secret was always believing in the comeback. We did not let the bad start contaminate us."
The result reinforces the consistency of the Phytoervas project, which returned to fighting for the top positions at the country's leading offshore sailing competition and finished ahead of traditional teams such as King II, whose crew includes two-time Olympic champion Robert Scheidt and André Fonseca "Bochecha", a sailor with three Olympic Games appearances.
The campaign also highlighted the team's renewal work. Among the 12 crew members were young sailors Douglas Said, 20, and Luca Bruggioni, 19, who represented Brazil at the recent Snipe Junior World Championship, reinforcing the integration between experienced athletes and the new generation of Brazilian sailing.
The runner-up finish extends the trajectory of one of the longest-running projects in Brazilian sailing. With eight boats across the ORC, Star and Snipe classes, Phytoervas maintains a constant presence at the main national and international competitions. In recent years, the team has won three consecutive Soto40 class titles, the overall runner-up spot at the Ilhabela International Sailing Week, and titles at the traditional Santos-Rio Regatta and the Rio Circuit.
The project is supported by Phytoervas, Galápagos Capital, RAFF Infra and Chris Pitanguy Labs, companies that invest in the development of Brazilian sailing and in building high-performance teams.
By: Redação Mundo Mar
Photo: FOTOP
