On her first showing at the Vela d’Epoca Imperia in Italy, Skylark has won her class overall narrowly beating the Italian 12m Emelia.
Three races were held off the old port, the first in 18-20 knots requiring all yachts to use smaller headsails on a long beat upwind. Skylark made healthy gains on her competitors and when the breeze ran out close to the finish, was lying in first place. 
Unfortunately a slow gybe left her lying further offshore than she wanted to be and Emila managed to lead Skylark over the finish beating her on handicap by less than a minute.
Oiseau de Feu winning track to the left – Skylark to the right
Race 2 was in lighter wind and again a wrongly timed gybe was Skylark’s undoing and she finished in 3rd place not being able to keep up with the larger Emilia and Oiseau de Feu, who won her first race at the event – again less than one minute ahead of Skylark on correct time.
Each evening Skylark’s crew completed long cultural bike rides to visit old Italian villages in the area. Shoreside, there was spectacular entertainment laid on each evening close to the boats.
With a discard coming into play after 3 races, it was essential that Skylark won the last race in order to win the event. On the start a big wind shift went against Skylark putting her immediately at the back of the fleet. Excellent upwind speed and two very fast and well sailed reaches let Skylark cross the line just a few minutes behind Emilia, meaning she won the race by more than 3 minutes on correct time.
With this fine score she narrowly won the event, including a handsome trophy.
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