This morning, the famous yachtsman Flavio Favini fell from his balcony in Germignaga: now he is hospitalized in Varese. The man has been helped by some relatives that gave the alarm. Favini was in his family home in Via Mazzini around 9.30 a.m. when the event happened.

An ambulance of the 118 of Varese came and brought the man to the hospital of the Circolo; also the Police from Luino came to the place with a patrol. Favini, 51 years old, now is in the Orthopaedic section in Varese where has been submitted to a surgery for the reduction of some fractures: after the fall he also reported a cranial concussion without consequences.

The news spread rapidly around the town. The Favini’s are a historical family in Germignaga, also the mayor Enrico Prato knows them very well. He was rather moved by the news: they are neighbours. " I’ve heard about what happened, but at the moment I haven’t any further information and in particular I don’t know exactly what happened" he said on the phone: " I hope Flavio gets better as soon as possible: he’s the most famous man of Germignaga, we all support him."

According to a first reconstruction made by the Policemen from Luino, the fact was attributed to a domestic incident, probably due to the old balustrade made of cement on which the man was standing at the moment of the fall, from a height of 4 meters.

Anyway, it is excluded the responsibility of other people in this fact.

The career – He is a master of Sailing, one of the strongest in this kind of sport, in Italy.

Flavio Favini is a real ace that also recently, the last January he towered over the waves winning the Worldwide competition in the Melges 24 class, that took place in Australia. For that he received the nomination at the " Yachtsman of the year Tag Heuer" award, organised by the specialised magazine "Giornale della Vela" and dedicated to the Italian stars of this speciality. So, Favini, 51 years-old, is still at the top of sailing, started when he was very young, thanks to his father Lino ( whom, nowadays, is dedicated a competition organised by Avav of Luino), that made him win the first Juniors three-colour in the Laser class. His first title is dated 1989, when Favini won through Minitonner on the Portuguese waters of Cascais. Since then his career has been rich with awards: at a National level he dominated with the Soling class, to which he added other titles. And then it is striking his international victories: a worldwide gold medal in the six meters ( Cannes, 1993), in the Quarter Tonner (Sopot 1995), in J22 ( Genoa, 1998), in Mumm 30 ( Hilton Head, 1998), in 50 piedi (Majorca, 2001), Melges 24 (Kay West, 2002), and IMS (Capri, 2002). Then, after having also shined in competitions like Sardinia Cup, Admiral Cup and Giro d’Italia on sailing, here it is the adventure on "Mascalzone Latino", one of the Italian boats that have taken part in the latest editions of the American’s Cup. The yachtsman from Luino had participated in two campaigns, in which he played the role of tactician and helmsman on Vincenzo Onorato’s boat both in Auckland, 2003, and Valencia, 2007.

This year there is the great return with the Melges 24: in February with the "Blue Moon", Swiss team, Favini (in the middle of the photo by Teri Dodds) won the worldwide gold medal in Geelong’s regatta, in Australia. The coach of the team is the other ace who was born on Sponda Magra, Tiziano Nava; in the team there is Giovanni Ferrari too, from Colmegna.