Melges 24 European Sailing Series at Marstrand, Sweden - Day 1
by International Melges 24 Class Association 17 Jun 2017 07:16 BST
16-18 June 2017
Tricky conditions were the keywords of the first day of the Melges 24 Swedish Open and Nordic Championship, considered also as the third event of the 2017 Melges 24 European Sailing Series. The race committee of the Marstrands Segelsellskäp led by Petter Vedin managed to execute three races for thirty Melges 24 teams from eight nations. Getting two bullets from three races today, Luca Perego's Maidollis ITA854 with Carlo Fracassoli helming took the lead at the early stage of the event. The leader of Corinthian division is another Italian team, Marco Zammarchi's Taki 4 ITA778 with Niccolo Bertola in helm.
The morning in beautiful Marstrand was not that beautiful though. Gray sky and rain was not something what was expected according to the today's weather forecasts. But Melges 24 teams were eager to start sailing and everything was set to start the first race of the day on time. The first attempt to start the race at midday failed due to the general recalls. Then the wind started to shift and got unstable, which meant postponement for up to forty minutes to get the racing started. Starting the race with NE wind of 9-10 knots it dropped and was very shifty making the conditions not easy to handle. Due to that the second race was postponed to set the course again. Some heavy rain highlighted the second race when for the third race the conditions for Melges 24 were just great - wind was picking up, the water was rather flat and sun started to shine giving to the Race Committee an option for the longer course.
There were six teams out of thirty who finished at least once in Top 3 in today's races. Luca Perego's Maidollis ITA854 with Carlo Fracassoli in helm took the victory from the first and third race and was seventh in the second race. Norwegian Kristoffer Spone NOR400 was the first over the finish line in the second race and as third on the final race. Another Italian, Marco Zammarchis Taki 4 ITA778 with Niccolo Bertola helming achieved the second place from the second race and was showing strong also in the final race. Also both teams from United States managed to Top 3 - Wes Whitmyer's SlingSHOT USA747 was second on the third and Kevin Welch's Mikey USA838 with Jason Rhodes helming got the third placement on the second race. Another Norwegian managing to Top 3 was Kristian Nergaard's team on NOR600. Fracassoli has a six point margin ahead of Nergaard who is ahead of Wes Whitmyer with one point only.
Being fourth in the overall ranking, Taki 4 ITA778 is the strong leader of the Corinthian division with two bullets and one second place. With a score of 3-2-2 and seven points in total the second in this division is Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team GBR694 with Geoff Carveth helming. Third place among Corinthian teams holds Jesper Toft's Flex Trim/Vilsund Blue DEN765 with 1-6-4 today and eleven points in total.
Niccolo Bertola, the helmsman of the Taki 4 ITA778, said after the racing that today was a tricky day with different weather conditions in every race. "We had a good day, good tactical calls and good speed. We lost some easy points in first and third race and we have to avoid such mistakes in the future. At the end we are happy with the day.There is a good level of competition here, so its a perfect training looking forward to the Worlds in Helsinki!"
Full results can be found here.