Melges 24 European Championship 2021 at Portoroz, Slovenia - Day 1
by International Melges 24 Class Association 8 Sep 2021 10:57 BST
7-11 September 2021
Melges 24 European Championship 2021 in Portoroz, Slovenia in the picturesque bay of Piran © IM24CA / ZGN
A tricky first day of racing opened the Melges 24 European Championship 2021, organised by the YC Marina Portoroz and International Melges 24 Class Association with the support of Marina Portoroz in Slovenia today, and was already full of emotions and upheavals in the standings after three races sailed.
In conditions of light and very shifty breeze, the 40-boats fleet representing 14 nations has completed three races and none of the crews has so far emerged as indisputable leader of the ranking, having all of them, also those at the top of the leaderboard, scored at least one result out of the top-ten.
In an edition of the Melges 24 European Championship that is forecasted to be one of the most balanced of the latest years, the leader after day one is the already Corinthian World Champion Lenny by Tõnu Tõniste from Estonia, followed by the Swedish entry SWE-715 by Jonas Berntsson and by Swiss Cinghi-Aile by Michael Good.
A fully-Corinthian top-three, which once again demonstrates the strength of the division reserved to non-professionals in the Melges 24 Class.
The first non-Corinthian crew is Italian Arkanoè by Montura of Sergio Caramel, fourth overall, followed by Luka Šangulin' Panjic from Croatia, fifth.
In the Corinthian division, winners of the three daily races were, in order, Altea by Andrea Racchelli, the aforementioned SWE-715 and Arkanoè by Montura and Italian Taki 4 by Niccolo Bertola winning first and third race and SWE-715 by Jonas Berntsson the second, being also the overall winner.
Comments from sailors
Sergio Caramel of Arkanoe by Montura ITA809: "We are happy about today even if not 100%: we raced quite well, coming out of difficult situations, but we made a small mistake in the second race which cost us a few points. We are in the top five, but it is also true that today was a really strange day for the favorites and many of them will return to the game with the entry of the throw out."
Tõnu Tõniste of Lenny EST790: "It was a tricky day on the water and especially second race shuffled the cards in the fleet. All boats starting from the right side were not lucky with that choice ending up in the lack of wind, however, we were doing well in that race. Teams were very eager to start racing and first attempt to start the race was a general recall. We feel strong and are happy about our consistent racing today!"
Races will resume on Wednesday at 1 pm.
Watch Day 1 highlights here
Results after Day 1: (top 10)
1. Lenny EST790 (C) Tõnu Tõniste 22pts
2. SWE715 (C) Jonas Berntsson 26pts
3. Cinghi-Aile (C) SUI382 Michael Good 26pts
4. Arkanoe by Montura ITA809 Sergio Caramel 27pts
5. Panjic CRO739 Luka Šangulin 36pts
6. Altea ITA722 Andrea Racchelli 37pts
7. Pure AUT716 (C) Michael Schineis 37pts
8. White Room GER677(C) Michael Tarabochia 37pts
9. Gill Race Team GBR694 Miles Quinton 38pts
10. Taki 4 ITA778 (C) Niccolo Bertola 40pts