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NEVER 2 LATE wins ORC Sportboat European Championship 2023

by Offshore Racing Congress 2 Oct 2023 05:44 BST 25 September - 1 October 2023
ORC Sportboat European Championship 2023 © Zagas Photography

After five races varying from a 26-mile Coastal race to four hour-long Windward/Leeward courses, one winner has emerged at the 2023 ORC Sportboat European Championship, hosted by the Nautical Club of Kalamaki (NOK) with support from the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC).

Enrico Michel's (ITA) Melges 24 NEVER 2 LATE, helmed by Manu Hens, is the new ORC Sportboat European Champion on the strength of a 1-2-6-2-2 scoreline. Besides Enrico and Hans, the winning team consisted of Antonia Contin, Stefano Longhi and Paolo Lambertenghi.

When asked about the secret to their winning performance, Hens said "We have no secret, we are actually a group of Snipe sailors, we've known each other for quite some time who jumped into the Melges 24. That's probably our 'secret.'"

The four race days featured a variety of racing conditions to test the teams, from very light air to solid seabreezes, and close race results using ORC Performance Curve Scoring. Some races were resolved by only seconds in corrected time even after an hour of racing, and some places in some races had to be shared due to ties in corrected time.

Winning Silver medals is Ott Kikkas's (EST) team on his Corsa 915 SUGAR, the defending champions from 2022, who were 3 points back on a score line of 4-3-2-4-3. And the Bronze medalists are Arif Guerdenil's (TUR) Istanbul-based Farr 25 OD ORIENT XS with a score line of 3-1-7-3-8, 9 points from the lead.

Winning the all-amateur Corinthian division was Vasilis Gourgiotis's (GRE) J-24 EVNIKI, 2.5 points ahead of Andrea Pietrolucci's (ITA) Este 24 MILU' 4 and 16 points ahead of Kostas Koufoudakis's (GRE) J-80 JUNIOR.

"This was a tough regatta," said NOK event organizer Evangelos Polykandriotis. "We had a wide variety of conditions, but this was a good test for the teams. The race management and technical teams were very good, and I like the concept in the format [of having different race types].

Next year's 2024 ORC Sportboat European Regatta will be held in Valencia, Spain, where the new champions in NEVER 2 LATE have vowed to defend their title.

"We will be there for sure," said Manu Hans.

Final Results

Rank Nation Bow Sail No Yacht Name Type Skipper Division R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total
1 ITA 590 ITA-590M24 NEVER 2 LATE MELGES 24 OD Michel Enrico   1.00 2.00 6.00 2.00 2.00 13.00
2 EST 12 EST-711 SUGAR Corsa 915 Montefusco Sandro   4.00 3.00 2.00 4.00 3.00 16.00
3 TUR 8 TUR-1125 ORIENT XS Farr 25 OD Gurdenli Arif   3.00 1.00 7.00 3.00 8.00 22.00
4 GRE 1 GRE-5441 EVNIKI J-24 Gourgiotis Vasilis COR 2.00 6.00 14.00 1.00 1.00 24.00
5 GRE 10 GRE-2523 SIMOUN PLATU 25 OD Apostolou Georgios   7.00 4.00 3.00 6.00 6.00 26.00
6 ITA 4 ITA-24100 MILU' 4 Este 24 Pietrolucci Andrea COR 5.00 5.00 8.00 5.00 4.50 27.50
7 GRE 2 GRE-2380 JUNIOR J-80 Koufoudakis Kostas COR 8.00 10.00 4.00 7.00 11.00 40.00
8 GRE 15 GRE-25295 OKEANIDA III PLATU 25 OD Noutsos Stylianos COR 10.00 7.00 1.00 10.00 13.00 41.00
9 GRE 3 GRE-13087 MARACES EXPRESS ILC 25 Raris Alexandros COR 6.00 12.00 12.00 9.00 4.50 43.50
10 GRE 11 GRE-2513 STAR PLATU 25 Tsirigakis Akis   11.00 11.00 5.00 11.00 10.00 48.00
11 GRE 7 GRE-25160 OKEANIDA IV PLATU 25 OD Marinou Chrisa COR 9.00 8.00 13.00 12.00 9.00 51.00
12 GRE 9 GRE-2505 PLATYPOUS PLATU 25 OD Smirlis Manos   15.00
NSC
9.00 9.00 13.00 7.00 53.00
13 GRE 14 GRE-2510 OKEANIDA PLATU 25 OD Antypa Athina COR 12.00 13.00 11.00 14.00 12.00 62.00
14 GRE 320 GRE-320 FEEL FREE MELGES 24 OD Zizis Harris COR 15.00
NSC
15.00
DNS
10.00 8.00 15.00
DNC
63.00

Full results available here.

For more info and results from the ORC Sportboat European Championship 2023, visit the event website.