2019 Melges 24 European Sailing Series - MAIDOLLIS RETURNS TO WIN IN RIVA DEL GARDA, WITH A FULLY ITALIAN PODIUM
The third event of the 2019 Melges 24 European Sailing Series goes to Maidollis ITA854 by Gian Luca Perego with Carlo Fracassoli at the helm and Enrico Fonda in tactics.
Photo (c)IM24CA/Zerogradinord
Article By International Melges 24 Class Association - June 9, 2019 - Riva del Garda, Italy - After two days of powerful Melges 24 sailing, with boats surfing downwind in gusts of Ora wind at more than 20 knots, the last day of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series' third event in Riva del Garda is a no race day: uncertain weather with intermittent thunder showers didn't allow the wind to fill in properly and to complete the last three races of the series.
The final ranking in then unchanged since the races of yesterday: the victory of the third act of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series goes to Maidollis ITA854 by Gian Luca Perego that, with an impressive scoreline (1-2-1-3-RET-1) returns to win a regatta in the race course of Riva del Garda, after having been crowned Melges 24 European Champion here in 2018.
The Corinthian division sees once again Tõnu Tõniste's Lenny EST790 achieving the success.
Riva del Garda. Photo (c)IM24CA/Zerogradinord
On the podium with the crew of Maidollis, the Italians onboard Bombarda ITA860 by owner-driver Andrea Pozzi, who managed to repeat the great performances obtained in the event of Malcesine, where the crew made its return to the Melges 24 class after a couple of years of stop. The podium is completed by another Italian crew: the reigning World Champions onboard of Andrea Racchelli's Altea ITA722 close the event of Riva del Garda in third place with 12 points in total.
The Corinthian division, reserved to non professional sailors, sees once again Tõnu Tõniste's Lenny EST790 achieving the success, also closing the event in fourth place of the overall ranking. The Estonian crew is followed by Taki 4 ITA778 of Marco Zammarchi with Niccolo Bertola helming on the second step of the Corinthian podium and by Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team GBR694 with Geoff Carveth at the helm in third place.
The next appointment with the Melges 24 European Sailing Series, fourth act of the 2019 season, is scheduled for July 19th to 21st, in Scarlino (Tuscany). After that, the fleet will move to Sardinia, to start preparing for the World Championship that will be held from October 5th to 21st in Villasimius, Sardinia. Final rehearsal for the Worlds will be pre-event in Villasimius on September 20th-22nd.
The event in Riva del Garda was also valid as Act 2 of the Italian Melges 24 Tour and was hosted by Fraglia Vela Riva and organized by the Melges 24 Italian Class Association and International Melges 24 Class Association.
Final Top 10 (6 races, 1 discard):
1st ITA 854 Maidollis - Fracassoli Carlo 1-2-1-3-(40 RET)-1 8 pts
2nd ITA 860 Bombarda - Pozzi Andrea (4)-1-4-2-3-2 12 pts
3rd ITA 722 Altea - Racchelli Andrea 5-3-(7)-1-1-5 15 pts
4th EST 790 corinthian Lenny - Tõniste Tõnu 3-4-10-4-2-(12) 23 pts
5th GER 673 Nefeli - Karrie Peter 2-6-5-(8)-4-6 23 pts
6th ITA 778 corinthian Taki 4 - Bertola Niccolo (10)- 7-3-9-8-9 36 pts
7th GBR 557 Imagine - Rowen David 7-5-13-6-(15)- 8 39 pts
8th GBR 694 corinthian Gill Race Team - Carveth Geoff (17)-12-6-7-14-3 42 pts
9th SUI 731 corinthian Cytrus - Renker Christoph 8-(40 RET)-20-14-7-7 56 pts
10th HUN 759 corinthian Seven-FiveNine Csolto Ãkos 6-11-(21)-18-5-18 58 pts
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