San Francisco Is Calling — 2024 Diversified Melges 24 World Championship
Photos by: (1,2: ©Sharon Green/ultimatesailing.com; 3,4,5: ©Hannah Lee Noll/Bacardi Cup; 6,9: ©Martina Orsini/Bacardi Cup; 8: ©Regate.com.hr; 10: ©Matias Capizzano/IM24CA
5 August 2024—San Francisco, CA, USA - The San Francisco Yacht Club calls Melges 24 sailors from around the globe to join the Diversified Melges 24 World Championship, scheduled in the San Francisco Bay Area between August 17 and 24. The 2024 winner will succeed Drew Freides’ Pacific Yankee in the International Melges 24 Class Association's Hall of Fame and become the twenty-fifth World Champion of this iconic one-design class, designed by Reichel Pugh in the early 1990s.
Since its first edition, the Melges 24 World Championship has been one of the most anticipated one-design regattas of the international sailing season. In over 30 years of history, the great names in sailing have never failed to sail on the Melges 24 in the regatta that best highlights its excellence.
The best sailors in the Class have answered the call. This past weekend, on the regatta field that will host the 2024 Melges 24 World Championships, they competed in a six-race series during the Melges 24 Pacific Coast Championship, which served as the Pre-Worlds.
The favorites certainly didn't hold back: Raza Mixta, helmed by Peter Duncan, the 2022 World Champion, is in San Francisco accompanied by such names as Federico Michetti and Victor Diaz de Leon. They narrowly beat fleet new comer Don Wilson’s Convexity (second) and Anthony Kotoun’s Stepping Razor (third), both considered top contender for the Worlds.
These prominent names will face strong competition from other American specialists who are no strangers to success in the International Melges 24 Class Association. Crews like Brian Porter’s Full Throttle, one of the most experienced owner/helmsmen in the class, a ten-time U.S. National Champion, and the 2013 World Champion in San Francisco, will be competing. Other notable competitors include Geoff Fargo on Sentinel, the 2024 U.S. Melges 24 National Champion; and Michael Goldfarb’s War Canoe and Chelsea Simms’ Straightarrow are capable of top performances.
The European contingent is not to be underestimated, featuring the reigning Corinthian World Champion Mataran 24 from Croatia, led by Ante Botica, who placed third overall at the 2023 Worlds. Other strong entries include Andrea Pozzi’s Bombarda, with former Melges 24 European Champion and Italian Olympian Matteo Ivaldi calling tactics, and the German entry Nefeli, helmed by Peter Karrie and supported by an experienced crew.
The Corinthian lineup will be strong as well. The aforementioned reigning World Champion Mataran 24 will challenge crews like Dan Berezin’s Surprise, the 2023 North American and U.S. National Corinthian Champion from Canada; Duane Yoslov’s Looper; and Kent Pierce’s Average, to name a few.
Aside from the 2013 edition, which was won by Porter, this is the third time that the Melges 24 Worlds have taken place in San Francisco. The first time was in 2003 for the sixth overall edition of the Melges 24 World Championship, won by Samuel "Shark" Kahn with Pegasus. Fourteen-year-old Kahn sailed into the record books, becoming the youngest to win a Melges 24 World title. In 2005, this record was broken by eleven-year-old Mac Agnese from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, who crewed for Italy’s Luna Rossa with Jimmy Spithill at the helm, winning the Melges 24 Worlds title.
Laura Grondin, IM24CA Chair and owner/helm of Dark Energy, sends her best wishes to all sailors competing: “On the eve of the 2024 Worlds, the Melges 24 class is grateful to our hosts who patiently waited through the pandemic and several delays to welcome us. We are delighted to have the opportunity to race on the famous windy San Francisco Bay. My best wishes to all of the competitors for great sailing!”
Teams from Canada, Croatia, Germany, Italy, and the USA will gather in San Francisco to compete for the coveted Melges Performance Sailboats Trophy and the Challenge Henri Samuel Corinthian World Championship Trophy.
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The Diversified 2024 Melges 24 World Championship will take place August 17-24 in beautiful California, USA, organized by the International Melges 24 Class Association (IM24CA) in partnership with The San Francisco Yacht Club and the U.S. Melges 24 Class Association (USM24CA).
Diversified Melges 24 Worlds 2024 website and Official Notice Board
The SFYC website: sfyc.org
IM24CA website: melges24.com
USM24CA website: usmelges24.com
#melges24 #melges24worlds
Current regatta sponsors and partners of the Diversified Melges 24 Worlds 2024:
Diversified / Mount Gay / Simply Solar / Hendrick's Gin / East Brother Beer Co. / Open Waters / Fort Point Beer / Bay Area Charters / Quantum Sails / Coral Reef Sailing Apparel / Ronstan / Supergoop! / Arntson Marine / Zhik / Martin Ray / Golden State Cider / HenHouse Beer / Trumer Pils USA / Tailwind Nutrition