Sailing Series® Melges 20 - Tough fight on final day

by Melges 20 on 4 Jul 2016 Sailing Series® Melges 20 - Riva Del Garda's legendary 'wind factory' concluded the final day of competition with an unexpected ending to the 2016 Sailing Series® Melges 20.

Congratulations are in full order for Alessandro Rombelli at the helm of STIG with tactician Manuel Weiller and crew members Giorgio Tortarollo and Francesca Masotto as they are the Riva Del Garda Champions! Rombelli's one – seven - one redeemed his lead with four points to spare.

Guido Miani driving Out of Reach under the flag of Monaco with Gabriele Benussi as tactician and Massimo Gherarducci serving as crew, finished second overall in Riva Del Garda, also taking home the 2016 Sailing Series® Melges 20 Champion Trophy.

From the U.S.A. (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) Drew Freides' Pacific Yankee stormed the competition all weekend long to finish third overall. Richard Davies on Section 16 and Michael Illbruck's Pinta rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.

Congratulations to 2016 Corinthian Sailing Series® Melges 20 Champions - Wilma Homann aboard Fantastichina with crew members Lisa Rattemeyer, Riamondo Tonelli and Sebastian Wiedeman. Corinthian winner in Riva Del Garda, Mirko Bargolini aboard Spirit of Nerina placed second overall in the Series, followed by Francesco Farneti on ITA-157.

Special Thanks

A big round of thanks goes out to all the owners and teams for their participation, to BPSE, Fraglia della Vela Riva and all the individuals that made this event possible!

More huge Melges 20 events on the horizon

Two more major European events remain on the International calendar, the 2016 Russian Open happens on August 19-21, then immediately following, it's the 2016 Melges 20 World Championship on 25-28 August. Both events are hosted by Club Nautico Scarlino at Marina di Scarlino and set to break all-time class attendance records. All teams planning to attend are encouraged to register online now.

Top Ten Results (Final - After Eight Races, One Discard)

1.) Alessandro Rombelli, Stig; 1-1-9-[43]-6-1-7-1 = 26
2.) Guido Miani, Out of Reach; [32]-5-2-1-10-4-1-7 = 30
3.) Drew Freides, Pacific Yankee; 6-7-1-[45]-4-12-6-2 = 35
4.) Michael Illbruck, Pinta; 12-4-3-3-2-7-[14]-11 = 42
5.) Liam Kilroy, WildMan; 16-3-6-6-3-17-4-[24] = 55
6.) Dario Levi, Fremito D'Arja; 8-14-4-[46]-12-13-3-3 = 57
7.) Igor Rytov, Russian Bogatyrs; 2-2-35-8-13-8-[39]-9 = 77
8.) Vladmir Prosikin, Nika; [26]-16-23-14-17-2-2-8 = 82
9.) John Kilroy, Samba Pa Ti; 15-18-13-[37]-5-3-25-4 = 83
10.) Yuriy Morozov, Russotrans; 11-6-16-22-8-6-[41]-16 = 85

Top Ten Sailing Series Results (Final - After Four Events)

1.) Guido Miani, Out of Reach = 136 pts.
2.) Michael Illbruck, Pinta = 140 pts
3.) Richard Davies, Section 16 = 148 pts.
4.) Alessandro Rombelli, STIG = 149 pts.
5.) Dario Levi, Fremito D'Arja = 245 pts.
6.) Igor Rytov, Russian Bogatyrs = 263 pts.
7.) Marco Franchini, Mezzaluna = 281 pts.
8.) Achille Onorato, Mascalzone Latino, Jr. = 283 pts.
9.) Matteo Marenghi Vaselli, Raya = 291 pts.
10.) Alexander Ezhkov, Pirogovo = 295 pts.