2014 Melges 20 World Championship - Countdown begins

by Melges 20 on 20 Aug 2014 2014 Melges 20 World Championship - In less than two weeks, the commencement of the second Audi Melges 20 World Championship will take place with a record-breaking entry of 55 teams expected to participate in the four-day racing affair. The Italian fleet is the largest in attendance with additional representation from Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Monaco, Russia and the United States.

As of late, Riva del Garda has been the center of International Melges Class racing. The Audi Melges 20 held its fourth act of the 2014 Audi-Tron Sailing Series in Riva during late July. The World Championship is organized by B.Plan Sports and Events and Fraglia Vela Riva, with the full support and coordination of Melges Europe and the International Audi Melges 20 Class Association (IAM20CA). It will serve as the fifth and final event of the Melges 20 Audi-Tron Sailing Series in 2014.

With a quick review of the entry roster, who will be the next World Champion is difficult to predict. The winner of a World Championship by definition is one who defies conventional logic and dynamics, handles intense concentration and management of psychological pressure to deliver consistency in performance. These factors make anything possible, and for certain will add new stories to the already prestigious, on-going legacy that is the Audi Melges 20.

However, there are the standouts and among them are reigning World Champion John Taylor on Ninkasi, current World Ranking leader Wes Whitmyer on Slingshot, current European Ranking leader and International Class Chairman Manfredi Vianini Tolomei on Maolca, and North American Ranking leader Richard Davies on Section 16. Other potential teams to beat (but certainly not limited to) include Guido Miani's Monaco Racing Fleet in pole position who won Sailing Series Act No. Four last month in Riva, Audi-Tron Series leader and former Gold Cup Champion Dario Levi on Fremito D'Arja, Pasquale Orofino's Raffica, and Achille Onorato on Mascalzone Latino Jr.

And, then there are the great underdogs who are more than worth cheering for. Russ Lucas on Shimmer, Paul Reilly on Red Sky, 2014 Russian Open Champion Valentin Zavadnikov on Synergy, Alexandr Ezhkov's Pirogovo Sailing, Mirko de Falco's Peccere, Francesco Farnetti on ITA-157 and Alessandro Rombelli's STIG all have the potential to be the next World Champion of the Audi Melges 20 Class.

Another exciting notable as the championship draws close is the attendance of 11-year-old Liam Kilroy. Earlier in 2014, the North American fleet welcomed the young son of 2013 U.S. National Champion John Kilroy, to the competitive ring. He will race his Audi Melges 20 Wildman in his first World Championship ever.

 

2014 Audi Melges 20 World Championship Current Entries:     Sail Number Yacht Name Owner's Name Home Port Yacht Type Length 1. ITA 205 3menda Federico Albano La Spezia, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 2. CZE 180 Aloha Jan Kuchar Prague, Czech rep, CZE Audi Melges 20 20 3. RUS 36 Anna Maxim Logutenko Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 4. RUS 7 ANYWAYANYDAY Kirill Podolsky RUS Audi Melges 20 20 5. ITA 106 Asante Sana Sailing Team Claudio Dutto Riva del Garda, Trento, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 6. ITA 124 Audi G-Tron F.lli Giacomel Riccardo Simoneschi Milano, MI, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 7. CAN 170 Batteries 4 Bacio Rhonda Joyce Toronto, Ont, CAN Audi Melges 20 20 8. USA 231 Blind Squirrel John Brown Philadelphia, PA, USA Audi Melges 20 20 9. ITA 149 CAMAY Lauro Bonora Ferrara, Ferrara, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 10. ITA 027 Chimera Gambardella / Cupane / Candela Palermo, Palermo, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 11. JPN 277 Contious Norikatsu Aizawa Fujisawa, Kanagawa, JPN Audi Melges 20 20 12. MON 81 Customly Corrado Agusta Monaco, MON Audi Melges 20 20 13. GER 135 Fantastichina Fritz Homann München, BY, GER Audi Melges 20 20 14. RUS 262 Fly or die Denis Lankin RUS Audi Melges 20 20 15. ITA 50 Fremito D'arja Dario Levi London, England, GBR Audi Melges 20 20 16. ITA 181 Hanneken Simone Anichini Florence, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 17. GER 164 Hellcat Juergen Fuchs Munich, Bavaria, GER Audi Melges 20 20 18. ITA 157 ITA 157 Francesco Farneti Rimini, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 19. RUS 047 Kotyara Oleg Evdokimenko Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 20. ITA 107 Leviathan Davide Albertini Petroni Milano, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 21. MON 108 Lucifer Matteo Marenghi Vaselli Fontvieille, MON Audi Melges 20 20 22. JPN 271 Mamma Aiuto! Naofumi Kamei Tokio, Baleares, JPN Audi Melges 20 20 23. ITA 167 Maolca Manfredi Vianini Tolomei Milan, Italy, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 24. GER 204 Maroi Jan Kowalski München, BY, GER Audi Melges 20 20 25. ITA 23 Mascalzone Latino Achille Onorato Milano, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 26. ITA 192 Mezza Luna Marco Franchini ITA Audi Melges 20 20 27. MON 333 Monaco Racing Fleet Guido Miani Monaco, MON Audi Melges 20 20 28. MON 104 Money Time Philippe Pizzichini Monaco, MON Audi Melges 20 20 29. AUT 159 N.N. Klaus Schober Zell am See, AUT Audi Melges 20 20 30. USA 1315 Ninkasi John Taylor Jupiter, FL, USA Audi Melges 20 20 31. RUS 173 Ost Legal Vladimir Lipavsky Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 32. RUS 44 Ottobre Rosso Artem Kuznetsov RUS Audi Melges 20 20 33. ITA 112 Peccere' Mirko de Falco Napoli, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 34. RUS 2 PIRogovo Sailing Alexandr Ezhkov Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 35. ITA 136 Raffica Pasquale Orofino Naples, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 36. USA 14 Red Sky Sailing Team Paul Reilly Chicago, IL, USA Audi Melges 20 20 37. RUS 265 Russotrans Yuriy Morozov Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 38. ITA 189 Sailing Lab Andrea Bruschi Codogno, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 39. USA 13131 Samba Pa Ti John Kilroy Los Angeles, CA, USA Audi Melges 20 20 40. USA 276 Section 16 richard Davies Winnetka, IL, USA Audi Melges 20 20 41. USA 008 Shimmer Russ Lucas Bay Head, NJ, USA Audi Melges 20 20 42. ITA 206 Shimmer (2) Christof Petter Bad Goisern, Öberösterreich, AUS Audi Melges 20 20 43. USA 217 Slingshot Wes Whitmyer Jr Stamford, CT, USA Audi Melges 20 20 44. JPN 233 Sokokumaru Sumio Shimoyama Tokyo, JPN Audi Melges 20 20 45. ITA 154 Spirit of Nerina Mirko Bargolini Albavilla, Como, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 46. ITA 65 STIG Alessandro Rombelli Milano, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 47. MON 13 Synergy Valentine Zavadnikov Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 48. ITA 125 T2R Tommaso Pavan Vicenza, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 49. ITA 137 Tachicardia Michele Dandolo Napoli, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 50. ITA 158 Tomahawk Stefano Santucci Roma, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 51. ITA 220 Turnover Renato Vallivero mongrando, biella, ITA Audi Melges 20 20 52. DEN 150 upupup Bo Boje Pedersen Copenhagen, DEN Audi Melges 20 20 53. RUS 25 Versya Anatoly Karachinskiy Moscow, RUS Audi Melges 20 20 54. CAN 222 Wild Deuces Paul Currie Toronto, Ont, CAN Audi Melges 20 20 55. USA 311 Wildman Liam Kilroy San Francisco, CA, USA Audi Melges 20 20