Melges 24 Volvo Cup victory for Little Wing

by Elena Giolai on 11 Jul 2011 The Melges 24 Volvo Cup 2011 has come to a thrilling conclusion. The fifth and final round ended in superb style with 55 boats racing and a final that was fought down to the last second for a place on the podium.

Two races were sailed today totaling eight altogether. Apart from the first day, where there was no wind whatsoever, the three following days had identical weather conditions with the first race running under light winds of five to seven m/sec, and the course leaning to the left. Then as the day progressed, so did the winds, increasing to 10 m/sec and a change of the buoy line shifting towards the right.

It went down to the last race to see who would take victory in the final round. On the first day of competition Franco Rossini and Flavio Flavini on Blu Moon took the lead. Yesterday, Maurizio Loberto and Enrico Zennaro on Little Wing took off winning by just one point ahead of Blu Moon. Gianni Catalogna with Alberto Bolzan at the helm on Saetta didn't reach their full potential, but didn't make any mistakes either, never improving on 10.

Saetta took third place overall a distant 31 points behind the top two, and five points ahead of Riccardo Simoneschi on Audi, who took fourth place. In the Corinthian category (amateurs), Italian Iacopo Lacerra on Rewind Energy Resource of Claudio Pasani took first place, overtaking Sonke Boy of Switzerland on Music 55 of Ruedi Huber. Lorenzo Gemini on SIV Proeco of Franco Ricci took third place.

With the renovation of the small harbour, Fraglia Vela Riva was able to accommodate the larger size boats for this event, and to extend its experience and enthusiasm to the Melges 24 fleet. Having hosted hundreds of Optimists, scores of Olympic classes and numerous other classes from all over Europe, Fraglia Vela Riva was this week able to host the bulb boats in mooring and towing. The staff of Fraglia Vela Riva were busy on all fronts all week, securing safe and prompt moorings on the new outer pier, and positioning the buoys to ensure precision in every race. An additional crane was also installed to facilitate towing.

The Volvo Cup returns with the SB3s (who have already been in competition at Fraglia since the end of June), from the 23rd - 24th of July. On the 29th - 31st of July the D-One Gold Cup takes place, with many champions taking part, among them will be three time Laser World Champion Tom Slingby of Australia.

 

Fraglia Vela Riva website