Melges 32 European Championship - Synergy GT leads after day 1

by Joy Dunigan on 18 Jul 2014 Day one of racing for the seventeen-strong fleet at the Melges 32 European Championship in Riva Del Garda was nothing short of spectacular. Three races under stunning conditions elevated overall leader Valentin Zavadnikov and his Synergy GT team to the top of the ranking charts, now ahead by three.

Talamone Champion Roberto Tomasini Grinover aboard Robertissima is seated in second, followed by the Melges 32 fleet's first European lady helm Claudia Rossi at the helm of Wilma placing third.

The first race of the day got underway with nice and breezy, relatively flat water conditions and an anxious, powerful fleet punching the starting line for an aggressive commencement to the European Championship. Mauro Mocchegiani at the helm of Fratelli Giacomel Audi e-Tron took the big Race One win. Tomasini Grinover was in the hunt early finishing second, while Rossi showed no fear, unintimidated by this competitive fleet to take third.

Zavadnikov, with tactician Michele Ivaldi made all the right shifts to come up with the bullet in Race Two. Again, many were in pursuit of the top spot including Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio on G Spot, Rossi, Edoardo Lupi's Torpyone and Tomasini Grinover all finishing respectively second through fifth.

The breeze built beautifully for the final race of the day on gorgeous Lake Garda. Richard Goransson's Helly Hansen Inga From Sweden blasted off the line to take an early lead. Japan's Naofumi Kamei on Mamma Aiuto! jumped the gun to be called OCS while the rest of the fleet raced to the top mark. Goransson extended to win, just ahead of Zavadnikov to finish in second. Alessandro Rombelli's Azimut by STIG, Serena di Lapigio and Tomasini Grinover battled hard for position on the last leg. Ultimately Tomasini Grinover took third position, whlle Rombelli claimed fourth. Lupi rounded out the top five. Kamei recovered well to finish sixth.

Three more races are scheduled for Friday. If fully completed, a discard will go into play after Race Six, potentially shuffling the placement of teams positions on the scoreboard.

2014 Melges 32 European Championship

Sailed: 3, Discards: 0, To count: 3, Entries: 17, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	Nat	Sail No	Bow	Boat Name	Owner / Helmsman	Tactician	R1	R2	R3	Nett
1st		13	77	SYNERGY GT	Valetin Zavadnikov / Leonid Lebedev	Michele Ivaldi	4.0	1.0	2.0	7.0
	RUS
2nd		1	1	ROBERTISSIMA	Roberto Tomasini Grinover	Vasco Vascotto	3.0	4.0	3.0	10.0
	SUI
3rd		212	212	WILMA	Claudia Rossi	Nicola Celon	2.0	5.0	7.0	14.0
	ITA
4th		321	321	INGA FROM SWEDEN	Richard Goransson	Morgan Larson	5.0	15.0	1.0	21.0
	SWE
5th		487	487	TORPYONE	Edoardo Lupi	Lorenzo Bressani	14.0	3.0	5.0	22.0
	ITA
6th		65	65	AZIMUT by STIG	Alessandro Rombelli	Freddy Loof	10.0	8.0	4.0	22.0
	ITA
7th		181	181	G SPOT	Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio	Hugo Rocha	11.0	2.0	10.0	23.0
	MON
8th		187	187	GIACOMEL AUDI E-Tron	Mauro Mocchegiani	Branko Brcin	1.0	9.0	16.0	26.0
	ITA
9th		667	667	BRONTOLO HH	Filippo Pacinotti	Gabrio Zandonà	6.0	6.0	14.0	26.0
	ITA
10th		199	199	MAMMA AIUTO	Naofumi Kamei	Manu Weiller	10.0 SCP	10.0	6.0	26.0
	JPN
11th		179	179	MALAFEMMENA	Arturo Di Lorenzo	Matteo Ivaldi	16.0	7.0	8.0	31.0
	ITA
12th		176	176	MARGHERITA	Roberto Mazzuccato	Gabriele Benussi	8.0	13.0	11.0	32.0
	ITA
13th		223	223	TAVATUY	Pavel Kuznetsov	Evgeniy Neugodnikov	9.0	11.0	15.0	35.0
	RUS
14th		172	172	CELADRIN VITAMINA	Andrea Lacorte	Andrea Fornaro	13.0	16.0	9.0	38.0
	ITA
15th		173	173	SPIRIT OF NERINA	Andrea Ferrari	Roberto Spata	12.0	14.0	12.0	38.0
	ITA
16th		958	958	FRA MARTINA	Edoardo Pavesio	Tommaso Chieffi	15.0	12.0	13.0	40.0
	ITA
17th		185	185	RIMYG	Valerio Bartoleschi	Carlo Gugliemo Cattaneo	17.0	17.0	17.0	51.0
	ITA