2015 Melges 32 World Championship - Testing Day 2

by Melges 32 on 28 Aug 2015 Melges 32 World Championship - A lighter, variable breeze challenged competitors and kept racing tight until the final boat crossed the finish line.

In stark contrast to the full-on, breezy, physical conditions of the first day of Melges 32 World Championship racing, Day Two greeted competitors with light and dicey racing testing the mental toughness of the twenty-two boat fleet. With many teams licking their chops to improve on their Day One performance, the lighter conditions provided the perfect arena almost guaranteed to shake-up the standings.

Also similar to Day One, the course was heavily right-side favored despite PRO Anderson Reggio moving the course to the west to allow for a more square race track. 'Our intention is to move the course as West as possible while still maintaining reasonable water depth to set a proper race course,' commented Reggio prior to the start to the start of racing.

Despite Reggio's efforts, the right side still played a major factor and those able to get there first found themselves sliding through the mainsail windows of the boats to windward. Leading around the first weather mark, tactician Cameron Appleton aboard defending World Champion Jason Carroll's Argo summed up their thinking of winning the boat and getting immediately onto port. 'The course location was further west from yesterday so it seemed maybe the advantage of the right was lessened, but it wasn't very clear with big light spots all over the course,' said Appleton. 'We chose to go right as we did not think the left would hold long term. Taking into consideration how light it was, starting, getting onto port and up to full speed seemed to be the better option.'

Carroll nailed the plan for the first beat, leading out to the right side. Following a good 30 seconds behind, Alessandro Rombelli's STIG and Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio's G-SPOT rounded out the top three.

In typical Trapani fashion, if some is good more is better, and while Carroll protected the right side of the course on the second upwind leg, they went 90% of the way, leaving the door open for a few teams to cross their transom and take advantage of better pressure on the starboard layline. Escaping the grasp of the peloton, di Lapigio with Branko Brcin on tactics found a solid vein of pressure, nailed a perfect layline to sneak around Carroll's hip and lead around the second top mark.

With a clean gybe-set, di Lapigio showed stellar light air downwind speed to fend off Carroll and cross the line for the bullet. Carroll collected a second place finish, while Rombelli finished third.

Caught between two breezes

Trapani found itself between a northeast gradient (North side of the city), while on the south side, a southwest gradient did its best to push through. Several pulses from the northeast got the fleeted revved up, but it was all in vain and after several hours of battling the hot sun, Reggio made the call to abandon racing and head back to the harbor with only one race complete.

Almost half of the racing is complete and overall, Carroll and Rombelli have separated themselves from the pack and have locked horns in an epic battle for the World Championship title. Never too far in the rear view mirror however, are many thirsty teams looking to capitalize on the leaders and get themselves back in the hunt.

The forecast for Day Three is for slightly better pressure which will potentially allow for two more races under always steady Trapani sunshine and crystal blue skies.

Top ten results (Preliminary - After Four Races)

1.) Jason Carroll/Cameron Appleton, Argo; 4-3-1-2 = 10
2.) Alessandro Rombelli/Francesco Bruni, STIG; 2-2-4-3 = 11
3.) Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio/Branko Brcin, G-SPOT; 12-10-5-1 = 28
4.) Ryan DeVos/Mark Mendelblatt, Volpe; 3-4-8-14 = 29
5.) Keisuke Suzuki/Nicolai Sehested, Swing; 14-8-6-5 = 33
6.) Roberto Mazzucato/Gabriele Benussi, Margherita; 10-1-9-15 = 35
7.) Yukihiro Ishida/Hamish Pepper, Yasha Samurai; 11-6-3-16 = 36
8.) Roberto Tomasini Grinover/Vasco Vascotto, Robertissima; 1-21-2-13 = 37
9.) Dalton DeVos/Jonathan McKee, Delta; 13-5-19-4 = 41
10.) Andrea Ferrari/Roberto Spata, Spirit of Nerina; 7-7-16-11 = 41

2015 Melges 32 World Championship - Audi Tron Sailing Series - Preliminary Cumulative Results

Bow   Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Total World Championship Racing One Design Division Melges 32 1. 128 USA 128 Argo Melges 32 Jason Carroll 4 3 1 2 10.0 2. 65 ITA 65 Stig Melges 32 Alessandro Rombelli 2 2 4 3 11.0 3. 181 MON 181 G-Spot Melges 32 Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio 12 10 5 1 28.0 4. 18 USA 180 Volpe Melges 32 Ryan DeVos 3 4 8 14 29.0 5. 233 JPN 233 Swing Melges 32 Keisuke Suzuki 14 8 6 5 33.0 6. 176 ITA 176 Margherita Melges 32 Roberto Mazzucato 10 1 9 15 35.0 7. 203 JPN 203 Yasha Samuray Melges 32 Ishida Yukihiro 11 6 3 16 36.0 8. 1 MON 1 Robertissima Melges 32 Roberto Tomasini 1 21 2 13 37.0 9. 12 USA 1215 Delta Melges 32 Dalton DeVos 13 5 19 4 41.0 10. 173 ITA 173 Spirit of Nerina Melges 32 Andrea Ferrari 7 7 16 11 41.0 11. 212 GER 212 Wilma Melges 32 Fritz Homann 5 14 21 7 47.0 12. 111 BER 1 Hedgehog Melges 32 Alec Cutler 17 13 7 10 47.0 13. 321 SWE 321 Inga from Sweden Melges 32 Richard Goransson 19 9 10 9 47.0 14. 487 ITA 487 Torpyone Melges 32 Lorenzo Lupi 6 12 11 20 49.0 15. 667 ITA 667 Brontolo HH Melges 32 Filippo Pacinotti 9 20 13 12 54.0 16. 194 ITA 194 Vitamina Melges 32 Andrea Lacorte 15 18 17 6 56.0 17. 223 RUS 223 Tavatuy-Water Way Melges 32 Pavel Kuznetsov 8 15 15 19 57.0 18. 77 RUS 13 Synergy Melges 32 Valentin Zavadnikov 16 11 12 18 57.0 19. 958 ITA 191 Fra Martina Melges 32 Edoardo Pavesio 21 19 14 8 62.0 20. 187 ITA 187 Audi E-Tron F.lli Giacomel Melges 32 Mauro Mocchegiani 18 16 18 17 69.0 21. 159 TUR 159 EKER Melges 32 Ahmet Eker 20 17 20 22 79.0 22. 185 ITA 185 LEA Melges 32 Marco Calì 22 22 22 21 87.0