One Ocean Melges 40 Grand Prix at Yacht Club Costa Smeralda - Day 3
by Melges 40 Class 7 Jul 2018 19:34 PDT
5-8 July 2018
One Ocean Melges 40 Grand Prix in Porto Cervo - Day 3 © Melges 40 / Barracuda Communication
All things change on Day Three of the 2018 One Ocean Melges 40 Grand Prix hosted by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) with Richard Goransson and tactician Cameron Appleton aboard Inga From Sweden overtaking for the lead in Porto Cervo, ahead by two slim points.
Six races are now complete and with one discard in effect, Goransson has officially displaced overnight leader Yukihiro Ishida and Manu Weiller on tactics racing Sikon. With only one day of scheduled racing remaining, teams are bracing for an epic Sunday showdown.
After Friday's complete absence of racing due to a strong mistral, teams were well rested and ready to go head-to-head on Saturday. Again, three daily races resulted in three different winners.
In the simply perfect wind conditions, the stunning yet elegant Melges 40 fleet zoomed across the starting line in race four with Ishida taking an early lead ahead of Andrea Lacorte's Vitamina Cetilar with Gabrielle Benussi as tactician. With Ishida extending for the win, Goransson challenged Lacorte ultimately getting ahead to finish second. Lacorte settled for third.
The second race of the day, Race Five went to Alessandro Rombelli at the helm of Stig with Francesco Bruni as tactician, just ahead of Goransson in second and Valentin Zavadnikov's Dynamiq Synergy in third.
Heading into the third and final race on Saturday, after Ishida's fourth place finish in Race Five, Goransson found himself within striking distance of the lead. Goransson did well grabbing the bullet advancing he and his team into the top spot. Ishida's fourth place finish slid him back a spot, but he's more determined now than ever to win.
Sunday marks the final day of competition of the 2018 One Ocean Melges 40 Grand Prix in Porto Cervo.
The Melges 40 Grand Prix circuit counts on the support of Helly Hansen, Garmin Marine, and Melges Europe.
Melges 40 Grand Prix has signed and adopts the code of ethics of the Charta Smeralda strongly promoting the values of One Ocean Foundation. During the event, YCCS will make dispensers of natural and sparkling mineralized fresh water available to regatta attendees in an effort to reduce the consumption and use of plastic packaging.
Full Results (Preliminary - After Six Races, One Discard)
1.) Richard Goransson/Cameron Appleton, INGA FROM SWEDEN; 1-3-[4]-2-2-1 = 9
2.) Yukihiro Ishida/Manu Weiller, SIKON; 3-1-2-1-[4]-4 = 11
3.) Alessandro Rombelli/Francesco Bruni, STIG; [5]-5-1-3-1-2 = 12
4.) Andrea Lacorte/Gabrielle Benussi, VITAMINA-CETILAR; 4-2-3-4-[5]-3 = 16
5.) Valentin Zavadnikov/Kelvin Harrap; DYNAMIQ SYNERGY; 2-4-[6/DNF]-5-3-5 = 19
For more information visit official event website.