2019 Melges 24 European Sailing Series: An awesome season for the Italian Maidollis and Taki 4

Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2019 concluded with the 22nd edition of the Melges 24 World Championship in Villasimius, Sardinia, Italy a bit more than week ago.

After five events held in Portoroz, Malcesine, Riva del Garda, Scarlino and Villasimius, the winners of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2019 turned out to be the same teams as the new Melges 24 World Champions - Gianluca Perego's Maidollis in overall ranking and Marco Zammarchi's TAKI 4 in Corinthian division.

86 teams from 18 nations, including 52 Corinthian teams, were taking part to the five regattas held throughout the season. The total of 34 single races were sailed and for the scoring five discards came into play. This season five teams participated at all five events. Not missing any of the 34 sailed single races Marco Zammarchi's Taki 4 from Italy; Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team from UK, Akos Csolto's Seven_Five_Nine from Hungary, Vasyl Gureyev's Arctur from Ukraine and Thomas Beck's Phonobloc from Germany.

If before the final event of the series the ranking saw in top three Italian teams neck to neck, then after the Worlds the same teams remained on top of the ranking, just the cards were shuffled during the Worlds. With the Worlds' victory, now reigning European and World Champion Maidollis ITA854 confirmed its superiority as the best Melges 24 team in the world currently.

From all five events of the European series, Gianluca Perego's Maidollis ITA854 with Carlo Fracassoli at the helm won four events and missed the season opener in Portoroz, which was won by Tõnu Tõniste's Lenny EST790.

Winning their third Corinthian World Champion title, Taki 4 ITA778 of Marco Zammarchi with Niccolo Bertola at the helm secured the third place on the overall podium of the European Sailing Series and victory of Corinthian division for 2nd year in a row. - photo © Pierrick Contin / IM24CA

With the bronze from the World Championship, Andrea Pozzi's Bombarda ITA860 took well-earned second place on the podium of the European Sailing Series, having scored places 3-2-3 from the preceding events and missing the first event of the season.

Winning their third Corinthian World Champion title and finishing the recent Worlds on the fifth place in overall ranking, Taki 4 ITA778 of Marco Zammarchi with Niccolo Bertola at the helm secured the third place on the overall podium of the European Sailing Series and the victory of the Corinthian division for the second year in a row.

To the fourth position in overall ranking placed 2018 World Champion, Andrea Racchelli's Altea ITA722, winning the overall trophy of the series in 2016.

Travelling to all events through the season, Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team GBR694 with Geoff Carveth at the helm was very consistent and secured second place on the Corinthian podium, being fifth in the overall ranking and having won the overall trophy in 2015 and 2017, and Corinthian trophy in 2016.

Similarly, not missing any events of the series, took the sixth place in the overall ranking and completed the Corinthian podium Akos Csolto's Seven_Five_Nine HUN759.

In Corinthian division, the winners of the seasonal events have been: Tõnu Tõniste's Lenny EST790 in Portoroz and Riva del Garda, Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team GBR694 in Malcesine, Marco Zammarchi's Taki 4 ITA778 in Scarlino and Villasimius.

Overall winner of the 2019 Melges 24 European Sailing Series - Gianluca Perego's Maidollis ITA854 with Carlo Fracassoli at the helm won four events and missed the season opener in Portoroz. - photo © Pierrick Contin / IM24CA

It's great to see new teams joining or some coming back to the Class, which only proves that even being twenty-six years old, the Melges 24 is still the gold standard. We saw a great competition at the Worlds in Villasimius and because it was at the end of the season, all teams had a great chance to be as good as possible to fight for the title, and the podium places were not decided until the final race.

2019 Melges 24 European Sailing Series Top Ten:

Maidollis ITA854 - 165 pts - Carlo Fracassoli, Enrico Fonda, Gianluca Perego, Stefano Lagi, Matteo Ramian
Bombarda - 176 pts - Andrea Pozzi, Stefano Ciampalini, Matteo Ivaldi, Nicholas Dal Ferro, Carlo Zermini
Taki 4 ITA778 Corinthian - 196 pts - Niccolo Bertola, Giacomo Fossati, Giovanni Bannetta, Marco Zammarchi, Mattia Maviglia, Pietro Seghezza, Giorgio de Mari
Altea ITA722 - 254 pts - Andrea Racchelli, Gaudenzio Bonini, Alberto Verna, Filippo Amonti, Filippo Togni
Gill Race Team GBR694 Corinthian - 256 pts - Geoff Carveth, Miles Quinton, Oliver Wells, Tom Offer, Lauren Mead, Hannah Peters, Calum Healey
Seven_Five_Nine HUN759 Corinthian - 309 pts - Akos Csolto, Balazs Tomai, Botond Weores, Mihaly Kasa
Nefeli 24 GER859 - 331 pts - Peter Karrie, Niccolo Bianchi, Martin Schollmayer, Alessandro Franci, Irene Bezzi, Fabio Gridelli
Melgina ITA693 - 332 pts - Paolo Brescia, Alberto Strobino, Dario Pagliani, Federico Benini Floriani, Fabio Zeni, Jas Farneti, Giovanni Meloni, Simon Sivitz Kosuta
Lenny EST790 Corinthian - 334 pts - Tõnu Tõniste, Toomas Tõniste, Tammo Otsasoo, Maiki Saaring, Henri Tauts, Ants Haavel
Magica ITA764 Corinthian - 433 pts - Lorenzo Gemini, Franesco Bianchi, Luca Segneri, Piero Andolina, Matteo Pilati, Francesco Chessa Orru

Find overall results here
Corinthian division ranking results here