Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2021 - Day 1
by International Melges 24 Class Association 1 Oct 2021 23:11 PDT
1-3 October 2021
Seventeen Melges 24 teams, from five nations, are competing for the final ranking points at the final event of the 2021 Melges 24 European Sailing Series, which opened on Friday the world-famous regatta Barcolana week in Trieste, Italy. Paolo Brescia's Melgina, from Italy, leads overall after taking two bullets and second place on the first day. In fact, the top three are all Italian boats with Alberto Venuti's Skorpios in second and Sergio Caramel's Arkanoe by Montura third.
The first day of the regatta started with the Skippers' Meeting at the terrace of the hosting club Società Triestina Sport del Mare at 11 am, where the Race Committee, Technical Committee and Jury were briefing the teams and IM24CA Vice Chair Europe Miles Quinton and regatta Barcolana's internationalization manager Dean Bassi welcomed all Melges 24 sailors in Trieste and invited them to enjoy this final event of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series, as well as the particular events like Barcolana One Design and Barcolana by night during the Barcolana week.
Three races were sailed in lighter and tricky winds, dropping down after the second race. After some waiting and a major wind shift, when the Race Committee very quickly managed to rearrange the course, the third race was sailed late afternoon.
In Race 1 three teams were shuffling the cards. Michael Tarabochia's White Room, from Germany, with Luis Tarabochia steering, was first to round the upwind mark followed by Paolo Brescia's Melgina with 470 Junior World Champion Simon Sivitz Kosuta calling the tactics and Richard Thompson's Black Seal, from UK, steered by Stefano Cherin and America's Cup Luna Rossa Pirelli's crew Andrea Tesei in a team. In second upwind beat White Room went right and Melgina left, hence, Melgina's choice of side paid off finding more wind on the left, and led at the top through better speed. Melgina took a first bullet, second place went to White Room with Black Seal picking up third.
The first attempt to start Race 2 ended up with a general recall and Uniform flag displayed for the second attempt. Again, Melgina led after the first lap, but this time from Desiro Damiano's Ariel, from Italy, and Alan Mahne Kalin's Pac-Man, from Slovenia, both are Corinthian teams. Not much changed on the second lap, with Melgina taking a second win, now from Il Grigio of David Tomasin followed closely by Desiro Damiano's Ariel.
In Race 3 Sergio Caramel's Arkanoe by Montura, sailing without tactician Karlo Hmeljak this time and as a Corinthian team, found their path and speed down to the finish to take the race win, while the early leader of the regatta, Paolo Brescia's Melgina finished second and Melges 24 European Silver 2021, Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team, from UK, steered by James Peters, climbed to third.
Paolo Brescia said: "The winds were shifty, but the pressure was pretty predictable to see. I think, we were lucky to be on the right side in the first race. The second race was quite the same, and we had to manage the shifts, but at the end it was a lucky day for us and we had nice conditions with Borino wind here in Trieste."
Tactician of Melgina, Simon Sivitz added: "First of all, congratulations to the Race Committee, who managed very well these difficult conditions. The first race was pretty tricky, but at the end we had three nice races, keeping in mind that also the forecast was a bit strange for today. Before the third race we had the sea-breeze changing the direction 180 degrees and the Race Committee managed to change the course very quickly."
Current ranking, after three races sailed, sees Melgina (1-1-2) as an early leader with 4 points, followed by three Corinthian teams, Alberto Venuti's Skorpios (4-5-7, 16 pts) second, Arkanoe by Montura (10-6-1, 17 pts) third and White Room (2-10-6, 18 pts) fourth, with Black Seal (3-11-4, 18 pts) rounding up top five, tied on points.
Racing is set to commence at 12.00 on Saturday.
The final event of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2021 and Italian Melges24Tour is hosted by the Società Triestina Sport del Mare - ASD, in co-operation with Melges 24 Gulf of Trieste group, Italian Melges 24 Class and International Melges 24 Class Association.
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