04.08.2017

2017 Melges 24 World Championship in Helsinki, Finland
Italian Power on the Fin(n)ish Line:
Maidollis and Taki 4 Are the New Melges 24 World Champions
August 4, 2017 – Helsinki, Finland – The 20th edition of the Melges 24 World Championship just came to an end in Helsinki, with a series of eleven races that challenged the crews with weather conditions that ranged from light wind to heavy breeze and seas.

After the success obtained in the Worlds of Torbole in 2012, exactly five years ago on August 4th, the couple helmsman-tactician Fracassoli-Fonda contributed to the success of Italian entry Maidollis by Gianluca Perego with also Giovanni Ferrari, also a part of the 2012 winner team, and Stefano Lagi onboard.

The Italian crew has been able to sail very consistent races, with placements that only once went below the 10th position: they closed the series with a total of 35 points and a margin of 23 points over the second classified. In day two of racing they also achieved a record for the Melges 24 Worlds, by winning all the races that were sailed in that day. They succeed in the gold book to the Irish Embarr by Conor Clarke, who won the penultimate edition of the Melges 24 World Championship, held in Miami in December 2016 and can hold the historical perpetual trophy of the Melges Performance Sailboats for one year.

Vice-World Champion is American Monsoon by Mike Buckley with Bruce Ayres in helm and Mark Ivey as a coach, which has all through the series battled to maintain a podium placement: the two bullets scored in the series helped Monsoon’s holding tight to the silver medal. The American crew is in fact followed, in the final ranking, by Kevin Welch’s Mikey, with a margin of just three points.

The American entry Mikey managed to climb over Italian Andrea Racchelli’s Altea in the last day of the Championship: the crew already winner of the Melges 24 European Series, then, finished the event in fourth place, while the top-five was completed by another Italian entry, Taki 4 by Marco Zammarchi, which also received another important prize.

The boat with Niccolò Bertola in helm, in fact, managed to confirm itself for the second year in a row as Melges 24 Corinthian World Champion, after the success obtained in Miami and will keep the perpetual Henri Samuel’s Trophy another year. The crew was made, as past year, by Niccolò Bertola, Giacomo Fossati, Marco Zammarchi, Matteo De Chiara and Giovanni Bannetta and Niccolò Bianchi as the coach.

Silver medal in the Corinthian division goes to an historical component of the Melges 24 Class, Gill Race Team by Miles Quinton with Geoff Carveth helming. The Estonian entry Lenny, already Corinthian World Champion in Melges 24, closes the 20th edition of the Melges 24 World Championship in third position.

After a brief summer rest, the fleet will lead to Medemblik, the Netherlands for the penultimate event of Melges 24 European Sailing Series 2017, that is going to conclude in October in Luino, Italy.

2018 will be another busy season, too: the dates have already been announced for the first ever Melges 24 Worlds to be held in Canada – Victoria, British Columbia from May 31st to June 8th and 2018 Melges 24 Europeans, that will be hosted in Riva del Garda, Italy from August 3rd to 10th.

Fulll results of the open division
The results of the Corinthian division

Day 5 photos by Pierrick Contin

Event Press Officers – Mauro Melandri and Silvia Gallegati – Zerogradinord
Event photographer – Pierrick Contin, pierrickcontin.fr
Event Media Coordinator – Piret Salmistu, IM24CA

Huge thanks from IM24CA goes to the sponsors and supporters of the Melges 24 World Chmapionship 2017:
FinnLines, Tallink, Vana Tallinn, LifeProof, Dermoshop, Melges Europe/ Helly Hansen, Estonian Melges 24 Class Association, Holiday Inn, Blue Peter Restaurant, Helsingfors Segelklubb.

Event Webpage
Event in Facebook
International Melges 24 Class Association

Helsingfors Segelsklubb
Instagram
Twitter
Flickr

Any queries regarding the Melges 24 World Championship can be directed to:
Tomi Hakola
Finnish Melges 24 Class Association
tomi.hakola@starsquad.fi
+358 40 5352020

Ted Gröndahl
Helsingfors Segelklubb
ted.grondahl@elisanet.fi
+358 500 330331

Piret Salmistu
IM24CA Administrator & Media Coordinator
+372 507 7217
piret@melges24.com

August 2, 2017 – Helsinki, Finland –

Melges24 Worlds, Helsinki

Helsinki woke up with heavy rain this morning and the Melges 24 fleet, moored at Helsingfors Segelklubb, had to wait two hours for the wind to stabilize, the AP flag to go down and to start the races of day three in the 2017 Melges 24 World Championship.

Two races have been sailed today, with lighter wind conditions than those experienced yesterday when after the sixth race the discard came into play. First victory of the day went to the Italian entry Altea ITA722 (1-18 today) by Andrea Racchelli, followed on the finish line by Norvegian Baghdad II NOR400 (2-24) with Kristoffer Spone in helm. Third were the current leaders of the provisional ranking aboard Luca Perego’s Maidollis ITA854 (3-20).

„It has been a bizarre day for us: we sailed well in the first race, we took the right tactical choices. On board, everything worked well even in the second race but we chose the right side of the race course and the huge wind shift deeply penalized us. It’s good to be in the top three now, but we are so close to our followers, we will have to benefit at the best from the heavy wind forecasted for the next days, which we deeply like, to try to remain on a podium position“ declared the helmsman of Altea, Andrea Racchelli, also President of the Melges 24 Italian Class, who will be in charge, together with International Melges 24 Class Association, of the organization of the next Melges 24 Europeans, scheduled for August 3-10, 2018 in Riva del Garda.

The second race of the day, number seven of the series, is the one that brings more surprises in the ranking: a big wind shift to the left in the first upwind leg penalizes the group that was racing on the right side of the race course: in these group, there was a great portion of crews currently occupying top-ranking positions. The victory goes to John Brown’s Blind Squirrel USA547 (9-1) that, with this result, scores the first bullet of the series, followed by Slam & Blow NOR787 (30-2) with Peder Nergaard in helm and American entry Mikey USA838 (19-3) by Kevin Welch.

Marco Zammarchi’s Taki 4 ITA778 (7-20) with Niccolo Bertola in helm maintains the leadership of the Corinthian division, where the bullets of today were both scored by Luis Tarabochia’s White Room GER677 (1-1), that now follows the reigning World Champions in the Corinthian ranking with a margin of 11 points. Third place is occupied by Estonian entry Lenny EST790 (2-21) with past Olympians Tõniste twins aboard, just one point behind White Room.

Tomorrow, penultimate day of racing in Helsinki, sun and heavy breeze are forecasted: first warning signal is scheduled for 11.00 and the Race Committee will have the possibility to launch up to three races.

Fulll results of the open division
The results of the Corinthian division

Day 3 photos by Pierrick Contin

Event Press Officers – Mauro Melandri and Silvia Gallegati – Zerogradinord
Event photographer – Pierrick Contin, pierrickcontin.fr
Event Media Coordinator – Piret Salmistu, IM24CA

Schedule of the events:
Friday 28th to Sunday 30th of July – Registration & Measurement
Sunday 30th of July – Registration & Measurement, Practice Race, Opening Ceremony
Monday 31st of July to Friday 4th of August – Racing at the 2017 Melges 24 Worlds
Friday 4th of August – Racing + Closing Ceremony

Melges 24 World Chmapionship 2017 is supported by:
FinnLines, Tallink, Vana Tallinn, LifeProof, Dermoshop, Melges Europe/ Helly Hansen, Estonian Melges 24 Class Association, Holiday Inn.

Event Webpage
Event in Facebook
International Melges 24 Class Association

Helsingfors Segelsklubb
Instagram
Twitter
Flickr

Any queries regarding the Melges 24 World Championship can be directed to:
Tomi Hakola
Finnish Melges 24 Class Association
tomi.hakola@starsquad.fi
+358 40 5352020

Ted Gröndahl
Helsingfors Segelklubb
ted.grondahl@elisanet.fi
+358 500 330331

Piret Salmistu
IM24CA Administrator & Media Coordinator
+372 507 7217
piret@melges24.com

Melges Worlds Helsinki 21.07.2017

July 21, 2017 – Helsinki, Finland – Time is running fast as the Melges 24 fleet approaches the most awaited event of the season, the Melges 24 World Championship 2017 that, after having been hosted in the warm Miami past December, moves back to cooler Northern European climates: from July 28th to August 4th one of the most active fleets in the one-design scenario will be fighting once again to get on top of the World. Already for the 20th time as the first-ever Melges 24 World Championships were held in Torquay, England in 1998, where Vince Brun of San Diego, U.S., won the title among ninety-three teams. During these twenty remarkable years fifteen Melges 24 skippers in open and fifteen in Corinthian division have been crowned as World Champions. Excitement grows to see who are going to be the next ones!

See the Hall of Fame of the Melges 24 Class

Jens Wathne, the Chairman of the International Melges 24 Class Association is excited about the upcoming World Championship: „In one week’s time all our attention will turn to the 2017 Worlds in Helsinki, Finland. Almost fourteen years ago the Melges 24 Europeans were held in the same place and it was a fabulous championship. Sailors from this region have been active in the class during most of the boat’s life. This is the 20th World Championship in the class with fifteen nations on the line; it will be special as it’s the first one in Finland. Boats are travelling large distances to fight for the trophies in pro and Corinthian divisions. Especially I would like to welcome the six boats from the US making the effort in joining the fleet in the waters of the Finnish capital of Helsinki. See you there – safe travels to the championship!“

Fifty-nine boats from fifteen nations have registered to the copious fleet. Countries from Northern Europe have the largest representation with a total of twenty-eight boats coming from the Scandinavian area, but also Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and Great Britain will be racing. From overseas the American fleet will be represented by six boats: among them there are some crews that already marked the history of the Melges 24 Class and that rarely miss the most relevant appointments of the fleet: 2009 Corinthian World Champion and 2016 Worlds‘ overall 4th – Monsoon by Bruce Ayres; 2016 Worlds‘ 7th – John Brown’s Blind Squirrel and Lucky Dog/Gill Race Team by Travis Weisleder being 9th at the latest Worlds, are just few of the well-known boats that will race in Helsinki.

In the best traditions of Melges 24 Class, the Corinthian division will represent more than a half of the fleet – thirty three teams. There will be the 2016 World Champions and current leaders of the European Sailing Series aboard the Italian entry, Marco Zammarchi’s Taki 4; also current leaders of the European Sailing Series Corinthian ranking and 2016 European Champions Gill Race Team by Miles Quinton with Geoff Carveth in helm, as for today the main competitor for Taki 4 in the European events during the spring. The Estonian entry Lenny by Tõniste twins will try to replicate the success obtained in the World Championship held in Hyeres, France in 2006 and in Middelfart, Denmark in 2015. It seems that there will be a lot of challenge and exciting sailing to shape the podium of the Corinthian division as also the Norwegian entry, three-times World Champion (2008, 2010, 2012) Storm Capital Sail Racing of Oyvind Peder Jahre will be competing with Giulio Desiderato, tactician for the 2016 Melges 24 World Ranking winner Bombarda of Andrea Pozzi, onboard.

Also in the overall division there will be many teams to keep in the spotlight: among them Italian Altea, helmed by Andrea Racchelli, second in the Worlds of Middlefart and winner of the 2016 Melges 24 European Sailing Series; and Italian Maidollis by Gianluca Perego, with the Fracassoli-Fonda tandem on board, that already won Melges 24 World Championships on Garda Lake in 2012 and was 2nd at the Miami Worlds in 2016, will be two of the most credited aspirants for the top of the podium.
Entry List

A Pre-Worlds regatta will be held on July 22-23, allowing the visiting sailors a chance to test themselves against the Helsinki conditions and each other. The first start for the 2017 Melges 24 World Championship, hosted by the Helsingfors Segelklubb (HSK) and organized by the International Melges 24 Class Association in cooperation with Finnish Melges 24 Class Association, is scheduled for July 31st at 11.00 am (Finnish time), while practice race will be held on July 30th. Twelve races are scheduled for the regatta.

Schedule of the events:
Friday 28th to Sunday 30th of July – Registration & Measurement
Sunday 30th of July – Registration & Measurement, Practice Race, Opening Ceremony
Monday 31st of July to Friday 4th of August – Racing at the 2017 Melges 24 Worlds
Friday 4th of August – Racing + Closing Ceremony

Melges 24 World Chmapionship 2017 is supported by:
FinnLines, Tallink, Vana Tallinn, LifeProof, Dermoshop, Melges Europe/ Helly Hansen, Estonian Melges 24 Class Association, Holiday Inn.

Event Webpage
Event in Facebook
International Melges 24 Class Association

Helsingfors Segelsklubb
Instagram
Twitter
Flickr

Any queries regarding the Melges 24 World Championship can be directed to:
Tomi Hakola
Finnish Melges 24 Class Association
tomi.hakola@starsquad.fi
+358 40 5352020

Ted Gröndahl
Helsingfors Segelklubb
ted.grondahl@elisanet.fi
+358 500 330331

Piret Salmistu
IM24CA Administrator & Media Coordinator
+372 507 7217

piret@melges24.com