Tallinn, Estonia - 10 August 2010
Shifty Conditions Test Tacticians On Day Four Of 2010 Marinepool Melges 24 World Championship
Overview
Day four of the 2010 Marinepool Melges 24 World Championship
in Tallin, Estonia saw two races sailed in ten to fifteen knot shifty breezes
giving the skippers and tacticians several head scratching moments out on the
Baltic. Carlo Fracassoli on Gullisara led the first race from the off and
managed to hold off sustained challenges from fellow Italian Alberto Bolzan on
Hurricane Murphy & Nye as well as Kristian Nergaard on Baghdad to take his
first race win of the championship. The second race saw a major right hand
shift soon after the start, which trapped several of the top teams out on the
left. Despite leading for much of the six-leg race, Frenchman Jean Marc Monard
on Poizon Rouge found himself dragged back into the pack on the shifty third
beat. On the final downwind leg to the finish the top five boats were sailing
line abreast as they approached the line. Kan Yamada from Japan helming Bros
got the final shift just right to edge in front to take the win.
Behind him
Italy's Alberto Bolzan on Hurricane Murphy & Nye and Norway's Kristian
Nergaard on Baghdad were dead-heated for second place with the decision going
Nergaard's way by the width of a bowsprit block. With a single discard in now place,
a fifth in the first
race and a tenth in the second today was good enough to see Lorenzo Bressani on
Uka Uka Racing still top the leaderboard tonight. Bressani leads by nine points
from Nergaard in second with Bolzan a further three points adrift in third.
The Detail
Today's tricky conditions saw several of the potential
Championship contenders turn in a mixed scorecard this evening. Fracassoli
followed up his race win this morning with a thirtieth in the second race but
still sits in fourth overall tonight. 'We were much luckier in the first race
than the second.' he commented ruefully this evening. 'In the first race we
started on the left and the first shift was to the left so we had a good first
beat. Once you are in front it is much easier to sail your own race. In the
second race we started on the left but there was a big turn to the right in the
final minute before the start. When the line is as long as it is here then you
have to pick an end as there is no chance to change your mind just before the
start.'
Championship leader Bressani, had by his own standards, a
bad day at the office. Having pulled through the leading pack in the first race
to round the final top mark in second, he then sailed out of the breeze on the
last run to the finish and could only watch as Bolzan, Nergaard and Sweden's
Ingemar Sundested on Rocad Racing, all sailed around him. On the second start
Bressani was then amongst the large group on the left caught out by the right
shift and rounded the first mark in that race down in the early twenties.
Showing typical resilience in the face of this adversity, he immediately set
about recovering as many places as possible and over the next five legs chipped
away boats one by one on until he had worked his way back up to tenth by the
finish.
Japan's Kan Yamada on Bros who is competing at his first
ever Melges 24 World Championship, looked a little shell-shocked by his victory
in the final race of the day. Rounding the final windward mark in fourth place,
Yamada sailed a near perfect downwind leg, concentrating on keeping his lane
clear, gybing at just the right times to stay in the pressure and by the finish
had established a single boat length lead over the pack when he took the gun.
'We are at our first ever Melges 24 World Championship but this is not the
first time I have raced in Tallinn as I came here fourteen years ago for a 470
training camp. We are amazed to have won a race this week, as we didn't think
it was possible in our first year. Our goal coming here was to finish in the
top fifteen and right now we are fifteenth, so we are happy.'
One helm who managed to buck the trend of up and down
results today was Nergaard, whose third and second place performance makes him
boat of the day and sees him move into second place in the overall standings.
Tactician Harry Melges agreed that it had been a tricky day on the water but
says it was not so much about picking a side, but keeping your head out of the
boat and anticipating what was coming next. 'We had some great downwind speed
today, which always helps of course, but our index focus was keeping our wind clear
and making sure we stayed in the strongest patches of breeze as long as
possible.' A smiling Melges also acknowledged that they had been given a get
out of jail card in the second race. 'Well we saw that there was a little more
pressure coming on the right and we were expecting a shift that way too. We
wanted to win the boat at the starboard end and I guess we got a little too
greedy and ended up boxed in and pretty much stationary at the gun. We took at
least one transom and then managed to get free and on to port. I'll admit we
were surprised to round the top mark in tenth place after that start.' Such was
the unpredictability of the conditions that Nergaard's fleet position varied
significantly throughout the race.
Melges comments 'We lost a few places on the
last beat and rounded in fifth. The last run was pretty freaky with all of the
pressure appearing to be on the left. We kept trying to get ourselves as far
that way as we could and actually ended up over standing slightly on the
approach to the finish. That turned out to be fortunate as the breeze eased in
the last few boat lengths so coming in hot was pretty good and we managed to
steal second on the line.'
Justin Chisholm
Corinthian Division
In the Corinthian
Division there were major place changes throughout the top ten. The only unchanged
position is that of
overall leader Oyvind Peder Jahre aboard Storm Capital Sail Racing
who increased his lead by one point and now has a 21-point cushion on his
closest rival. Jahre's day got off
to a tricky start with an 11th place, his worst score of the
regatta, but he went on to lead the Corinthian's home in the seventh race and
so counts 14 points total.
His nearest rival is
now Marco Schirato aboard La Besa who put in the best Corinthian performance of
the day, finishing first Corinthian in race six followed by a third in race
seven, jumping him up the standings from fifth to second. This strong crew came
together as a
team earlier this year and already they have been extremely successful winning
the Corinthian Division of the 2010 Melges24 Volvo Cup in Italy.
Speaking after racing La Besa trimmer Enrico Sinibaldi commented "Our day went very well, we score 15th
and 14th today [1st and 3rd in the
Corinthians]. I think it wasn't so
easy today so we are very happy. "
Also making a big jump
up the rankings was Christoph Skolaut in Franz Rocks. He took third in race six
followed by a ninth in race 7
and with his worst score, an 18th from the opening race, now
discarded he is very happy to find himself just six points behind Schirato and
firmly in contention for a podium position.
Tonu Toniste's local
knowledge sadly couldn't help him avoid a Z Flag penalty in race six as a
result of which he counts a 15th instead of ninth. He went on to finish eighth in
race
seven, but it wasn't enough to hold onto second and he now lies fourth overall
on 41 points, ten points ahead of Andreas Emmoth sailing Helga who moves up from
eighth to fifith overall thanks to fifth and sixth place finishes today.
Another crew moving
ahead in the Corinthian ranking was Jonas Berntsson's Number of the Beast. He finished
sixth in race six and then
put in an excellent showing in race seven to finish second which takes him from
11th to sixth overall.
Also pleased with his day
was Finnish Dragon, H-Boat and match race veteran Fredrik Markelin aboard HP
who finished a very close second to La Besa in race six. The two boats were neck
and neck down
the final run and La Besa only got the advantage right on the line. After racing
a very happy Markelin
explained, "The
key is to get a good start. Either it's that or a huge amount of luck, which is
more unlikely. If you manage to start with the first 15 boats you have far
better chances of getting a good clear track with clean air. So we succeeded
with our start and it was easy to stay on from there. Today we had a better flow
with the crew but we're obviously
among a tough crowd of sailors. This is only the second season that we sail
Melges24 together, so we have a lot to learn. It's really about knowing the
boat, and small details can be crucial for the outcome. When we have changes in
wind conditions, we have small problems in being fast enough to find the right
trims. The gennaker is also new for me. But Melges 24 a great boat, and a lot
of fun! Second place Corinthian is great, we'll take a first tomorrow"
Markelin says with a grin.
Without
doubt the most disappointed man in the Corinthian fleet tonight is Rock City's
Tiit Vihul. He went into the day
as third Corinthian overall but after an OCS in race six and a DNF caused by
gear failure in race seven he now finds himself languishing down in 13th
place.
Fiona Brown
Provisional Overall Top Ten After Five Races
1. ITA787 - UKA UKA RAcing - Lorenzo Bressani - 17 pts
2. NOR400 - Baghdad - Kristian Nergaard - 26 pts
3. ITA727 - Hurricane - Murphy & Nye - Alberto Bolzan - 29 pts
4. ITA807 - Gullisara - Carlo Fracassoli - 45 pts
5. NOR751 - Storm Capital Sail Racing Team - 45 pts
6. SUI782 - Blu Moon - Flavio Favini - 54 pts
7. ITA766 - Arteria 24ever - Michael Hestebaek - 69 pts
8. ITA783 - Audi - Riccardo Simoneschi - 73 pts
9. ITA716 - Saetta - Niccolo Bianchi - 82 pts
9. JPN797 - ThreeBond - Tetsuya Matsunaga - 67 pts
Provisional Corinthian Top Five After Two Races
1. NOR751 - Storm Capital Sail Racing Team - 14 pts
2. ITA780 - La Besa - Marco Schirato - 33 pts.
3. AUT406 - Franz Rocks - Christoph Skolaut - 39 pts
4. EST790 - Lenny - Tonu Toniste - 41 pts
5. SWE537 - Helga - Andreas Emmoth - 51 pts
To find out more about the Kalev Yacht Club visit www.kjk.ee
For more information please contact:
Fiona Brown
International Melges 24 Class Administrator & Media Coordinator
International Melges 24 Class Association | 3 Palmers Road | Emsworth | Hampshire | PO10 7DL | United Kingdom
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