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2012 Melges 24 North American Championship Lake Garda, Italy from 27 July to 4 August
www.melges24.com - Übersicht
31 July 2012
Day 2 - No Wind No Race
Torbole, Italy - 31 July 2012 - The second day of the Melges 24 Worlds brought plenty
of sun tanning, but very sadly no racing, as a most unusual weather system meant
that Torbole was not able to deliver her legendary Ora wind today. The Race Committees
on the two race courses both made several attempts to start racing, but the wind
refused to cooperate forcing them to hoist the AP flag and wait for a wind that
never came.
Therefore the overall ranking reindexs unchanged after yesterday's two races, with
Andrea Rachelli's Altea heading this record breaking Melges 24 Worlds, hosted by
Circolo Vela Torbole. Only one point behind the leader is Markus Wieser's AEZ,
one of the favourites going into the event. On the dock the talk has been all about
how this could be an incredibly tricky Championship that could throw up some big
surprises. Certainly the all family Maitech crew led by Tommaso del Rio, have
surprised this incredibly strong fleet, which includes multiple Olympic, America's
Cup and World Champions, by claiming two top ten results on the first day so that
they now share the same number of points with Kan Yamada and his very successful
Mamma Aiuto crew, who lie in fourth place on count-back.
Audi Ultra supported by Eberhard & Co, helmed by IMCA Chairman Riccardo Simoneschi
with Gabriel Benussi calling tactics, is in sixth place ahead of the very strong
American West Marine Rigging team, with International Moth Class World Champion
Bora Gulari at the helm. Franco Rossini's Blu Moon, helmed by Italian America's
Cup helm and past Melges 24 World and European Champion Flavio Favini, opened the
regatta yesterday in flying form with a nice win in race one but then fell foul
of the Z flag on the start line of race two which added a 20% scoring penalty to
his total pushing him down into 20th place. Day one produced mixed results for
Saetta: a bad gybe in the first race cost them a lot of positions, but Alberto
Bolzan's guys reacted well and went on to take victory in the second race.
The World Championship still has four days to run and tomorrow the Committee hopes
to recover some of the lost ground in the official program. PRO Hank Stuart and
his team have scheduled racing to start at 08.00 to take advantage of the northerly
wind that blows in the morning. They anticipate running three races tomorrow so
we can expect a long day.
Events like the 2012 Melges 24 World Championship are not possible without the most
generous support of the event sponsors led by the Municipality of Comune di Nago
Torbole and including the Regional Authority of Trentino; TrentoDoc, partner of
Circolo Vela Torbole whose excellent selection of sparkling wines will be enjoyed
by all; Trentingrana, whose cheese is made using milk exclusively from the Trentino
area; InGarda, the touristic company supporting visitors to Lark Garda; and technical
sailing clothing supplier Marinepool.
Organised by Circolo Vela Torbole in collaboration with the International Melges
24 Class Association, the 2012 Melges 24 World Championship will count a maximum
of twelve races, with up to three daily races. Five races are required to made the
event valid.
How to follow the Melges 24 World Championship 2012
Event Website - www.melges24worldchampionship.com
International Melges 24 Class Website - www.melges24.com
Images - official photographer Pierrick Contin - www.pierrickcontin.fr
Fiona Brown
International Melges 24 Class Administrator & Media Coordinator
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