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2012 Melges 24 North American Championship Lake Garda, Italy from 27 July to 4 August
www.melges24.com - Übersicht
2 August 2012
2012 Melges 24 World Championship -
Day 4 - Gold And Silver Fleets Decided As Gullisara and Saetta Fight For The Lead
Torbole, Italy - 2 August 2012 - Today's Melges 24 Worlds action on Lake Garda was
fast, furious and fantastic fun. With six races now complete the discard came into
play and the Gold and Silver fleets were decided. Up to six more races are scheduled
so the battle continues to rage as the teams attempt to gain any advantage they
can whilst avoiding potentially very costly mistakes.
The final two qualifying races were sailed in a shifty Ora southerly wind that put
the tacticians well and truly through their paces. With massive gains and losses
to be made it was all about managing risk as effectively as possible.
Tonight reigning 2011 European Champion Gullisara stands at the top of the ranking
and appears be frightened by nothing. For Carlo Fracassoli's crew the term "conservative"
has no meaning and their often daring tactical choices always seemed to reap rewards,
striking fear into the heart of their opponents. A third place followed by a win
keeps them at the top of the table by just a single point from their fellow Italian
aboard Saetta. Having been able to discard their 19 points garnered by fouling
the Z-flag in race one, Seatta's Alberto Bolzan and Nathan Wilmot, still aspire
to the title and have Gullisara in their sights.
Moth World Champion Bora Gulari, aboard West Marine Rigging New England Ropes, claimed
victory in the fifth race and followed that with a fourth place to claim the final
place on the podium. Disqualification from the third race has clearly not dented
the determination of the American who may be nine points behind the leaders but
is still definitely in play. As is Riccardo Simoneschi's Audi Ultra supported by
Eberhard & Co, who sailed with great consistency all day and goes into the second
half of the championship in fourth overall, three points behind Gulari and a single
point ahead of Christopher Rast sailing EFG Bank and Flavio Favini helming Franco
Rossini's Blu Moon. Japan's Kan Yamamada, sailing Mamma Aiuto! scored a tenth in
race four but went onto a second in race six and now lies in seventh overall.
Andrea Rachelli's Altea, who led the standings early in the championship, won his
division in race five, but a fifteenth place in race six drops him down to eighth
place overall. The other overall race winner today was the Estonian team of Peter
Saraskin aboard Lumi, but this brief moment of brilliance couldn't make up for an
otherwise moderate performance so he is in 20th overall.
In the Corinthian standings Lorenzo Gemini's SIV Arborea is confirmed as leader,
but in hot pursuit are Marrakesh Express, led by Augusto Poropat, who put in a
solid 5, 3 day and is now ahead the Norwegian Storm Capital Sail Racing led by Oyvind
Jahre and Estonia's Tonu Toniste. Without doubt the two best Corinthian performances
today came from Francesco Barbi's Etabeta and Geoff Carveth sailing Miles Quinton's
Gill Race Team who each won both races in their groups.
With the competitors now divided into Gold and Silver Fleets it will be another
early start tomorrow as racing is scheduled to start in the northern Peler wind
at 08.00. The committee reserves the right to run up to two races in the Peler
on a single course with the fleets starting consecutively and in total they aim
to achieve three races tomorrow with the afternoon races back on the two courses
north and south in the southerly Ora.
Once again tomorrow it will be possible to follow all the action live from the race
course thanks to live streaming sponsored by B Plan Sport and Events. Coverage
will start just before 08.00 Italian time at www.bpse.it [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001ssCq4VVPi0Yu6BDOs0ocwdpaxvrsBdUKEuY2i39hPlMx1UUYkVisqX3HMpeiFfZv7jP4HpIhbpjpOXryA54KTfhnsD_PQxHMOuuAarhVAYw=]
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.
Fiona Brown
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