Foto copyright Stefano Gattini
Foto copyright Stefano Gattini
Foto copyright Stefano Gattini
Foto copyright Stefano Gattini
Foto copyright Stefano Gattini
Fuente info Sail-World/USA
Melges 24 World Championships - New Champion holds his nerve
The fifty-one international teams, who had travelled from across North America and Europe to compete in the Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis 2009 Melges 24 World Championships, finally got the welcome opportunity to race in double-digit breezes on the final day of the regatta.
Despite the Championship racecourse being shrouded in appropriately Halloween style mist for most of the day, the Race Committee successfully banged off two four-leg races in winds which peaked at around fourteen knots.
Chris Larson at the helm of 'West Marine Rigging/New England Ropes', who had led the regatta on-and-off for much of the week, took a seventeen point lead into the final day and looked odds-on to take the title. However with the potential for three races to be sailed today, Larson was always potentially vulnerable to attack from second placed Gabrio Zandona at the helm of the Italian entry 'Joe Fly'.
If Larson was in fact feeling the pressure of leading the championship into the final day, there was no visible evidence at the start of the first race. With several of the top teams including Zandona, Lorenzo Bressani on 'Uka Uka Racing' and Terry Hutchinson on 'Quantum Racing/Gill Race Team' being called OCS soon after the start, Larson was able to pick his way skilfully through the melee at the pin and followed eventual race winner Nico Celon on 'Fantastica' off the line. Rounding the top mark with only Carlo Fracassoli on 'Gullisara' in front of him, Larson sailed a calm and composed race and went on to record his fourth second place of the week. Zandona, Bressani and Hutchinson all received twenty percent Z-flag penalties and following an announcement from the Race Officer that there would be no third race, Larson now found himself in an unassailable position. With no reason to compete in the second race of the day, he and his delighted crew: Mike Wolfs, Curtis Florence and tactician Richard Clarke, headed ashore to start to begin to celebrate their Melges 24 World Championship victory.
The focus was now on the four-way scrap for the remaining podium places between Zandona on sixty-five points, Norway's Eivind Melleby on 'Full Medal Jacket' on sixty-nine points, Celon on seventy-two points and Bressani on seventy-four points. Arguably the windiest of the Championship, the final race was a real humdinger with the top ten boats packed closely together at all the mark roundings. Jamie Lea on the British entry 'Team Barbarians' squeezed in for a near perfect start at the pin and led the early part of the beat. However it was Celon who led around the top mark, with Bill Hardesty on 'Events Clothing/Atlantis' in second and Lea in third. Hutchinson and Melleby rounded in fourth and fifth and as the leaders, all in close formation, ripped down wind for the first time, it was impossible to predict who would reach the gate first. In fact Celon managed to hold his lead, but only just from the charging Melleby who had blitzed into second place. The fierce battle for the lead between these two lasted until the finish, with Celon eventually prevailing and securing fourth overall. Meanwhile after rounding the first mark outside the top ten, Zandona was making steady progress up through the fleet. By the finish he was up to sixth, which tied him on points with Melleby. With the count back applied Zandona claimed second overall, with Melleby clearly delighted to have achieved the first ever Norwegian podium finish at a Melges 24 World Championship.
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Primeros diez clasificados
1 West Marine Rigging LARSON 5 2 6 4 2 3 12 2 8 2 [52/DNS] 46.00
2 Joefly Zandonà 6 18 3 1 1 4 17 8 7 [39/ZFP] 6 71.00
3 Full Medal Jacket Melleby 8 4 4 22 5 1 6 16 [27] 3 2 71.00
4 FANTASTICA Celon [23] 23 8 5 6 2 5 10 6 7 1 73.00
5 Blu Moon Rossini 3 6 9 21 11 23 [52/OCS] 1 1 5 3 83.00
6 UKA UKA racing Bressani 26 10 1 2 4 [30] 1 6 2 21/ZFP 12 85.00
7 FULL THROTTLE Porter, Brian 2 12 5 12 12 13 21 [27] 15 4 4 100.00
8 Gullisara fracassoli 9 1 10 13 8 14 [35] 14 25 1 7 102.00
9 Quantum Racing Hutchinson 1 [38] 14 10 10 7 8 5 3 32/ZFP 19 109.00
10 Event’s Clothing 19 3 2 7 7 [37] 22 23 18 13 5 119.00 10
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