Volpe Wins Melges 32 World Championship

Newport, RI (October 2, 2016) – Ryan DeVos’ Volpe with tactician Mark Mendelblatt, and crew members Mike Hill, Peter Kinney, Scott Nixon, Erika Reineke, Sam Rogers and Drew Weirda won the 2016 Melges 32 World Championship.

“We have competed in four World Championships and it feels so good to finally pull one off,” said a very ecstatic DeVos just after racing. “Going into today we had a nice cushion, but we knew, especially in this fleet, it’s never over until it’s over. We knew we needed to go out and sail our very best. When I think about the fact that we are racing against some of the best sailing teams in the world, it makes today’s victory even more rewarding.”

DeVos entered the final day with a seven point lead which he sustained over the two final races. In what seemed like a last ditch effort to defend his World title, Alessandro Rombelli’s STIG with Terry Hutchinson serving as tactician, hammered out a 4-1 scoreline to finish second overall, bumping Jason Carroll on Argo to finish out the podium in third.

“We knew defending back-to-back World Championship titles would be a big challenge,” commented Rombelli. “It was our first time sailing in Newport. Apart from the weather, the sailing has been incredible.”

Although Carroll (Race Nine) and Rombelli (Race Ten) took home the big race wins, some other teams also shined bright on the course. Andrea Lacorte’s Vitamina finished second in Race Nine which enabled him to close the event in the top five, while Morgan Kiss and the ‘kids’ on Hydra further secured their top Corinthian position with a third place finish.

Winning the first ever Melges 32 Corinthian World Championship title in the three boat field was Kiss at the helm for Project Sail with crew Ty Baird, Noah Blacker, Austin Colpaert, Henry Fernberger, Liam Harr, Lexi Petter, Alex Post (tactician) and Marty Kullman. Chris Wientjes’ Stormvogel was second with Jeremy Alexis’ in third.

“It was really great to get a full series of races in,” said Post. “We managed to find a few great puffs in the first race today and we were actually in second at one point. But to finish that heat in third, then win the overall Corinthian title is a great way to end it.”

Thirteen teams from five countries competed on September 29 to October 2.

Final Results (10 races, 1 discard)
1. Volpe, Ryan DeVos , USA – 2 -7 -1 -1 -6 -1 -[9] -1 -6 -6 ; 31
2. STIG, Alessandro Rombelli , ITA – 4 -2 -6 -[7] -7 -3 -7 -3 -4 -1 ; 37
3. Argo, Jason Carroll , USA – 1 -6 -5 -5 -4 -6 -2 -8 -1 -[10] ; 38
4. Vitamina, Andrea Lacorte , ITA – 6 -4 -[12] -4 -5 -10 -1 -4 -2 -5 ; 41
5. Delta, Rick DeVos , USA – [9] -5 -3 -3 -3 -4 -3 -5 -8 -8 ; 42
6. INGA, Richard Goransson , SWE – 3 -[14] -7 -9 -2 -2 -8 -2 -5 -11 ; 49
7. G-Spot, Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio , MON – [14] -3 -2 -8 -1 -11 -5 -6 -7 -9 ; 52
8. La Pericolosa, Christian Schwoerer , GER – 5 -1 -4 -[10] -9 -7 -4 -9 -10 -3 ; 52
9. Dark N’Stormy, Edward Tillinghast , USA – 8 -9 -9 -6 -8 -5 -[11] -7 -9 -2 ; 63
10. Hydra, Project Sail , USA – 10 -8 -10 -[12] -10 -9 -12 -10 -3 -7 ; 79
11. Bliksem, Pieter Taselaar , USA – 11 -[14] -8 -2 -12 -8 -6 -11 -12 -12 ; 82
12. Stormvogel, Chris Wientjes , USA – 7 -10 -11 -11 -11 -[12] -10 -12 -11 -4 ; 87
13. Lucy , Jeremy Alexis , USA – [14] -14 -14 -14 -14 -14 -13 -13 -13 -13 ; 122

Event details – Scoreboard – Crew list – Photos

Source: Sam Rogers, Melges 32 Class