Italy wins Melges 24 World Championship

Victoria, BC (June 9, 2018) – With light, fickle winds for much of the 2018 Melges 24 World Championship, the final day delivered champagne conditions to conclude the 10-race series for the fleet of 41 teams from five nations.

The forecast predicted fresh wind and it was delivered – 12 knots wind in the first race, building up to 15 knots for the second, and filling in up to 20 knots breeze for the third.

The ultimate stalwarts of the Melges 24 – Andrea Racchelli’s Altea from Italy and his crew of Filippo Togni, Gaudenzio Bomni, Matteo Ramian, Michele Gregoratto – have claimed their first and well deserved Melges 24 Worlds’ title. Silver in the overall was Alan Field’s WTF from the United States, and winning Bronze was Bruce Ayres’ Monsoon also from the United States.

Nothing was confirmed in the leaderboard when entering the last day of racing. Trailing the lead by two points, the Italian crew has been able to sail very consistent races, collecting as the only crew three bullets to their series, and discarding the 8th result as their worst finish to ultimately win by a margin of 6 points.

Field, who had taken an absence from the class after the 2013 Worlds, led an all-star cast that had been sailing together for only two weeks – Erik Shampain, Willem Van Waay, Steve Hunt, and Lucas Calabrese. Long-time campaigner Bruce Ayres, sailing with Mike Buckley, Chelsea Simms, George Peet and Jeff Reynolds, held the overall lead entering today but did not close out and finished tied with Field in third.

Meanwhile in Corinthian division, the local Royal Victoria Yacht Club team of Full Circle by Robert Britten with crew of Graham Harney, Jose Grandizo, Liam Welgan-Gunn, and Reid Cannon, who yesterday raced to a 1st placed finish, and starting to climb up from the third placement of the division this morning, defeated 24 other entries in Corinthian Division.

Silver medal finishers were American Matt MacGregor’s team and crew of Daryl Fitch, Genevieve Livingston, Kati Belden, and Keith Hammer on Good Enough. Having led this division since the beginning of the game, they slipped into the second place after scoring 28th and 26th results from today’s races.

Winning Bronze was another local team of Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Mike Bond’s Hold My Beer with Gord Shannon, Mike Bassett, and Sophie Stukas in the crew. Hold My Beer team managed to jump to the third place of the podium from the penultimate day’s fifth position.

The trophy for the best team with the female skipper was awarded to Laura Grondin (USA), owning and helming Dark Energy, finishing the Worlds with the 22nd result. The prize of the youth team went to American Ryan Conner’s Blue Dream and the crew, who travelled furthest to this championship, was announced to be Kevin Nixon’s family team ACCRU from Sydney, Australia.

Racing for the 2018 Worlds was held from June 5 to 9. The 2019 World Championship will be held October 10-18 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.

Event details – Results – Tracking – Photos – Facebook

Final Overall Results (Top 5 of 41; 10 races, 1 discard)
1. Altea ITA 722, Andrea Racchelli, Filippo Togni, Gaudenzio Bomni, Matteo Ranian, Michele Gregoratto, Altea, – 5 – 1 – 5 – 1 – 1 – 5 – (8) – 4 – 2 – 6 ; 30 pts
2. WTF USA 829, Alan Field, Erik Shampain, Willem Van Waay, Steve Hunt, Lucas Calabrese, California Yacht Club, – 1 – 6 – 4 – 5 – 3 – 7 – 6 – 1 – 3 – (8) ; 36 pts
3. Monsoon USA 851, Bruce Ayres, Chelsea Simms, George Peet, Jeff Reynolds , Mike Buckley, NHYC, – 3 – 5 – 2 – (15) – 2 – 2 – 2 – 7 – 11 – 2 ; 36 pts
4. Full Throttle USA 849, Brian Porter, RJ Porter, Matt Woodworth, Andy Burdick, Lake Geneva Yacht Club, – 2 – 3 – 9 – (12) – 5 – 6 – 5 – 2 – 5 – 4 ; 41 pts
5. Mikey CAN 838, Richard Clarke, Ansel Koen, Rachel Spinelli, Ben Whiting, Hunter Lowden, Anacortes Yacht Club, – 4 – 9 – 1 – 8 – (10) – 3 – 3 – 6 – 4 – 5 ; 43 pts

Final Corinthian Results (Top 5 of 25; 10 races, 1 discard)
1. Full Circle CAN 415, Robert Britten, Graham Harney , Jose Grandizo , Liam Welgan-Gunn, Reid Cannon, Royal Victoria Yacht Club, – 11 – 10 – (BFD-42) – 14 – 20 – 19 – 1 – 5 – 21 – 11 ; 112 pts
2. Good Enough USA 806, Matt MacGregor, Daryl Fitch, Genevieve Livingston, Kati Belden, Keith Hammer, PMYC, – 8 – 4 – 21 – 2 – 8 – 15 – (31) – 28 – 9 – 26 ; 121 pts
3. ADHD CAN 591, Mike Bond, Gord Shannon, Mike Bassett, Sophie Stukas, Rvyc, – 10 – 14 – 14 – (38) – 13 – 16 – 24 – 13 – 12 – 14 ; 130 pts
4. ADHD CAN 184, Mumford / MarchantAdam Thomson, Alex Smyth, Brad Marchant, Ben Mumford, WVYC, – 7 – 7 – 7 – (34) – 12 – 11 – 25 – 19 – 17 – 29 ; 134 pts
5. Lekker CAN 371, Smith / Galbraith Malcolm Smith, Gord Galbraith , Tim Stamper, Tom Insley, Royal Victoria Yacht Club, – 20 – (33) – 11 – 19 – 11 – 14 – 9 – 25 – 14 – 18 ; 141

Source: Melges 24 Class