Irish Dominance at Melges 24 World Championship

Miami, FL (December 1, 2016) – The third day of the 2016 Melges 24 World Championship provided lighter breeze to add three more races to the series, but it did little to shake the dominance of Conor Clarke’s Embarr.

The Irish entry posted a 2-1-2 to further pad their lead. After nine races, they have yet to post a score worse than fifth. The good tactical calls, together with the amazing speed that the crew manages to reach in the downwind legs, has enabled Embarr to build a 25 point lead.

In the Corinthian division, the boats of the top three remained the same, but their order changed completely: Decorum USA805 (16-22-12/4-4-2) of Megan Ratliff abandoned the top of the ranking in favor of the Italian crew Taki 4 ITA778 (3-16-6/2-2-1) of Marco Zammarchi that, after having been daily best in Corinthian also yesterday, eventually reached the leadership of the division, sailing consistently even if the light breeze conditions are not the favorite of this crew.

“We are happy for the outcome of the last two days of racing here in Miami,” declared Niccolò Bertola, helmsman of Taki 4. “Sailing for the Europeans in Hyeres had been great fun, but here it is totally another story. The fleet is competitive, numerous and fast and for us the attention to be paid is double, because we have to focus both on the overall ranking and on the Corinthian division.

“Our closest opponent, in this moment, is Tõnu Tõniste’s Lenny EST790 (1-14-21/1-1-4), that is chasing for us with just 3 points of margin: we will keep being focused on the races, we know the Estonian crew has the potential to win again a Melges 24 World Championship in our division, so the success of today cannot distract us from our final purpose.”

PRO Anderson Reggio couldn’t be happier about the development of this Championship. “We’ve had three great days of sailing here in Miami: the first two days reflected the reasons why sailors love to come to Miami, that are the strong wind and great waves,” noted Reggio. “Today conditions were trickier and definitely lighter, but I feel I could still say that the fleet had good fun.

“The crews are fighting hard in each moment of the regattas, as it is also evident from the starts, when it often happens to have OCS boats, but I think it’s also good in this way, we’re in a World Championship, it is legit they are pushing hard!”.

About the composition of the fleet, Anderson added, “I think this is one of the most exciting fleets to watch: it doesn’t often happen to see boats so spread across the race course, almost occupying all the space we have at our disposal. I can’t wait to see the development of the last two days of regatta.”

For tomorrow, Race Day Four, an amendment to the sailing instructions has been published: no preparatory signal will be given before 1.00 pm and the intention of the Race Committee is to run just one race. Two races will be left for Saturday, closing day of this 2016 Melges 24 World Championship.

Twelve races are scheduled from November 29 to December 3.

Corinthian Division (Top 5 of 37; 9 races, 1 discard)
1. Taki 4, Marco Zammarchi , ITA – [4] -3 -4 -2 -2 -1 -2 -2 -1 ; 17
2. Lenny, Tõnu Tõniste , EST – 2 -4 -2 -[6] -1 -5 -1 -1 -4 ; 20
3. Decorum, Megan Ratliff , USA – 1 -1 -[22] -1 -6 -2 -4 -4 -2 ; 21
4. ACCRU, G. Nixon / K. Nixon , AUS – 3 -5 -3 -[12] -4 -3 -3 -10 -9 ; 40
5. Team Kesbeke/SIKA/Gill, Ronald Veraar , NED – 6 -2 -1 -[38] -3 -18 -10 -8 -3 ; 51

Overall Results (Top 5 of 74; 9 races 1 discard)
1. Embarr, Conor Clarke , IRL – 2 -1 -1 -3 -4 -[5] -2 -1 -2 ; 16
2. Maidollis 3, Gian Luca Perego , ITA – 3 -5 -3 -9 -6 -2 -[13] -3 -10 ; 41
3. Air Force 1, Bora Gulari , USA – 1 -2 -2 -16 -5 -[26] -12 -10 -1 ; 49
4. ARGO, Jason Carroll , USA – 5 -3 -4 -13 -7 -[16] -5 -5 -13 ; 55
5. Monsoon, Bruce Ayres , USA – 10 -4 -13 -7 -3 -[20] -10 -4 -5 ; 56

Event details – Scoreboard – Tracker – Day 3 photos

Source: M24 class, Scuttlebutt