2012 Melges 24 Worlds - Day 2 - No Wind, No Race

The second day of the Melges 24 Worlds brought plenty of sun tanning, but very sadly no racing, as a most unusual weather system meant that Torbole was not able to deliver her legendary Ora wind today.  The Race Committees on the two race courses both made several attempts to start racing, but the wind refused to cooperate forcing them to hoist the AP flag and wait for a wind that never came.

Therefore the overall ranking remains unchanged after yesterday's two races, with Andrea Rachelli's Altea heading this record breaking Melges 24 Worlds, hosted by Circolo Vela Torbole. Only one point behind the leader is Markus Wieser's AEZ, one of the favourites going into the event.  On the dock the talk has been all about how this could be an incredibly tricky Championship that could throw up some big surprises.  Certainly the all family Maitech crew led by Tommaso del Rio, have surprised this incredibly strong fleet, which includes multiple Olympic, America's Cup and World Champions, by claiming two top ten results on the first day so that they now share the same number of points with Kan Yamada and his very successful Mamma Aiuto crew, who lie in fourth place on count-back.

Audi Ultra supported by Eberhard & Co, helmed by IMCA Chairman Riccardo Simoneschi with Gabriel Benussi calling tactics, is in sixth place ahead of the very strong American West Marine Rigging team, with International Moth Class World Champion Bora Gulari at the helm.  Franco Rossini's Blu Moon, helmed by Italian America's Cup helm and past Melges 24 World and European Champion Flavio Favini, opened the regatta yesterday in flying form with a nice win in race one but then fell foul of the Z flag on the start line of race two which added a 20% scoring penalty to his total pushing him down into 20th place.  Day one produced mixed results for Saetta: a bad gybe in the first race cost them a lot of positions, but Alberto Bolzan's guys reacted well and went on to take victory in the second race.

The World Championship still has four days to run and tomorrow the Committee hopes to recover some of the lost ground in the official program. PRO Hank Stuart and his team have scheduled racing to start at 08.00 to take advantage of the northerly wind that blows in the morning.  They anticipate running three races tomorrow so we can expect a long day.   

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.      

RESULTS

PHOTOS  

VIDEO 

 How to follow the Melges 24 World Championship 2012  

Event Website - www.melges24worldchampionship.com  

International Melges 24 Class Website - www.melges24.com      

Images - official photographer Pierrick Contin - www.pierrickcontin.fr    

Updated on daily basis will be also the IMCA's YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/IM24CA)  on which will be posted the daily highlights and the interviews made by Zerogradinord, in charge of the media content of the event.

The event will also be followed via Facebook ( www.facebook.com/World.of.Melges24) and Twitter (#https://twitter.com/Melges_24), where the updates will be in real time.