The Volvo Cup event in Garda opened with the long distance race which was won by ITA567 Spirit of Nerina S sailed by Andrea Ferrari with AUT389 La Vie helmed by Olympic 470 sailor Sylvia Vogl, who only recently joined the Melges 24 class, second and ITA727 Pilot Italia Hurricane sailed by Alberto Bo
Hyeres is a popular regatta venue and over the years has hosted major regattas for a wide range of classes including regular visits from the Olympic dinghy circus as part of the ISAF Sailing World Cup.
Having started his sailing career crewing for his brother, multiple one-design keelboat world champion Vince Brun still seems happy to relinquish the helm to take on a crewing role.
Brothers Brian and John Porter and their Full Throttle program have been at the top of the Melges 24 domestic and international regatta scene since the inception of the class.
Despite growing up on the Hamble I had never done the Round The Island Race before so when folks in Weymouth were asking me what boat I was intending to sail round in my answer of "a Melges 24" was met with inevitable comments on the lack of facilities and general comfort.
There are just four days to go until the closing date for standard rate entries for the 2009 Melges 24 European Championship, which takes place in Hyeres, France from 21-28 August 2009.
For the second time the Swiss Open was hosted by Segler Vereinigung Kreuzlingen - 13 boats signed in but 2 boats had to withdraw due to some illness of crews. Any way 11 boats are not so bad as the Swiss Class is just starting to set up their own events.
Please note that the entry deadline for the Melges 24 European Championship, which takes place in Hyeres, France from August 21-28,is just two weeks away on Friday 3 July 2009.
The day three and four video coverage from the Italian Open/Volvo Cup in Cagliari is now available to view at www.zerogradinord.net/volvo-cup. Our thanks to Mauro Melandro and the Volvo Media team for all their great coverage of this event.
The legendary Jonathan McKee, who has been calling tactics for Lorenzo Bressani aboard Uka Uka Racing, spoke with the Volvo Media Team's Maruo Melandri on the dock in Cagliari after their victory in the Italian Open.
