Press Release - Sixty Melges 24 teams from 12 countries across Europe and Scandinavia took part in the four day SNIM Regatta over the Easter Weekend in Marseille France.
Day three report from Justin Chisholm in Marseille where the 60 strong Melges 24 fleet is having a storming weekend - "Today the race officer showed her class by holding her nerve to wait over two hours for a sea breeze to develop.
After four tough days of racing off the Mediterannean city of Marseille the victors spoils in the Melges 24 Class at SNIM 2006 go to the Italian Team of Amadori Ezio aboard Bete, helmed by Nicola Celon.
The word from Justin Chisholm at the end of Saturday's racing at the SNIM in Marseille is - "RANDOM. Three races sailed in winds up to 20 knots and as low as 5 knots. In the first race the trick was to hit the left hand shore as hard a possible upwind.
SNIM, the first event in the 2006 European Ranking Series, got underway yesterday with some challenging racing for the sixty strong Melges 24 fleet which has come together in Marseille from 12 countries across Europe and Scandinavia.
The Burke brothers and their crew aboard Grins sailed an impressive regatta against some incredibly close competition to take the 2006 Sayra Championship at Charleston Race Week in South Carolina this weekend.
With the 2006 season now getting underway please don't forget that if you want to race in the Corinthian (all amateur crew) division at Melges 24 events this year you need to ensure your crew members have all obtained or renewed their ISAF Sailor Classifications.
On 8 and 9 April the German Class Association sailed it's first ranking event which was hosted by "Segler Vereinigung Kreuzlingen" and organised by "North Sails Switzerland".
The eighteen competitors at this year's Charleston Race Week presented by Seabrook Island, currently underway in South Carolina, are battling strong winds and steep chop in this classic spring regatta.
From 1997 to 2001 two time Estonian Olympic medalists Tonu and Toomas Toniste owned their first Melges 24s which they raced regularly on the international Melges 24 circuit.
