2018 Melges 24 World Championship - Italian team Altea sets the pace in Victoria

June 7, 2018 - Victoria, BC, Canada - The breeze eventually fills in on the race course of Victoria and the Melges 24 fleet takes home a full day of sailing, with three races completed in the third day of the 2018 Melges 24 World Championship
 
 
The first victory of the series today went to the home-players Canadians on board of MiKEYCAN838 by Richard Clarke"We won the first race of the day, probably the one with the trickiest conditions since the wind was still filling in, and we are very happy with this result. Our philosophy has always been that of dealing with what we have, being consistent and not trying to chase rainbows: today it worked out particularly well. We've been training on this race course a lot and this for sure gave us a massive advantage because the conditions of Victoria Waterfront are tricky, with big shifts and heavy currents: in any case, a little bit of luck is always needed and we'll see what happens in the next days. We'll try to be conservative and consistent," commented the owner and helmsman of MiKEY, Richard Clarke. 
 
In the remaining two races of the series, the Italian entry, Altea ITA722, already winner of the only race of yesterday, set the pace to all the fleet, scoring two bullets in a row and hence gaining the leadership of the provisional ranking. The boat helmed by Andrea Racchelli, in fact, takes control of the standings with a margin of six points over WTF USA829 by Alan Field and fourteen points over Monsoon USA851 by Bruce Ayres. 
 
With daily partials of 9-12-5, Brian Porter's Full Throttle USA849, the leader after the first two days of racing, slips in to fourth position, tied with just one point of margin to Richard Clarke's MiKEY CAN838 that completes the provisional top-five.
 
Matt MacGregor's Good Enough USA806 maintains the leadership of the Corinthian division, with a good advantage over the Canadian entry ADHD CAN184 of Brad Marchant, second in the ranking reserved to non-professional sailors, and on the representatives of the hosting entity RVYC, on board Mike Bond's Hold My Beer CAN591.


The show of the day was to witness a family of killer whales coming to the race course and event to the Victoria harbour. Race Committee was forced to postpone the race because of them having they playground on the race course for a while. Also the Marine Aerodrome has been shut down due to the fact that the wales came also to the harbour, what has not happened before here. 
 
Tomorrow will be a penultimate day of the Melges 24 World Championship 2018 here in Victoria with a first warning signal scheduled at 11am. With one additional race sailed the discard of the worse result will apply playing the cards in the total scores. 


Top five after Day Three (Overall)
1. Altea ITA 722 (bow #678), Andrea Racchelli, Filippo Togni, Gaudenzio Bomni, Matteo Ranian, Michele Gregoratto, Altea - 5 - 1 - 5 - 1 - 1 ; 13 pts
2. WTF USA 829, Alan Field, Erik Shampain, Willem Van Waay, Steve Hunt, Lucas Calabrese, California Yacht Club, - 1 - 6 - 4 - 5 - 3 ; 19 pts
3. Monsoon USA 851, Bruce Ayres, Chelsea Simms, George Peet, Jeff Reynolds, Mike Buckley, NHYC, - 3 - 5 - 2 - 15 - 2 ; 27 pts 
4. Full Throttle USA 849, Brian Porter, RJ Porter, Matt Woodworth, Andy Burdick, Lake Geneva Yacht Club, - 2 - 3 - 9 - 12 - 5 ; 31 pts  
5. MiKEYa CAN 838, Richard Clarke, Ansel Koen, Rachel Spinelli, Ben Whiting, Hunter Lowden, Anacortes Yacht Club, - 4 - 9 - 1 - 8 - 10 ; 32 pts
 
Top five after Day Three (Corinthian)
1. Good Enough USA 806, Matt MacGregor, Daryl Fitch, Genevieve Livingston, Kati Belden, Keith Hammer, PMYC, - 8 - 4 - 21 - 2 - 8 ; 43 pts
2. ADHD CAN 184, Brad Marchant, Adam Thomson, Alex Smyth, Ben Mumford, WVYC, - 7 - 7 - 7 - 34 - 12 ; 67 pts
3. Hold My Beer CAN 591, Mike Bond, Gord Shannon, Mike Bassett, Sophie Stukas, RVYC, - 10 - 14 - 14 - 38 - 13 ; 89 pts
4. Lekker CAN 371, Malcolm Smith, Gord Galbraith, Tim Stamper, Tom Insley, RVYC, - 20 - 33 - 11 - 19 - 11 ; 94 pts
5. Full Circle CAN 415, Robert Britten, Graham Harney, Jose Grandizo, Liam Welgan-Gunn, Reid Cannon, RVYC, - 11 - 10 - BFD-42 - 14 - 20 ; 97 pts
Photos of Day 3 - Copyright © IM24CA/Zerogradinord 
 
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Twitter @m24worlds2018  #melges24worlds2018 
Website melges24worlds2018.rvyc.bc.ca 
Email melges24worlds2018@gmail.com
 
IM24CA media:
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IM24CA photogalleries in Flickr - search for "Melges Championships" 
IM24CA Twitter - Melges_24
IM24CA Instagram - worldofmelges24 
IM24CA Website  - melges24.com  


 
For further information on the event , please contact:
Terry Stamper
Regatta Chair
Email: terrychristinestamper@yahoo.com

John Abel
IM24CA Championship Coordinator Western Hemisphere / Pacific Rim
Email: johnabel.sailing@gmail.com
 
Piret Salmistu 
IM24CA Administrator & Media Coordinator
Tel.: +372 507 7217
 
Melges 24 Worlds 2018