Jean-Marc Monnard Wins First Open Swiss Championship

From The Swiss Class Association - Jean-Marc Monnard and Crew on SUI 599 "Poizon Rouge" are the winners of the "1st Melges24 Swiss Open" sailed in Kreuzlingen. Bright sunshine, 25 - 30 degrees, 7 races, light to medium breeze and 14 boats - this could be the short description for this fantastic event organized by SVK and sponsored by "ZeroTwo - e.brokerline".

Due to the date very close to the Worlds 2008 the organizers and the Swiss Class were happy to have 14 boats at the starting line representing 5 (!) different nations (SUI, GER, HUN, ITA, IRL).

On Friday 3 races were sailed in 10-15 knots breeze from the West and each race took 80 minutes, so the crews were happy when they were back in the harbour. The event sponsor "Zero Two e.brokerline" paid for meal and drinks and later "public viewing" of the football match was offered and many crews stayed until midnight (some crews even longer!!).

On Saturday 4 races could be sailed to complete the series, the fleet left the harbour around 10:00 o'clock and returend around 18:00 - a long day with tough racing in light to medium breeze, sometimes with tricky windshifts close to the shoreline.

For the evening we met again for drinks and meals - again many thanks to the sponsors. Price giving was held in the halftime of the football-match Russia/Netherlands and Jean Marc Monnard from Lake Geneva sailing SUI 599 "Poizon Rouge" could win the 1st Swiss Open Melges24.

On Sunday morning the crews met to crane out the boats and to leave for their trips home.

Many thanks to Peter Fritschi (crew on 3rd placed "SUI 705" Sonnenkönig) who organized this event for the Swiss Class.

We now already look for next years location, several options are discussed - details on this will follow soon.

The results:

1. SUI 599 "Poizon Rouge" - Jean Marc Monnard, 11 pts.
2. HUN 728 "Proximo" - Arpad Litkey, 18 p.
3. SUI 705 "Sonnenkönig I"- Nico Delle Karth, 20 p.
4. GER 640 "Ka Nalu Nui" - Günter Tzeschlock, 25 p.
5. SUI 382 "Zero Two" - Michael Good, 26 p.
6. IRL 607 "Embarr" - Conor Clarke, 30 p.
7. ITA 609 "Melnose" - Pablo Soldano, 40 p.
8. SUI 684 "Sonnenkönig II" - Ignaz Stäheli, 44 p.
9. SUI 267 "Mad Cow" - Thierry Verhulst, 50 p.
10. GER 327 "Sayonara Light" - Sascha Jäger, 53 p.
11. GER 672 "Pearl" - Peter Göckel, 57 p.
12. GER 263 "No Limits" - Konrad Kühner, 58 p.
13. SUI 461 "Wet Dream" - Rob van Sloten, 70 p.
14. GER 474 "Speedy" - Michael Bek, 75 p.
15. GER 507 "Fefra" - Manfred Hänle, DNS