Official Melges 24 Blog

The www.zerogradinor.it video crew were also at the Volvo Cup in Alassio recording all the action.  The conditions were incredible and their footage makes excellent watching so go check it out now at www.zerogradinord.net/volvo-cup/volvo-cup-i-video.

(c) Pierrick Contin - Pilot Italia Powers To Victory - Volvo Cup Alassio - 2009

The final day of racing at the opening 2009 Italian Volvo Cup event in Alassio provided an exciting final showdown to an event that brought us classic Melges 24 racing from start to finish.  For the final day the wind swung round from the North into the South and with higher temperatures and winds of 10-18 knots it was another glorious day to be afloat.  The race committee, who did an excellent job all weekend, laid on three final races to bring the series up to eight races total and for the leading boats it was to be a hard day at the office as they battled for the top spots.

Overnight leader Alberto Bolzan with Gianni Catalogna’s Pilot Italia crew put in a bravura permformance throughout the final day and their 6, 3, 2 scoreline gave them overall victory by a confotable 13 point margin.  The battle for second place however, went right down to the wire with Nicola Celon and Cirillo Lanfranco’s Fantastica team eventually beating Flavio Favini and Franco Rossini’s Blu Moon on count back alone.  Luca Valerio with Maurizio Abba’s Alina team took fourth, just four points behind Celon and Rossini while France’s Maxim Paul slotted into fifth.

With 52 crews from 9 nations across Europe and Scandinavia competing this was an outstanding opener to the European season.  The next major event on the European circuit is SNIM in Marseille, France over the Easter Weekend 10-13 April, which is also the first event in the 2009 European Ranking Series.  The Volvo Cup series will continue in Punta Ala on April 24-26.

OVERALL PROVISION FINAL RESULTS

 
 RDG-risultati sono come segue:

(c) Pierrick Contin - 2009 Volvo Cup - Alassio - Day 2

Official Volvo Cup photographer Pierrick Contin has sent us another great batch of images from day two of the Volvo Cup in Alassio.  Check out our GALLERY for Pierrick’s latest shots and find out more about Pierrick from his web site at WWW.PIERRICKCONTIN.FR.

(c) Pierrick Contin - 2009 Volvo Cup - Alassio - Day 2

“Fantastic weather, blue skies, blue water, great wind, thrills, spills and amazing racing.” is how IMCA Secretary/Treasurer Tomi Hakola from Finland summed up today’s second day of racing at the Italian Volvo Cup event in Alassio.  The blue skies brought warm sun, bringing temperatures up into double figures at around 10 degrees C, a welcome respite for the 52 competing crews from 9 nations after yesterday’s near freezing conditions.  The wind was still in the North/North East at around 20-25 knots with lots of shifts, gusts and some choppy seas making for an extremely challenging day of racing and plenty of snakes and ladders both on the water and on the leaderboard.

Despite the often tricky conditions the race management team did a fantastic job to complete three more excellent races and with five races total now completed the discard has come into play.  Overnight leader Riccardo Simoneschi was amongst those who struggled to get on top of today’s tricky conditions and his 8, 8, 24 score line sees him dropping down into third place.  Without doubt the most consistent team of the day was that of Alberto Bolzan with a 3, 4 2 score.  Discarding their 11^th place of yesterday afternoon and adding in their 2^nd from the first race they now count 11 points total and lead the regatta by just one point from former Melges 24 World Champion Nicola Celon who remains in second overall despite an 18^th place in race three.  Lying in fourth behind Simoneschi is Luca Bursic who moves up from tenth and sitting on equal points with fifth placed Flavio Favini helming for Franco Rossini who won the first race of the day but then seemed to loose traction with 10 and 9 in races four and five. 

Going into the final day the standings remain incredibly close and with more good weather anticipated tomorrow we are expecting a thrilling climax to this first 2009 Volvo Cup event. 

Full Provisional Results After Five Races

(c) Pierrick Contin - Volvo Cup Alassio

Official Volvo Cup photographer Pierrick Contin was hard at work on day one of the opening 2009 Volvo Cup event in Alassio and brings us an amazing GALLERY of images.  Although rather chilly sailing conditions were near perfect as Pierrick’s amazing images show.  To find out more about Pierrick visit his web site WWW.PIERRICKCONTIN.FR

The 2009 Italian Volvo Cup Series got under way in great style today in Alassio as 47 Melges 24s came to the line for a great day of racing in a shifty 15-30 knots of wind from the North/North East.  The day got off to a chilly start with snow as the competitors left the dock and air temperatures down to around 5 degrees C but the snow cleared as racing started and the race committed was able to complete two races in classic Melges 24 sailing conditions.

Riccardo Simmoneschi was the man of the day with fellow Italian and former Melges 24 World Champion Nicola Celon hard on his heels just one point beind after two races.  France’s Denis Infant with helm Christophe Barrue is lying third with Switzerland’s Franco Rossini and helm Flavio Favini in fourth.   Tomorrow 2-3 races are scheduled with the first start planned for noon. 

Commenting after sailing Riccardo Simmoneschi said – “today we had a very windy day in Alassio for the first stop of the Volvo Cup.  Super great sailing – the Melges 24 is too much fun!”

Provisional Top Ten After Day 1

1.  ITA783 – Riccardo Simmoneschi – 3 points
2. ITA765 – Nicola Celon – 4 points
3. FRA639 – Christophe Barrue/Denis Infant – 8 points
4. SUI782 – Flavio Favini/Franco Rossini – 10 points
5. ITA727 – Volzen – 13 points
6. FRA389 – Maxim Paul – 14 points
7. ITA722 – Luca Valerio – 16 points
8. SUI599 – Jean Paul Monnard – 19 points
9. FRA470 – Dreano – 21 points
10. ITA730 – Bursic – 22 points

The organisers of the 2010 Melges 24 North American Yacht Club, to be hosted by Rochester Yacht Club, New York State, USA, from 17 to 25 September 2010, have now launched the EVENT WEB SITE and have posted the draft event schedule. Further information about the event will be added to the site in due course.

With the Volvo Cup 2009 series getting underway later this week in Alassio we caught up with Italian Class Secretary Luca Babini for an update on attendance numbers and an exciting new information support system that will be trialed at the event:-

“We expect about 55 boats on the starting line. Even in this terrible economic period, the Melges24 fever is strong Italy and we are looking forward to kicking off the 2009 Volvo Cup in excellent style.

“At this first event in Alassio I’ll introduce a new support system for our competitors which will be a first for the Melges 24 fleet and is indeed a cutting edge development for the sailing world. We have arranged a Virtual Notice Board and Alassio will be the test. The skippers will receive SMS messages informing them about posted amendments, protest time limit, hearing timing, boats involved in the hearings etc.

“The SMS messages will not replace the official notice board procedure but will help competitors who will not be able to check or will forget to do that. I do think that the sensation of protection and service will be appreciated. I will review the success of the system at Alassio an in case of positive response I’ll use it in all the future Volvo circuit events.” – Luca Babini

Our thanks to Luca for his update on this interesting new system. Here at the IMCA we will be watching his trials with great interest and if the system proves successful may also look to introduce it at our World and Continental Championships.

For further information about the 2009 Volvo Cup circuit please visit  WWW.MELGES24.IT