Melges 24s gearing up in Finland

Fi Brown previews the Europeans in Helsinki

Registration is now completed and the 56 Melges 24 crews are set to commence battle for the 2003 Jacob's Creek Melges 24 European Champion title tomorrow morning. Today the teams took part in two practise races, giving everyone a chance to familiarise themselves with the race area and the competition.

Although the reigning European Champion, Cedric Pouligny, is not here to defend his title several of his championship winning crew are including Jean Francois Cruette (FRA) who has gone on to further success in the class helming "Scuttum". Also here is the very successful "Partner & Partners" team (FRA) which has a new helsman for this event in the shape of Olympic Silver Medallist Morgan Reeser from the USA, who makes a welcome return to the class after a couple of seasons out. Reigning World Ranking Series Champion Jamie Lea (GBR) is also here with Richard Thompson's "Black Seal" team hoping to finally add the European Championship title to their list of wins.

Olympic Silver Medallist Keith Musto has teamed up with Tim Tavinor and Roman Teply, of the new Melges 24 European builder Devoti Sailing, who are racing in their first major Melges event. Other familiar faces include the legendary Alba Batzill (GER) helming for Vittorio Strosek in "Vito", Francesco Bruni (ITA) helming for Preti Adriano of "Ale Ali 3", Luca Santella helming for Giovanni Maspero's "Joe Fly" team, Kristoffer Spone with Nils Hauff aboard "Fruen Maren" and Flavio Favini with Franco Rossini's "Blu Moon".

With ten races over five days ahead the crews are set for some exciting competition and we'll bring you daily news and results.

The IMCA thanks sponsors Jacob's Creek, Scandic Hotels and M3 for their support.

Entries

	Sail no	Boat	Owner	Helmsman
1	SUI 382	Aile	Good Michael
2	ITA-550	Joe Fly	Giovanni Maspero	Luca Santella
3	SWE 172	Jacuzzi	Torsten Bergh
4	GBR 405	THE MUTS NUTS	PAUL LOVEJOY
5	GBR 527	Comfortably Numb	Andrew Dellow & Simon Dobson	Simon Dobson
6	FIN-316	Hydroll	Johan Neovius/Mats Björklund	Johan Neovius
7	ITA 409	Alina	Maurizio Abbà	Luca Valerio
8	FIN-476	Chiquita	Jesse Aarnio	Peter von Koskull
9	FRA 461	EUROVOILES	INFANTE DENIS	BARRUE CHRISTOPHE
10	FIN-529	Marinel Mastervolt	Ari Blom	Kari Heikkilä
11	TBA	Proctor Winning Masts	Quentin Strauss	Mark Rushall
12	SWE508	Sitting Duck	Claes Röjning
13	SWE 454	Big Game	Fredrik Wenehult
14	FIN-289	Marinel PaTu	Antti Niiniranta
15	FRA 459	NAVA ECLIPSE	Gerard VACHET	Jean François CUTUGNO
16	FRA422	Liros Nantes St Nazaire	APCC	Rémy ARNAUD
17	FRA 475	P&P Sailing Team	Philippe Ligot	Philippe Ligot
18	GB233	www.formulacars.co.uk	TIM JONES
19	ITA-438	Altea	Andrea Racchelli
20	ITA 139	ALE ALI 3	Preti Adriano	Bruni Francesco
21	fin227	Blue Peter	Janne Ahonen,vuokralla	Jussi Forsman
22	GER 537	Maski M	Dietrich Scheder-Bieschin
23	NOR-366	Siste Stein	Anders Stenhagen	Lars Horn Johannessen
24	UKR485	Arctur	Sergiy Cherny	Vasyl Gureyev
25	MON429	SOGETI	Cohen	Frickey
26	SWE283	piceng.se	Gunnar Hellerström	Jonas Nyqvist
27	GBR546	HELMUT RISES AGAIN	Nigel Grogan
28	ita 561	devotissimo	franco maria rao	sivio santoni
29	FIN 253	SAMPO	Team Sampo	Perimaa Jaakko
30	ITA 490	SAIL IS FUN	GIORDO GIOVANNI
31	GBR 437	Black Seal	Richard Thompson	Jamie Lea
32	SWE 282	Ryck	Gustaf Öhrn
33	FIN262	Romana	Ari Blom	Joonas Päivärinta
34	FIN 236	SUUNTO	KENNETH THELEN
35	NED 112	Razzle Dazzle	Coco & Carlo Vroon
36	NOR 418	Rett Rundt Hjørnet	Herman Horn Johannessen
37	NOR 249	Fruen Maren	Nils Hauff	Kristoffer Spone
38	325	Haiopei	Jörn Petry
39	FIN 296	White Seal	Olli Ahonen
40	NOR 402	New Deal	Jørgen G Heje
41	GBR 326	3 to 6 Happy Hour	Frits Tackenberg
42	FIN 434	POHJOLA - FONECTA FINDER	Team Pohjola - Fonecta Finder	Tomi Hakola
43	FIN319	Fennia	Juha-Pekka Toivanen
44	FRA 503	VALECRIN	REYNIER Bernard
45	FIN-425	FIN-425	Samuel Thesleff
46	SWE 532	Team SBAB	Johan Lindell	Mikael Olesen
47	ITA421	CITTA' DI CESENA	EGIDIO BABBI
48	FRA 321	SCUTUM	de KERVENOAEL Cédric	Cruette Jean François
49	GBR 359	Mustgo	Keith Musto	As above
50	NOR-506	Lek	Trond Solli-Sæther	Micke Lindqvist
51	GER 507	VITO	VITTORIO STROSEK	ALBA BATZILL
52	FIN-214	Marinel MaxPower	Ari Blom	Esa Harjulahti
53	NOR 279	Marella V	Nils Nordenstrøm
54	SUI 543	BLU MOON	Franco Rossini	Flavio Favini
55	GBR 496	WKD	Joe Woods
56	GBR484	Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	Rob Smith