Three boats share top spot

Fi Brown reports from the Melges 24 Europeans in Helsinki

The opening day of the Jacob's Creek Melges 24 European Championship in Helsinki was an absolute corker. The wind varied from 15 to 20 knots, swinging from SE to SW as the day worn on with a moderate chop and partially sunny conditions. After three races three boats are tied on 16 points for the overall lead, Christophe Barrue, Silvio Santoni and Luca Santella.

The fleet was a little over eager on the first start resulting in an individual recall.

Although a number of boats went back Dietrich Scheder-Bieschin, Keith Musto, Gustaf Ohrn and Claes Rojning failed to return and were scored OCS. At the first mark it was Finland's Antti Niiniranta who lead the fleet ahead of Santoni, Flavio Favini, Barrue, Luca Valerio and Rob Smith. An error down the first run saw Niiniranta drop back to fourth whilst Santoni took the lead from Valerio with Barrue in third, Kenneth Thelen fifth, Favini sixth and Smith seventh.

Up the second beat Santoni, Valerio and Barrue held the top slots whilst Favini pulled up to fourth. Having rounded the first mark in 14th place Morgan Reeser was delighted to have pulled up to fifth place by the final weather mark just in front of Smith and Niiniranta. On the last leg the top five held their slots whilst Ninniranta and Smith slogged it out for sixth with Ninniranta coming out on top.

In the second race it was Andrea Racchelli who showed a clean pair of heels leading by several boat lengths at the windward mark. Behind him Kristoffer Spone led Jean-Francoise Cruette, Peter Von Koskell, Santella, Ninniranta and Thelen. Down the first run Racchelli opened up his lead with Spone remaining in second. Behind him Babbi pulled up to third in front of Santella, Ninniranta, Cruetta and Von Koskull. Racchelli executed a text book cover on the final lap to take race two comfortably from Spone, Babbi, Santella, Ninniranta and Thelen.

In race three it was Barrue who got the bit between his teeth leading from start to finish. Behind him Kari Heikkila held second for the first lap, but dropped back to forth by the finish having been passed by both Santella and Valerio. Santoni took fifth from Favini with Nigel Grogan in seventh. Behind the leaders race three saw some nasty incidents at the first mark with a number of quite serious collisions, several of which resulted in major damage. Among those involved was Cruette who was attempting to complete a 360 turn on the spreader leg when he had a second collision with Babbi causing very serious damage to both boats. Cruette retired from the race whilst Babbi and his crew limped home and as we go to press both crews are hard at work hoping to repair the boats in time for tomorrows race.

Overall Favini trails the joint leaders, Barrue, Santoni and Santella, by just one point with Valerio one point behind him and Spone sixth. After his fifth in the first race Reeser went on to score 8 and 12 leaving him in seventh overall ahead of Racchelli, whilst Jamie Lea scored 8, 18, 8 to finish up ninth ahead of Thelen.

Results

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	Eurovoiles	FRA461	3	12	1	16
2	Devotissimo	ITA561	1	10	5	16
3	Joe Fly	ITA550	10	4	2	16
4	Blu Moon	ITA489	4	7	6	17
5	Alina	ITA409	2	13	3	18
6	Fruen Maren	NOR249	13	2	9	24
7	P&P Sailing Team	FRA475	5	8	12	25
8	Altea	ITA438	12	1	19	32
9	Black Seal	GBR437	8	18	8	34
10	Suunto	FIN236	11	6	18	35
11	Marinel Mastervolt	FIN529	17	17	4	38
12	Scutum	FRA321	15	14	13	42
13	Barbarians	GBR484	7	9	29	45
14	Marinel PaTu	FIN289	6	5	36	47
15	Lek	NOR506	16	21	17	54
16	Helmut Rises	GBR546	27	22	7	56
17	Ale Ali	ITA139	25	16	16	57
18	Seawind	FIN262	20	27	11	58
19	Citta' Di Cesena	ITA421	9	3	DNF	64
20	Vito	GER507	18	23	24	65
21	Marinel MaxPower	FIN214	21	28	20	69
22	Sail is Fun	ITA490	14	41	15	70
23	Liros Nantes St Nazaire	FRA422	19	29	23	71
24	Sogeti	MON429	44	20	10	74
25	Proctor Winning Masts	GBR564	35	26	14	75
26	Transtec	SUI382	26	19	38	83
27	Chiquita	FIN476	23	11	DNF	86
28	Maski M	GER537	OCS	15	21	88
29	Team SBAB	SWE532	22	33	34	89
30	The Muts Nuts	GBR405	28	25	39	92
31	3 to 6 Happy Hour	GBR326	37	37	22	96
32	Comfortably Numb	GBR527	34	36	26	96
33	Hydroll	FIN316	24	32	41	97
34	Sampo	FIN253	29	38	32	99
35	WKD	GBR496	31	35	37	103
36	Siste Stein	NOR366	30	34	40	104
37	Pohjola - Fonecta Finder	FIN434	36	42	27	105
38	Big Game	SWE454	42	43	25	110
39	Sitting Duck	SWE508	OCS	30	28	110
40	Razzle Dazzle	NED112	32	49	30	111
41	Jacuzzi	SWE172	39	40	33	112
42	Mustgo	GBR359	OCS	24	42	118
43	Marella V	NOR279	45	39	35	119
44	piceng.se	SWE283	41	DNF	31	124
45	Nava Eclipse	FRA459	38	45	43	126
46	Ryck	SWE282	OCS	31	47	130
47	FIN425	FIN425	43	44	44	131
48	Blue Peter	FIN227	33	47	DNF	132
49	Fennia	FIN319	40	46	46	132
50	Valecrin	FRA503	47	48	45	140
51	www.formulacars.co.uk	GBR233	46	50	DNF	148