Melleby leads day two

After flurry of protests against the race committee at the Melges 24 Worlds in Marstrand, Sweden

Former Laser champion Eivind Melleby of Norway dominated day two of the Melges 24 World Championship in Marstrand taking two convincing wins as the rest of the fleet struggled for consistency in light and shifty conditions. Back ashore the Jury worked overtime to handle the flood of redress requests resulting for poor start management on day one.

After reopening a case regarding redress in race one having gathered further evidence the jury were duty bound to award redress to the seven boats scored OCS in the first race. The requests for redress were in response to the extremely late signals by the race committee. The jury were governed by the ISAF case-book in their decision. For race two the jury had to deal with a more complicated situation involving both display of the wrong flag and late signals and after considerable research and deliberation decided that the most equitable decision was to award average points or their best score to the entire fleet.

Racing on day two got underway in around 6 knots from 290 degrees with flat water and glorious sunshine. The fleet was off at the first attempt with just a couple of individual recalls. The right was definitely the preferred option and at the weather mark Sebastien Col, helming for Phillip Ligot, lead Eivind Melleby, Luca Santella, Terje Kjaer, Cedric Pouligny and Kenneth Thelen. Col and Melleby traded gybes the entire way down the run with Col just holding his lead as they split at the leeward mark.

Col's decision to take the left was his undoing and when the boats came together at the weather mark Melleby led by a boat length. Meanwhile Thelen had pulled right up to third ahead of Santella, Mathias Dahlman, Kjaer and Rob Smith. On the final run the breeze started to clock right with the last short beat turning into a starboard fetch. Melleby held off Col to the finish while Santella clawed back Thelen for third and Smith pulled through to fifth from Kjaer.

By the start of race two the wind was up to 8-10 knots and had gone round to 330. The first attempt to start was recalled and the black flag came into play for the second, as a result of which several boats including Keith Musto were sent home for the early bath.

Eivind Melleby obviously had the bit between his teeth and after a cracking start led the fleet from start to finish despite the best efforts of Flavio Favini, helming for Franco Rossini, who pushed Melleby every inch of the way. Behind the leading pair things were equally tight with Maurizio Abba defending third place right through until the final lap when a momentary loss of concentration cost him two places. Santella was the first to pass him to finish third whilst Shark Kahn showed his true colours for the first time in the regatta by moving up from tenth at the first mark to fourth at the finish.

After racing Eivind Melleby commented "Yesterday was a frustrating day with all the protests but now we are back on track. We had the speed, we got off the start line clean and then just stayed ahead of the competition - nice and easy!"

Results:

Pos	Helm	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1st	Eivind Melleby	NOR	7	18	1	1	27
2nd	Flavio Favini	SUI	8	1	16	2	27
3rd	Stuart Simpson	GBR	22	2	5	16	45
4th	Kristoffer Spone	NOR	2	28	20	6	56
5th	Dietrich Scheder	GER	15	4	39	7	65
6th	Albert Batzill	GER	5	6	29	26	66
7th	Petri Karto	FIN	16	11	35	8	70
8th	Terje Kjaer	NOR	17	12	6	43	78
9th	Samuel Kahn	USA	47	20	10	4	81
10th	Kristian Nergaard	NOR	13	16	36	17	82
11th	Herman Horn-Johannessen	NOR	12	32	11	32	87
12th	Paul Lovejoy	GBR	3	37	21	27	88
13th	Luca Santella	ITA	37	47	3	3	90
14th	Cedric de Kervenael	FRA	40	10	19	23	92
15th	Philippe Ligot	FRA	1	OCS	2	14	101
16th	Vincent Sauleau	FRA	31	23	17	30	101
17th	Tim Fay	USA	18	26	26	34	104
18th	Andrea Racchelli	ITA	21	9	47	31	108
19th	Quentin Strauss	GBR	OCS	7	12	11	114
20th	Nicola Celon	ITA	6	5	22	BFD	117
21st	Jean Paul Douchy	FRA	41	3	67	12	123
22nd	Francois Le Bourdais	FRA	19	21	43	40	123
23rd	Bruno Jourdren	FRA	14	OCS	8	22	128
24th	Keith Musto	GBR	4	24	18	BFD	130
25th	Geir Dahl Andersen	NOR	26	8	44	55	133
26th	Erik Arthur	NOR	36	15	74	9	134
27th	Dennis Infanti	FRA	9	67	34	28	138
28th	Luca Stefanini	ITA	54	40	27	19	140
29th	Rémy Arnaud	FRA	38	13	50	42	143
30th	Jens A. Wathne	NOR	58	31	37	18	144
31st	Sami Ekblad	FIN	23	17	52	53	145
32nd	Risto Ajanko	FIN	43	29	49	24	145
33rd	Peter von Koskull	FIN	11	DNF	31	21	147
34th	Maurizio Abbà	ITA	52	OCS	7	5	148
35th	Jerome Aubert	FRA	30	19	55	45	149
36th	Sam Öhman	FIN	44	14	25	71	154
37th	Jossier Nikolas	FRA	32	43	14	65	154
38th	Jonas Nyqvist	SWE	56	39	24	39	158
39th	Gianni Giordo	ITA	10	34	32	BFD	160
40th	Ingemar Sundstedt	SWE	42	27	46	49	164
41st	Bjorn Mörland Pedersen	NOR	OCS	33	15	37	169
42nd	Mathias Dahlman	FIN	51	38	9	72	170
43rd	Samuel Thesleff	FIN	39	56	30	52	177
44th	Philippe Kahn	SWE	25	30	54	70	179
45th	Jakob Gustafsson	SWE	59	41	62	20	182
46th	Michael Good	SUI	33	48	69	33	183
47th	Jakob Nordenström	NOR	50	46	73	15	184
48th	Simon Henning	GBR	66	36	72	13	187
49th	Carolina Toll	NOR	24	49	64	51	188
50th	Ronan Treussart	FRA	20	OCS	58	29	191