Ocean BMW Melges 24 Europeans

Fiona Brown looks ahead to next week's championship

The Ocean BMW Melges 24 European Championship gets underway in Torquay, England this weekend with 52 teams from 11 nations competing. Heading up the list of favourites are Giovanni Maspero's reigning European Championship crew aboard Joe Fly, helmed for this event by Gabrio Zandona.

Even before the regatta begins the Italian Joe Fly team brought drama to the event when their boat and its tow vehicle were run over and written off on the way to Torquay by a sleeping truck driver. Fortunately boat captain Federico Michetti, who was changing a flat tyre on the hard shoulder at the time, escaped without injury and the team has subsequent been able to secure use of another boat with which to defend their title.

Among those determined to unseat Joe Fly from the top step of the podium is reigning World Champion Sebastian Col and the Partner & Partners team. Col, who is taking time out from his America's Cup commitments with K-Challenge to compete, will fly into Torquay direct from the ISAF Match Racing Championship in Spain. Others equally keen to get their hands on the European trophy include Britain's Stuart Rix, helming for Quentin Strauss's Team Gill (reigning UK National Champion), Remy Arnaud of France aboard Dyneema/Liros (reigning French National Champion), Germany's legendary Alba Batzill (fresh from his recent victory at the 6m Worlds) and local Torquay star John Pollard aboard Xcellent.

In the Corinthian Division, open to fully amateur crews, Kenneth Thelen of Finland and his crew aboard Suunto will be hoping to add a second Corinthian European title to their trophy cabinet which also incudes three Corinthian World titles and an amazing ten overall National Championship titles.

The Royal Torbay Yacht Club is the home of the UK Melges 24 fleet and also hosted the first ever Melges 24 World Championship back in 1998. Racing for the Ocean BMW Melges 24 European Championship 2005 gets underway on Monday 19th September and concludes on Friday 23rd September with 12 races scheduled. The event is sponsored by Title Sponsor Ocean BMW, Gold Sponsor WKD Original Vodka Blue, and Silver Sponsors Devoti Sailing, North Sails UK Ltd, Westaway Sails and Musto Ltd.

Boat	Helm		Owner
Edelweiß	Michael Schineis	AUT 531	Michael Schineis
SUUNTO	Kenneth Thelen	FIN-476	Henrik Thelen
AU PLANNING	AUBERT Jérôme	FRA 173	AUBERT Jérômes
Côtes d'Armor	BIARNES Vincent	FRA 193	CDVH
Côtes d'Armor	ALBARET Antoine	FRA 261	CDVH
Dunkerque Plaisance	JEU Antoine	FRA 272	JEU Antoine
Dottore Jigolo	Lambert	FRA 358	Douchy-Marcadet
Merck Générique	Sparfel Jean-Marc	FRA 383	Sparfel Jean-Marc
Douarn-Maisons de l'Avenir	SAULEAU Vincent	FRA 387	SAULEAU Vincent
DYNEEMA/LIROS	ARNAUD REMY	FRA 422	ARNAUD REMY
ZIG ZAG 15	Henri samuel	FRA 423	Henri Samuel
EURO-VOILES	BARRUE Christophe	FRA 461	INFANTE Denis
Cotes dArmor Sail de mer	ROUXEL Thomas	FRA 470	CDVH
Mu	Emmanuel Nebout	FRA 471	Emmanuel Nebout
Gibe Set	Anne Gellez	FRA 473	Anne Gellez
Partner & Partners	Sébastien Col	FRA 571	Philippe Ligot
Ali 2	Anne Ashworth	GBR 269	Anne Ashworth
Easy Tiger	Tim Collins	GBR 334	Tim Collins
White Rabbit	Simon Henning	GBR 340	Simon Henning
Team Turn Turtle	Allen Brown	GBR 368	Allen Brown
Henri Lloyd	Tony Jaffa	GBR 377	Tony Jaffa
ENVY	Dean Argent	GBR 403	Martin Miller
Team Barbarians	Jamie Lea	GBR 406	Stuart Simpson
Team Gill		GBR 431	Quentin Strauss
Wolf Cub	Glynn Williams	GBR 432	Glynn Williams
Wild Thing	David Franks	GBR 435	David Franks
OVL	Martin Wedge	GBR 452	Martin Wedge
Ramshackle	Dave Farrimond	GBR 453	Steve Williams
Team Panasonic	Adrian Peach	GBR 477	Adrian Peach
Formula Cars	Tim Jones	GBR 478	Tim and Steven Jones
Comfortably Numb	Andrew Dellow	GBR 527	Andrew Dellow
Hooligan	Norman Broom	GBR 535	Norman Broom
March Hare	Mike Henning	GBR 535	Simon Henning
Helmut Rises Again	Nigel Grogan	GBR 546	Nigel Grogan
Team Badger	Paul Lovejoy	GBR 580	Paul Lovejoy
Xcellent	John Pollard	GBR 585	John Pollard
Team WKD	Joe Woods	GBR 611	Joe Woods
No Woman No Cry	Alba Batzill	GER 582	Eddy Eich
Pioneer	Andrea Fornaro	ITA 297	Igino Angelini
Altea	Andrea Racchelli	ITA 438	Andrea Racchelli
Joe Fly	Gabrio Zandonà	ITA 550	Giovanni Maspero
SOGETI	Frickey Antoine	MON 601	Benjamin Cohen
Marella V	Niuls Nordenstroem	NOR 279	Nils Nordenstroem
Dolly	Erik Arthur	NOR 341	Per Andresen
Party Girl	Jens A. Wathne	NOR 349	Jens A. Wathne
Boorinslä	August Schram	SUI 270	August Schram
ZEROTWO / e-brokerline.com	Good Michael	SUI 382	Good Michael
Music 55	Ruedi Huber	SUI 578	Ruedi Huber
PoiZon Rouge	MONNARD Jean-Marc	SUI 599	MONNARD Jean-Marc
TEAM SBAB	INGEMAR SUNDSTEDT	SWE 532	INGEMAR SUNDSTEDT
Arctur	Vasyl Gureyev	UKR 485	TK Credit