Light conditions prevail

A report from day three of the Melges 24's SNIM regatta in Marseille

The third day of racing at the SNIM took place under the still shining sun of the Provence capital with one surprise - the Mistral left! Instead the Melges sailors had to cope with a 230deg wind, which rose from very light (about 5 knots) in the first race to about 6-7 knots in the second and a good 12 knots in the third. The conditions made it a very tactical day, full of surprises.

In the first race Blue Moon and Joe Fly had a very tight match, which Blue Moon seemed to control but Joe Fly finally won. There were some surprises in this race, where the wind arrived from the left side, whereas some top contenders like Gill were on the right.

The second race was won by Roberto Marmnez on Fire Bolt, ahead of Joe Fly and Transtec. This came as a surprise as it is the first season for the Fire Bolt crew in the Melges, although a look at the crew perhaps explains why - the helmsman, Roberto, is the 2003 Mumm 30 world champion and a former mainsail trimmer aboard America's Cup challenge Il Moro di Venezia, while tactician Flavio Grassi was aboard Mascalzone Latino in the last America's Cup.

Big Ship, with Maxime Paul, had an excellent start with good speed and then made the right decisions to preserve his lead throughout the whole of the third race. Just behind him Partners & Partners and Blu Moon were fighting hard: Flavio getting the advantage over Sebastien Col. Chasing them was the very young and sympathetic crew of Minnie the Mooncher.

Let's keep in mind today scientific discovery on board Big Ship: "Actually we are happy, because today we have found back our speed. And do you know what? Speed makes you clever… (La vitesse rend intelligent…)."

Food for thought, guys.

Full results follow...