Melges 24: Sea breeze enhances the duel between Altea and War Canoe

September 10, 2021 - Portoroz, Slovenia - During the third day of the Melges 24 European Championship, underway in Portoroz thanks to the organization of the Yacht Club Marina Portoroz supported by Marina Portoroz, the sea breeze replaces the gradient wind but the balance of power does not change, rather they consolidate, revealing a two-way fight between leader of the first hour Andrea Racchelli's Altea (on Day 3 8-3) and War Canoe (1-2) owned by Michael Goldfarb, winner of three of the last five races. With still four races to sail, the two top crews are separated by eight points, closely followed by Estonian' Lenny of Tõnu Tõniste, solid leader of the really competitive Corinthian division and overall winner of the final race of the day.

The provisional podium now has an important margin on the fourth strength of the standings: Gill Race Team of Miles Quinton with James Peters at the helm, actually is 13 points behind the provisional bronze, who will try to attack, however paying attention to the comeback of Marco Zammarchi's Taki 4 with Niccolo Bertola helming, reigning Corinthian World and European Champion, currently fifth overall and second best Cointhian team.

Third among the Corinthians is Marco Cavallini's Jeko Team, able to be for three times out of eight races among the top finishers.

Racing in Portoroz will resume today afternoon at the front of weather conditions similar to the yesterday ones.

Comments from sailors:

Tõnu Tõniste, Lenny EST790: "A bold start and a right choice of side in the first upwind leg helped us win. The experience of sailing in Portoroz in previous years also helped."

Marco Cavallini, Jeko Team ITA638: "First of all, we are having such a great time since now. We appreciate so much the direction of the Race Committee, all the staff, including the Jury and a nice place. Our goal is to achieve the high placement of the Corinthian ranking, moreover the top ten in the overall.

We are aware of that we cannot do mistakes to achieve our target. The level of the fleet, specially in the top twenty, is amazing. We normally do a few events during the year and this is exactly what we're looking for. We've been sailing with the same crew (my brother Paolo as tailer, Fabrizio Milan as tactician) since many years. Our secret is the teamwork and a passion for sailing, what we practised at the high level in Optimist, 420 and 470, when we were younger than18 years old.
We hope to keep on pushing in this favourable conditions."

Top 10 after 8 races sailed:

1. Altea Ita722 Andrea Racchelli 31p
2. War Canoe USA841 Michael Goldfarb 37p
3. Lenny EST790 (C) Tõnu Tõniste 43p
4. Gill Race Team GBR694 Miles Quinton 56p
5. Taki 4 ITA778 (C) Niccolo Bertola 61p
6. Melgina ITA793 Paolo Brescia 65p
7. Arkanoe by Montura ITA809 Sergio Caramel 66p
8. Jeko Team ITA638 (C) Marco Cavallini 69p
9. Strambapapa ITA689 Michele Paoletti 70p
10. Black Seal GBR822 Richard Thompson 77p