2020 Melges 24 European Sailing Series: Nefeli Takes its First Victory of the Series in Portoroz

September 13, 2020 - Portoroz, Slovenia - After nine races sailed, the maximum what was scheduled, Peter Karrie’s Nefeli GER 673 took well-earned victory at the Marina Portoroz Regatta in Slovenia, third event of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series. White Room GER677 of Michael Tarabochia with Luis Tarabochia at the helm was victorious in Corinthian division, completing the overall podium as third.

Three days of champagne sailing, mostly in light conditions with some 7 up to 14 knots of NE, near Portoroz with beautiful Piran old town on the background, and already well-known local hospitality ashore made this past weekend very enjoyable for fourteen Melges 24 teams from Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Slovenia. The Race Committee led by David Bartol, the Championship Coordinator of IM24CA managed to deliver nine races to the sailors’ liking and was happy to see a new winner in the class showing, that the Melges 24 is still very competitive and attracts more sailors to jump to that magnificent boat and class.

Peter Karrie’s team Nefeli GER673 collected three bullets in addition to four second and one third result during three racing days. Taking early lead on day one and defending its lead ahead of Sergio Caramel’s Arkanoe by Montura ITA809 on day two, the team with German-Italian crew managed to keep its position and grab their first victory in the Melges 24 European Sailing Series with 14 points. 

“Consistency was the key to our success here in Portoroz,” said Peter Karrie after the prize giving ceremony. 

“Before we decided not to sail the last race, our discard was third result. Our team has been developing a lot lately and a huge improvement for us was participation at the Bacardi Winter Series regattas in Miami involving the coach and all necessary infrastructure for better sailing. It’s been paying off and we hope that this is a good foundation for the future events. Having here in Portoroz a different crew was because of the Covid-19 travel restrictions and schedules of our guys forcing us to change some crew members. Obviously, we were really happy to have Carlo Zermini substituting one of our crew, but this replacement is not part of our crew change – we are really happy with our crew.” 

For Nefeli team of Peter with Niccolo Bianchi, Carlo Zermini, Alessandro Franci and Saverio Cigliano it was a really nice event in Portoroz. “We liked how the Race Committee worked delivering fast preparations, fast starts and restarts so that we could manage really fair and good races in light conditions, like we expected. But sailing in front of a beautiful Piran is really special and we liked it a lot!”

The second place on the podium went to Sergio Caramel’s Arkanoe by Montura ITA809 with four-point margin behind the winner, however, Sergio’s team with Karlo Hmeljak, Michele Meotto, Federico Gomiero and Margherita Zanuso managed to collect two bullets and a nice series of results, apart one 4th result all in top three. 

Another German team, the current leader of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series, Michael Tarabochia’s White Room GER677 with Luis Tarabochia at the helm had a tough battle for the third podium place with Miles Quinton’s Gill Race Team GBR694 with Geoff Carveth at the helm, who was holding that position before the final day with nine-points margin ahead of White Room. But White Room improved their speed and maneuvers, they had little problems with on Saturday, and added one bullet to the one from second day and fourth place to jump ahead of Gill Race Team with one-point margin to complete the overall podium.

“We liked a lot a weekend with champagne sailing here in Portoroz,” said Luis Tarabochia, helmsman of White Room. 

“We had a good start on Friday (7-2-4-5) and improved on Saturday (1-7-8), however had little problems with our maneuvers and didn’t perform very well making us a bit frustrated with 4^th place. Nine-points gap didn’t make us very hopeful to catch the podium, but we had good speed today and great battle with Gill Race Team and final result as third on the podium and the best Corinthian team makes us very happy and content. Our team with my father Michael, brother Marco and our tactician Sebastien Bühler is well working system and in addition we have now Marvin Frisch, well experienced sailor from German Sailing League, who has adapted well to our team. We are excited about the final event in Trieste and looking very much forward to it!”

Corinthian podium was completed by the local Slovenian team of Jure Jerkovic Atena SLO726 being 6^th in overall, right after another fellow countryman, class newcomer Dejan Presen and his team on Aria SLO753, finishing his first regatta on Melges 24 fifth.

See the results

Photogallery by © Zerogradinord

Videos & Interviews

Event website https://www.melges24.ycmp.eu/ 

Official Notice Board https://www.racingrulesofsailing.org/documents/1336/event 

Now Melges 24 fleet will head to neighbouring Trieste in Italy, but even with greater excitement, because one week after the final event of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series and Italian Melges24Tour Act3, taking place on October 2-4, the teams can stay until the following weekend there and take part very special and unique stadium racing at the Barcolana One Design and Night Regattas as a Special Guest Class on October 10, while on Sunday October 11 there is a real 52nd Barcolana which in its record year in 2019 attracted 2,689 boats and over 16,000 sailors to the starting line. Conceived in 1969 by a group of sailing enthusiasts, the Barcolana has grown into an internationally renowned sailing festival and in 2019 it was named by the Guinness World Records as the “Largest Sailing Race in the World”. 

The websites to find more information
https://www.barcolana.it/melges24
Melges 24 Italian Class | International Melges 24 Class Association

Besides that, countdown will start now to the 2021 Melges 24 European Championship to be held in Portoroz, Slovenia on September 4-11. International Melges 24 Class Association is once again grateful to the hosting Yacht Club Marina Portoroz and Marina Portoroz for their great organization and wonderful hospitality and is looking forward to be back in Portoroz.

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2020 Melges 24 European Sailing Series:

1. August 7-9 – Torbole on Lake Garda, Italy
2. August 28-29 – Kammersee on Attersee, Austria
3. September 11-13 – Portoroz, Slovenia
4. October 2-4 – Trieste, Italy

More information about the history of the series you’ll find at the website www.melges24.com/europeansailingseries

For further information on the event or class specific information about the Melges 24 please contact:

Branko Parunov
Event Manager 
YC Marina Portoroz
Phone: +386 51 301053
Mail: branko@skipper.si

Piret Salmistu 
International Melges 24 Class Association 
Administrator & Media Coordinator 
Mobile/WhatsApp: +372 507 7217
Mail: piret@melges24.com