The Yacht Club of France, in association with the French Sailing Federation (FFV) and the Melges 24 Class, are pleased to announce the revival of the COUPE DE FRANCE. The Cup was raced for the first time in Brest in 1891 and for the last time last time in Bnodet in 1992.
Last weekend's Norwegian Open, run by the Fredriksstad Seilforening attracted a great entry of 28 boats and saw some really close racing with just nine points separating the top five boats.
After five consecutive trys (crewed three times, and driven twice) Harry Melges at the helm for Jeff Ecklund captured the top spot today overall to become the 2002 Melges 24 World Champion in Travemunde, Germany.
As the teams gear up for another day of racing, we have what seems to be another day of good weather - moderate winds and sunshine. After such intense racing yesterday, the excitment is fever pitch and the Melges 24 teams are ready to go at it again.
With moderate winds and a heavy sea, competitors of the Melges 24 World Championship set out to complete races seven and eight. Even with the sun in full view and warm temperature, crews still needed their foul weather gear to take on the spray and large waves.
The fifth race of the Melges 24 World Championship gave way for lots of competitive sailing. With changes in the top five positions throughout the race, the action was intense. Jamie Lea (GBR 437 - Black Seal) got off to a great start on the right.
The boats are ashore and we have some provisional results but amongst those black flaged today was Harry Melges in race four. Harry is protesting the black flag on the grounds of misidentification and the outcome of that protest will have a huge effect on the overall results.
Day two of racing at the Melges 24 World Championships in Travemunde, Germany proved to be exciting, full of competition and controversy. Winds were around 8-10 initially and quite shifty. This combined with three general recalls resulted in the postponement of racing for two hours.
