2019 Melges 24 Norwegian Open Nationals at Askøy Yacht Club on August 30th to September 1st - Preview
August 26, 2019 - Bergen, Norway - The Melges 24 Open Norwegian Championship 2019 will be held on August 30th to September 1st at Askøy Seilforening and organized by Melges Norway. The entry list consisting of 27 boats is packed with talent. It’s a great mix of new and accomplished sailors.
This is the first time the class travels to this yacht club to host its pinnacle event. Locally there is a class that during the year have a Speedcamp and a stage of the Javacup.
Two teams are especially interesting and the is NOR745 U30 team that is a Team Helmed by Olai Hagland. This team has members all under 30 years old and are participating in the project to get more people into sailing, but also specifically into Melges 24. NOR723 MÅS (Fun To Sail) helmed by Emil Kvamme is a same project from a different Club. Great for the future of Melges 24 class and sailing in Norway.
The club has been preparing for the Championship for some time and is now almost ready to receive the sailors. This will be a very compact championship with nay of the sailors being able to stay at the great facilities the Yacht Club provides. They have 9 boathouses available at the dock for sailor to stay in, but also many rooms at the main building of the club. All in arm’s length of the boat at the dock.
Currently the forecast is for light an d variable wind but the PRO Ole Jørgen Michelsen have a great team that have held numerous regatta in the waters only 15 minutes from the harbor.
There is only two foreign teams entered to this championship and this is due to other National championship in the region is very close to each other for 2019. This situation will be dealt with by the NCA for the 2020 season. GBR822 with Richard Thompson at the helm with a great team consisting of Nigel Young, Jamie Lea and Jim Schwerdt is sure to be close to the front of this fleet. The other foregin team is the GER499 with Tim Köppe at the helm. They are regulars at the international scene and come with a goal to sail as fast as possible.
Looking at the Norwegian entries boats like NOR787 Blow with Peder Nergaard, NOR732 RRH with Herman Horn Johannesen, NOR697 Kristoffer Spone, NOR751 Peder Jahre are likely to fight for spots on the podium. There is a group of boat that will challenge them that will consist of NOR628 Nortek with Jon Aksel Mortensen, local sailor on NOR808 Party Girl Jens Altern Wathne, NOR 706 Kaboom with Gisle Bø, NOR585 Spica with Inge salvesen and NOR307 Big Time with Dag Rune Wiksten.
Registration will start on Thursday and the racing starts on Friday and ends Sunday afternoon.
Click HERE for entry list
We will update media during the championships with photos, videos and interviews. Stay tuned!