Alina Leads After First Day At SNIM
SNIM, the first event in the 2006 European Ranking Series, got underway yesterday with some challenging racing for the sixty strong Melges 24 fleet which has come together in Marseille from 12 countries across Europe and Scandinavia. After two races Maurizio Abba's Italian crew aboard Alina lead on 13 points, just one point ahead of Switzerland's Franco Rossini aboard Blu Moon, helmed by Chris Rast, and Paul Maxime's Marseille Big Ship Quantum who are lying in joint second. Points ties were the thing of the day with Benjamin Cohen's Sogeti Transiciel from Monaco and Maurizio Cardascio sailing Sherekhan for Italy sharing fourth place on 13 points and Jean Marc Monnard of Poizon Rouge from Switzerland and Philip Ligot's Partner & Partners from La Rochelle tied for sixth on 19 points. Britain fills ninth place with Stuart Simpson's Team Barbarians on 22 points and the top ten is rounded out by Italy's Ezio Amadori and Sweden's Jean Ma Sundsted who share ninth place on 24 points.
"We had a lovely afternoon's racing. The first race start was heavily pin biased but very soon after the start the right got all the pressure and a big starboard lift. Downwind it was death to gybe early as all the pressure was now towards the short. The second race start was even more pin biased and the further left you went the better it got. It became a bit processional later in the race and it was a case of 'For Sale - Right Hand Side Of The Race Course - Never Used'." - commented Justin Chisholm of Team Barbarians after racing.
The quality of the fleet is outstanding and with three more days of intense racing ahead the regatta is wide open. Day one brought hugely mixed fortunes for many of the best teams who will all be hoping to improve their consistency as the weekend wears on and we'll be here to bring you all the latest news.