Record Breaking Finnish Ranking 2 in Helsinki

From Tomi Hakola of the Finnish Class - What a historical weekend for the Finnish Melges 24 Fleet! This second Finnish Melges 24 ranking event was held on the 26th and 27th of May in Helsinki. We had 15 boats on the starting line which is our all time high in a ordinary Finnish ranking event. Many thanks especially to Morten Astrup / SUI 697 and Claes Röjning / SWE 508. Of course not forgetting Peter Saraskin / EST 645 and all the Finnish teams.

At the same time competing on the same race area were classes like: X-99,X-35,Star,Albin Express,Dragon,Folkboat etc. Many interesting situations at the marks:-)

Two races scheduled were sailed on day 1. The weather was... Variable wind from 2 to 5 m/s, lots rain and cold! The first race was ok but the second was interesting. Most the upwind legs were sailed with a kite and downwind legs with a main and jib tightly sheeted in. After day 1 the entire fleet was close to each other making day 2 interesting. Race winners were Zuxu (EST 645) in the first race and Magic Marine (FIN 425) in the second race.

The morning of day 2 started with a heavy fog, postponing the first start by 30 minutes, then the sky cleared an we had nice sailing in sunny and more stable conditions than on Saturday. The conditions were still light but we had some 5-6 m/s of wind from east towards the end. The two scheduled races was sailed in a reasonable time despite the postponement in the morning and another postponement due to a major wind shift between race 1 and 2 of the day. Race winners today were Team Uusikaupunki (FIN316) in the third race and Zuxu (EST 645) in the fourth race. Two wins secured the regatta victory to Zuxu (EST 645), Landrover (FIN 529) in second and Team Uusikaupunki (FIN 316) in third. Full results www.melges24.fi

The fleet will now have some 3 weeks with time for training before gathering in Pärnu, Estonia for the Estonian championships, also part of the Finnish and European ranking series.