SUN & WIND ARE BACK IN THE VOLVO CUP

From The Italian Class - This time the weather was on our side, and the first regatta of the Volvo Cup 2005 enjoyed three gorgeous days, on the weekend between March 11th and 13th in Alassio. Thirty Melges 24s, ten Beneteau 25 and ten H22 boats on the starting line on friday. Medium to strong wind, between 17 and 21 knots in the first race, with the waves increasing during the day. Gabriele Benussi, helmsman on Banca BSI, wins, followed by Nicola Celon - AleAli and Magni - Conte of Florence.

In the second race the gusts are well over 25 knots, in some moments even nebulizing the water at the windward mark close to Capo Mele. One of these gusts broke the masts of Golf Club Paradiso, halmed by Sandro Montefusco, and Conte of Florence, but Andrea Magni still managed to finish the race with half of the mast and a piece of mainsail, ending 13th! The boats were surfing at incredible speed: several crews saw 22 knots on their log! The race was won by Nicola Celon, always excellent in these conditions.

During the evening, along with the drinks offered by Chivas Regal, we had the prize giving ceremony for the Volvo Cup 2004 and the Winter Championship held in Andora. Among the guests Roberto Brenner, Marketing and Sponsor Relations Manager of Volvo Auto Italia, some representatives of Unicredit Private Banking, new sponsor in 2005, with Conte Of Florence, Uno Più and PZero Tempo, offering Yacht Timer watches for the winners in all the different classes and for Melges24 Corinthians.

The sun was still shining on Saturday, but we lacked some wind, as it never went over 10 kn; only one race was held, and it's another victory for Ale Ali, followed by BancaBSI and Ballalinda Flag. It's surfing day again on sunday, the wind blows again! Repeated start procedure and black flag rule, there is some serious competiotion in the water. The wins this time are for the guest from Monaco Benjamin Cohen on Microsphere, and Golf Club Paradiso (Montefusco) in the second race of the day.

This first race of the season confirmed the positive trend for the Italian Melges 24 fleet, with some new teams and helmsman: Roberto Benamati on Liocorno Melsineo – Lapiana Itas Ass., Gianni Sommariva on Ballalinda Flag, Maurizio Galanti on Arsenio Lapin Lapin, the YDRA team from Ancona. Their helmsman, Giuseppe Mascino comments: "We are very happy with our result, sixth place, well above our expectations for our first time. I had a knee injury this year, so I had never helmed a Melges before the first race, and my team didn't have a chance to do any practice or benchmarking with another boat.We found the right boat speed, had great regattas and lots of fun".

A little less satisfied with his result Roberto Benamati: “ We started off well on friday, but got lost along the way. I still have to get used to the boat, especially when reaching, the angles are so different. On the other hand, our starts have been excellent. I am very happy that we finally have a class where you can compete with all the best sailors, all on equal boats, just like an olympic class. I have noticed that teams do not rely on just one big name, there's the best of Italian sailors in any role: tactitians, bowman, tailers. Even the girls on board are the best ones around!”.

Despite the one week postponement, the Melges 24 fleet counted thirty boats, the pre-entries were 40 this time (but some teams could not attend) and we expect the number of boats to increase even more during the season.

Volvo Cup continues on april 22nd, 23rd and 24th in Bari, our most southern location this year. Come join us!!

With five races held, these are the final standings:
Melges Overall
1.) Ale Ali (Amadori-Celon) 2-1-1-7-5;
2.) Banca BSI (Bernasconi-Benussi) 1-5-2-3-3;
3.) Ballalinda Flag (Zampori-Sommariva) 8-6-3-2-2; seguono 27.
Melges24 Corinthian:
1.) Ballalinda Flag (Zampori-Sommariva)
2.) Conte of Florence (Magni)
3. Naftalina (Testolin-Cutugno)