Thursday, September 24, 2009

Windy conditions... Melges 32






Recchi Still Leads, Taselaar Takes The Only Win Of The Day
24 September 2009

The second day of racing in Porto Cervo started a bit on the gloomy side and with an initial on-land postponement due to heavy rain that all but put a damper on the championship. Instead, the overcast skies and windy conditions positioned Pieter Taselaar onUSA-169 Bliksem to win race three of the series, while Recchi still remains in the overall lead.

Another course 4 was in store for the one and only race of the day. Dark clouds hung heavy, large seas with massive waves and a moderate breeze of 10-15 knots greeted the fleet for the start. Both Taselaar and Recchi were center of the line, taking to the right then out to the highly favored left. Coming up to the mark, the fleet battled for position in the monster waves and increased breeze, Taselaar just sliding in to round first. Vincenzo Onorato on ITA-2121 Mascalzone Latino rounded in second, Recchi charged hard for third. Downwind it was a spectacular show of speed, excitement and fun as Taselaar took off for the gate. Recchi made up ground on the last two legs of the race, eventually overtaking Onorato in second. For the finish, Taselaar blasted downwind for the line, unable to shake Recchi's ever pressing determination to gain the lead. Taselaar held on for the win only a couple of boat lengths ahead of Recchi finishing second. Stefano di Properizio on ITA-651 Mataran pulled up to overtake Onorato for third, Francesco Martino on ITA-161 Pilot Italia in fourth. Onorato was fifth.

With only one race today, the top ten results suffered a minor shuffle. Recchi still leads by four points, Taselaar moved up one for third while Joe Woods on GBR-500 Red slipped back to fourth. Di Properizio is up from fourth to third. Onorato moved ahead from eighth to fifth. Best of all, birthday boy Jason Carroll on USA-128 Argo was 11th yesterday and now seated 7th overall after a fantastic sixth place finish.

Top Ten Results (After 2 Races)
1.) Claudio Recchi, Team 93; 2-1-2 = 5
2.) Pieter Taselaar, Bliksem; 6-2-1 = 9
3.) Stefano di Properizio, Mataran; 7-4-3 = 14
4.) Joe Woods, Red; 1-6-11 = 18
5.) Vincenzo Onorato, Mascalzone Latino; 12-3-5 = 20
6.) Francesco Martino, Pilot Italia; 8-8-4 = 20
7.) Jason Carroll, Argo; 10-10-6 = 26
8.) Lanfranco Cirillo, Fantasticaaa; 9-5-13 = 27
9.) Andrea Cecchetti, Bagua; 5-7-18 = 30
10.) Armando Guilietti/Lorenzo Santini, Uka Uka Racing; 4-11-19 = 34