Victory by a point

Dramatic final race at the Ocean BMW Melges 24 Europeans

Today's final race of the Ocean BMW Melges 24 European Championship in Torquay was the most exciting yet in what has been an absolutely gripping regatta. Three boats were in serious contention: Andrea Racchelli sailing Altea (55 points), Gabrio Zandona sailing Joe Fly for Giovanni Maspero (56 points) and Stuart Rix sailing Gill for Quentin Strauss (62 points) - and from the opening moments we knew we were in for a battle royal.

For the first time all week the wind was up at around 14 knots from the west and by the start initial rain had given way to broken sunshine. PRO Peter Rumbelow and the Royal Torbay's excellent race committee got the fifty competitors away at the first attempt and from the gun it was Gill that took control. Altea had a terrible start and their grip on the title was disastrously loosened at that moment. Joe Fly again went for the conservative approach and managed a moderate though not glowing start.

At the first weather mark it was Gill first from Tim Collins in Easy Tiger with Paul Brotherton aboard Ian Cleaver's Highland Heritage 3rd, Antoine Frickey sailing Benjamin Cohen's Sogeti 4th, Alba Batzill with Eddy Eich's No Woman No Cry 5th and John Pollard of Excellent 6th. This leading group got away from the pack where Joe Fly rounded 11th with Altea back in 20th.

At the second weather mark Gill were just hanging onto their lead with Sogeti now up to 2nd followed by Easy Tiger, Excellent, Highland Heritage and No Woman No Cry. Joe Fly had pulled up to 8th putting them just one point behind Gill for the Championship. Back in the scrum Altea was struggling and rounded 22nd with no hope left of recovery. The boats took off down wind and with every gybe the positions altered. At the final leeward gate Joe Fly had pulled up into 7th and onto equal points with Gill but their normally impeccable crew work faltered momentarily and the kite ended up under the boat loosing them valuable seconds and giving Gill a brief breathing space. Despite this potential disaster Joe Fly's crew rapidly had the situation back under control and she was off up the beat like a scalded cat.

By the final weather mark Gill were still just holding off the leading group but Excellent had now pulled up into 2nd and was closely followed by Sogeti, Easy Tiger, Highland Heritage and No Woman No Cry. Joe Fly had done an impressive job up the beat rounding back in 7th and still on equal points with Gill as the set off towards the finish.

Knowing they had to gain one more place over Gill to retain the European Crown Joe Fly gybed early. Gill meanwhile had their work cut out trying to hold onto the lead and spectators were kept on the edge of their seats as the leading boats jostled for position. In the closing moments Excellent slid past Gill and they crossed the line 1st and 2nd respectively, closely followed by Sogeti, Easy Tiger, Highland Heritage and No Woman No Cry. Although Joy Fly's early gybe hadn't gained them any places they held onto 7th and took victory by just one point with joyous celebrations as they crossed the line for helm Gabrio Zandona and his crew of Daniele Cassinari, Federico Michetti, Monica Ratipoldi and owner Giovanni Maspero.

In the overall standings Gabrio Zandona helming Giovanni Maspero's Joe Fly Team takes the Giorgio Zuccoli European Championship Trophy with Stuart Rix, helming Gill for Quentin Strauss 2nd and Andrea Racchelli of Altea 3rd. 4th place overall and the Corinthian (all amateur) Trophy goes to Alba Batzill helming No Woman No Cry for Eddy Eich, with Francois Brenac of Phillipe Ligot's Partner & Partners Sailing Team 5th. Other podium slots in the Corinthian Division go to Antoine Albaret of Cotes d'Armour Perros Guirec 2nd and Jerome Aubert in Au Planning 3rd.

For the Joe Fly Team this is a particularly sweet victory, as they almost didn't make the regatta when a sleeping lorry driver wrote off their boat and tow truck as Federico Michetti changed a tyre on the hard shoulder on his way to the regatta. Fortunately Federico suffered only a small scratch and they were able to secure the loan of a replacement boat in time. Although this is Gabrio Zandona's first Melges 24 European Title his crew were the defending champions, having won the trophy with their previous helm, Luca Santella, in Helsinki in 2003.

Special thanks must go to the Royal Torbay Yacht Club, whose team has done a spectacular job of organising the regatta both afloat and ashore, to the International Jury led by Tony O'Gorman and to event sponsors Ocean BMW, WKD Original Vodka Blue, Devoti Sailing, North Sails UK Ltd, Westaway Sails and Musto Ltd for their generous support.

The 2005 Melges 24 World Championship will take place at the Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, Florida, USA from 11 to 16 December.

					Pts	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12
1	ITA550	Joe Fly	Giovanni Maspro	Zandona Gabrio	63	3	31	2	13	15	1	4	2	5	5	6	7
2	GBR431	Gill	Quentin Strauss	Stuart Rix	64	9	5	7	3	1	19	12	3	19	2	1	2
3	ITA438	Altea	Andrea Racchelli	Andrea Racchelli	66	4	2	11	8	3	8	10	6	4	7	3	16
4	GER582	No Woman No Cry	Eddy Eich	Alba Bazrill	78	32	1	9	1	17	9	26	1	2	4	2	6
5	FRA571	Partner & Partners	Philliipe Ligot	Francois Brenac	91	1	11	14	7	6	2	1	18	7	24	14	10
6	FRA261	Cotes d'Armour Perros Guirec	CDVH	Antoine Albaret	116	8	9	1	33	18	3	23	12	15	3	10	14
7	FRA387	Douarn-Mason	Winches Club	Vincent Sauleau	123	11	21	5	6	29	7	11	7	9	10	23	13
8	FRA173	Au Planning	Jerome Aubert	Jerome Aubert	131	24	14	3	18	13	14	6	9	51	17	4	9
9	GBR573	Xcellent	John Pollard	John Pollard	144	34	28	17	51	16	4	2	14	3	9	16	1
10	FRA422	Dyneema-Liros	Remy Arnaud	Remy Arnaud	148	19	23	10	19	7	6	5	24	10	8	22	19
11	GBR516	Highland Heritage	Ian Cleaver	Paul Brotherton	151	17	51	22	10	27	11	16	8	8	14	13	5
12	FRA470	Cotes d'Armor Sail de Mer	CDVH	Thomas Rouxel	157	6	4	16	4	51	24	8	19	17	6	15	38
13	FRA193	Cotes d'Armor	CDVH	Vincent Biarnes	159	13	17	6	2	9	21	13	17	43	22	28	11
14	GBR406	Team Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	Jamie Lea	161	2	3	31	29	4	15	7	37	32	1	25	12
15	GBR334	Easy Tiger	Tim Collins	Tim Collins	173	42	8	20	5	21	27	3	34	13	30	9	3
16	SUI599	PoiZon Rouge	Jean-Marc Monnard	Jean-Marc Monnard	180	10	15	37	39	2	20	42	4	16	13	7	17
17	MON601	Sogeti	Benjamin Cohen	Antoine Frickey	180	14	13	19	51	10	17	18	21	38	18	8	4
18	GBR535	March Hare	Simon Henning	Mike Henning	188	43	10	4	15	25	25	24	20	1	16	5	51
19	FRA358	Dottore Jigolo	Douchy & Marcadet	P Y Lambert	200	37	6	33	42	8	13	17	10	12	29	20	15
20	FIN476	Suunto	Henrik Thelen	Kennet Thelen	206	41	7	24	32	12	23	15	51	14	19	11	8
21	NOR341	Dolly	Per Andresen	Erik Arthur	206	40	20	18	14	15	18	20	22	29	11	18	21
22	ITA297	Pioneer Investments	Igino Angelini	Andrea Formaro	221	18	38	12	21	23	16	21	5	33	15	21	36
23	FRA423	Zig Zag 15	Henri Samuel	Henri Samuel	222	7	19	25	12	32	29	28	26	11	20	19	26
24	GBR546	Helmut Rises Again	Nigel Grogan	Nigel Grogan	236	16	18	28	11	14	51	19	33	18	31	24	24
25	GBR527	Comfortably Numb	Andrew Dellow/Simon Dobson	Simon Dobson	239	20	26	21	26	20	30	14	30	28	12	12	41
26	AUT531	EdelweiB	Michael Schineis	Michael Schineis	251	5	29	13	51	31	12	9	29	35	23	38	27
27	GBR368	Team Turn-Turtle.com	A Brown, B Cooper, G Birbeck	Alan Brown	257	15	24	15	36	11	34	34	13	20	33	30	28
28	GBR269	Ali 2	Joe Woods	Ann Ashworth	285	25	12	34	16	22	26	30	36	27	27	32	34
29	FRA461	Euro-Voiles	Denis Infante	Christophe Barrue	304	12	42	8	43	33	23	39	28	22	51	29	25
30	GBR589	Badger	Paul Lovejoy	Paul Lovejoy	311	49	34	36	40	35	10	35	16	26	21	36	22
31	SUI382	Zerowo/e-brokerline.com	Michael Good	Michael Good	315	45	33	32	51	28	38	27	11	21	34	17	29
32	NOR349	Party Girl	Jens Wathne	Jens Wathne	317	29	32	29	17	19	51	51	51	6	36	27	20
33	FRA383	Merck Generique	Jean-Marc Sparfel	Jean-Marc Sparfel	319	22	16	26	22	44	22	31	40	40	35	42	23
34	GBR611	WKD Red	Joe Woods	Joe Woods	337	21	22	27	44	24	39	37	27	24	39	33	51
35	GBR548	Team Panasonic	Adrian Peach	Adrian Peach	349	38	51	42	28	38	5	38	15	31	26	37	51
36	FRA473	Gybe Set	Anne Gellez	Oliver Gellez	358	23	37	38	9	43	31	33	41	37	37	35	37
37	NOR279	Marella V	Nils Nordenstroem	Nils Nordenstroem	361	35	35	40	31	30	32	25	32	30	42	41	30
38	GBR403	Envy	Martin Miller	Dean Argent	362	30	41	35	23	26	43	43	35	23	45	45	18
39	SUI578	Music 55	Ruedi Huber	Ruedi Huber	366	33	27	50	34	34	37	32	31	44	28	34	32
40	FRA471	Mu	Emmanuel Nebout	Emmanuel Nebout	376	31	36	23	24	37	41	42	25	41	41	46	35
41	GBR452	Eric's Mate	Martin Wedge	Martin Wedge	395	27	51	47	20	47	36	29	43	36	40	39	31
42	GBR432	Wolf Cub	Glyn Williams	Glyn Williams	399	28	25	39	51	39	42	36	23	47	38	31	51
43	GBR340	White Rabbit	Simon Henning	Simon Henning	407	50	40	30	25	36	33	46	47	39	25	47	39
44	GBR534	Hooligan	Norman Broom	Norman Broom	427	39	39	44	30	41	35	41	42	45	32	40	44
45	GBR453	Ramshackle	Steve Williams/Dave Farrimond	Paul Owen	441	26	43	43	27	42	48	40	46	49	44	49	33
46	MLT435	Wild Thing	David S Franks	David S Franks	461	48	51	49	41	51	44	44	39	25	51	26	43
47	GBR377	Henri Lloyd	Tony Jaffa	Tony Jaffa	463	46	30	46	45	51	40	47	38	42	46	43	40
48	GBR478	www.formulacars.co.uk	Tim & Steve Jones	Tim Jones	479	36	46	48	35	45	45	48	44	48	43	44	45
49	FRA272	Speed'eau	Antoine Jeu	Antoine Jeu	484	44	51	45	37	48	46	45	48	34	47	48	42
50	SUI270	Boorinsla	August Schram	Ann-Kathrin Hoh	495	47	44	41	38	40	47	49	45	46	48	50	51