ESTONIAN TEAM LENNY SCORES ITS FIRST VICTORY IN THE EUROPEAN SAILING SERIES IN PORTOROŽ

The morning in Portorož was nice and sunny, but not very windy. However, the wind picked up enough to start the Race Five at 12.05 with SW wind of 6 knots. The Race Committee was signalling the wind shift to the left in the first gate, but the wind remained stable and steady enough to complete the race.

Light conditions favoured the stalwart of the class from Germany, Eddy Eich's Musto Racing GER803 with Oliver Oczycz in helm to take the solid first bullet of the regatta. Great performance by Davide Rapotez' Destriero ITA579 from Trieste who was the second to cross the finishing line followed by the current regatta leader Lenny EST790 of Tõnu Tõniste as third, Hungarian FGF Sailing Team HUN728 of Robert Bakoczy fourth and Taki 4 ITA778 of Marco Zammarchi with Niccolo Bertola in helm fifth.

Since the wind dropped dramatically and after waiting for thirty minutes on the water, it was clear that no further races will be sailed. With a score of 1-3-2-(8)-3 and 9 points in total the multi-time Melges 24 Corinthian European and World Champion Lenny EST790 with Tõnu Tõniste, Toomas Tõniste, Maiki Saaring, Tammo Otsasoo and Ants Haavel confirmed the solid victory of the Marina Portoroz Melges 24 Regatta, which is also their first ever victory in the Melges 24 European Sailing Series in overall ranking.

Italian crew Taki 4 ITA778 of Marco Zammarchi, also Melges 24 Corinthian European and World Champion, with Niccolo Bertola, Giacomo Fossati, Giovanni Bannetta and Mattia Maviglia scored (7)-5-4-6-5 and 20 pts in total for the second classification. Today's 14th place and the total score of 2-2-3-(31UFD)-14 was enough for Sergio Caramel's Arkanoe by MonturaITA809 with Filippo Orvieto, Riccardo Gomiero, Margherita Zanuso and Federico Gomiero to climb back to complete the podium, only one point separating them from the second place. The same teams completed also the Corinthian podium in Portoroz.

Next year Portorož will host the Melges 24 European Championship as a result of long-time experience and sailors' very positive feedback about the venue, organization and great hospitality. From Slovenia the series will move to the neighbouring Italy, where on May 3-5 will take place the next step of the series, Coppa Italia Franco Rao, 1st Act of the Italian Melges24Tour.