THE MELGES WORLD LEAGUE KICKS OFF AS THE MELGES 32 FLEET ENTERS THE SCENE IN VILLASIMIUS

Villasimius (Cagliari), 27th March 2019 - The 2019 sailing season organized by Melges Europe starts from Villasimius on the weekend of March 29th-31st, with the Melges 32 fleet being the first protagonist.
 
This is the beginning of the new edition of the Melges World League, circuit reserved to the Melges 32, Melges 20 and, starting from 2019, Melges 14 classes. An edition that confirms the successful format of the series (which takes place in the Mediterranean for the Melges 32 fleet, while the Melges 14 and Melges 20 fleets will be racing also in North America and Japan) and adds some new features that make the events powered by Melges a point of reference for all the lovers of high-performance one-design sailing.
 
The first news of the Mediterranean season of the Melges World League stands in the location: Villasimius, iconic Sardinian destination with an amazing race area that counts on the organization of Marina di Villasiumius and Lega Navale Italiana – Villasimius, had never hosted a Melges event so far.
After the Melges 32, also the Melges 20 will open their season in Villasimius, from April 26th to 28th.  
Later in the season, Villasiumius will also be the stage of the long-awaited Melges 24 World Championship, scheduled from October 5th to 12th, which has all the features to become one of the most crowded events of the 2019 one-design sailing season.
 
The spotlight, though, is now on the Melges 32 Class that is preparing to give life to its 13th consecutive season of regattas, having been the fleet constantly active since 2007.
As for tradition, the entry list and the names of the sailors who make up the Melges 32 crews are very well known in the international sailing scenario: in a few days, they will start racing to chase the first points valid as World Ranking, to determine who will follow the Italian team Giogi by Matteo Balestrero, winner of the 2018 edition of the circuit, in the golden books.
The Italian representative will be the largest on the Melges 32 World League race course: among these crews, we find the already European Champions onboard Mascalzone Latino by Vincenzo Onorato (with the Slovenian Branko Brcin calling tactics) and Torpyone by Edoardo Lupi and Massimo Pessina (with the Portuguese Hugo Rocha as tactician). Calvi Network by Carlo Alberini (flanked by the Slovenian Karlo Hmeliak) joins back the circuit in 2019. G.spot by the Monegasque Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio (with Michele Paoletti as tactician), winner of the circuit in 2017, will be on the race course as well.

Chasing success both at the standard events and at the great seasonal target, there are the DonIno by Luigi Giannattasio (with a great afterguard composed by the duo Manuel Weiller and Sebastian Col) as well as another Italian team, Caipirinha by Martin Reintjes, who will be relying on the experience of Gabriele Benussi and Volvo Ocean Race sailor Alberto Bolzan. The Italian fleet is completed by the return of Andrea Lacorte's Vitamina, assisted in tactical choices by Tommaso Chieffi. In the Corinthian division, the presence of Dumbovit by Alessandro Lotto and Flavio Campana (Duccio Colombi calling tactics) is confirmed.

The twice-World Champions (2017 and 2018) onboard Tavatuy by the Russian owner Pavel Kuznetsov, as always assisted by Evgeny Neugodnikov in tactics, will be on the water trying to confirm the great results of the past two years.

Germany will be represented by three crews that respond to the names of Wilma by Fritz Homann with Nico Celon, Sjambok by Jens Kuhne (with Dutch tactician Wouter Sonnema) and Homanit by Kilian Holzapfel (Jolbert Van Djik as tactician) who will try to defend the title won last year in the Corinthian ranking.

The entry list of the first seasonal event is completed by the Polish team of Casino Royal by Waldemar Salata which confirms the Croatian Tomislav Basic at the tactical choices, but it’s already confirmed that other crews will join the Melges World League in the upcoming events of the circuit.

A maximum of eight windward-leeward regattas are scheduled for the three days of racing, that will start on Friday, March 29th, in Villasimius.
 

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