Strambapapà is the new Melges 24 Italian Champion and winner of the Act #7 of the European Sailing Series
Riva del Garda – A full racing schedule was completed at Fraglia Vela Riva, where the Melges Reunion concluded with outstanding participation and all the scheduled races for both fleets. The Race Officials and Fraglia Vela Riva’s on-the-water team, coordinated by Fausto Maroni, successfully completed eight races, taking full advantage of the excellent weather conditions, once again ideal for allowing the thirty Melges 24 crews and the twenty-six Melges 15 teams, making their European debut, to perform at their very best.
In the Melges 24 fleet, where the event counted both as the seventh stage of the European Sailing Series and as the Italian Championship – Trofeo Gaudì, dedicated to the memory of Gaudenzio Bonini, spectators witnessed a thrilling head-to-head battle between two Olympians: Strambapapà, helmed by Michele Paoletti, and Razjaren, skippered by Karlo Kuret. After opening up a five-point advantage during the penultimate race, the Trieste-based team, crowned European Champions in Genoa in 2022, came under pressure from the Croatian crew in the final race. The two teams eventually finished tied on points, with Strambapapà claiming overall victory on countback thanks to superior race scores.
The Italian Championship title and the European Sailing Series event victory therefore went to Strambapapà, ahead of the reigning European Champions aboard Razjaren, while Altea, helmed by former World Champion Andrea Racchelli, completed the podium after an outstanding final day. An excellent performance also came from Dario Levi who, making his class debut and supported by Niccolò Bianchi and Alessandro Franci, steered Fremito d’Aria to fourth place, ahead of American entry War Canoe, owned by Michael Goldfarb. In the Corinthian division, Melgina, owned by Paolo Brescia and crewed by a talented young team, secured a double success by winning the amateur ranking while finishing seventh overall. Chinook, helmed by Akos Csolto, and the Tarabocchia family’s White Room completed the Corinthian podium.
Within the Italian Championship standings, Fremito d’Aria and Melgina completed the overall podium in second and third place respectively. In the Corinthian Italian Championship, the remaining podium places went to Whatever, owned by Michele Ferrari, and Akua, campaigned by the former Arkanoè by Montura team after delivering several impressive performances throughout the event.
Racing on a separate course, the Melges 15 fleet saw Americans Oliver Gray and Adler Johnston take overall victory with a seven-point margin over British sailors Simon and Katie Horsfield, while William Borghesi and Diogo Machado Pinto secured third place.
“We have been welcoming the Melges 24 fleet for many years. Its thirty-year history and the calibre of its sailors ensure that whenever they race on our waters, the competition is intense and the racing is of the highest quality. Judging by what we have seen during this first edition, the same will certainly be true of the Melges 15, whose European debut we were honoured to host. We hope this tradition will continue for many years to come, further strengthened by the presence of the Melges 15 fleet. I would also like to thank everyone—officials, staff and volunteers alike—who turned the idea of the Melges Reunion into such a successful event,” commented Paolo Matteotti, Vice President of Fraglia Vela Riva.
