MELGES 20 - Breezy Conditions Give Way to Fantastic and Fun Day Two in Porto Venere

Porto Venere, Italy - With five races now complete at the first act of the 2016 Melges 20 World Series, Richard Davies on Section 16 continues to lead the big forty-strong fleet. Mover of the day Marco Franchini aboard Mezzaluna sits in second, followed closely by Achille Onorato on Mascalzone Latino Jr. in third.   In 15 knots of breeze, the fleet set out for the second day of competition on the Gulf of Porto Venere. Hot off the starting line was Michael Illbruck on Pinta to round the first mark of the day in the lead. Illbruck recently got into the fleet at the 2015 San Francisco Worlds last October and since, remains to be a force to be reckoned with, as he proved today. Chased hard around the track by Franchini, Dmitry Samokhin on Rocknrolla and Igor Rytov on Russian Bogatyrs, Illbruck took the win. 

"Today was very different from yesterday, but today, ah... what a fantastic day for sailing it was!" declared Illbruck. "It was a good day for us - unbelieveable sailing today! I learn so much from my team, and John (Kostecki) and I have sailed together for a long time so we are learning together. The level of sailing is high here... This is the best competition in the world!"

The downwind runs were a smashing good time as it was full-on planning conditions. Samokhin had a great race to take second, followed by Davies in third. Franchini finished fourth and Oleg Evdokimenko on Kotyara rounded out the top five.

Races Four and Five went to Guido Miani's Out of Reach, a dynamic comeback after being unable to start in Race Four. Miani excelled in the breeze-on conditions now holding three bullets out of the five completed races.

"We're happy with the boat and managed to find out that in light air we are ok, and with heavy breeze we do equally well. We need some better luck though," said Miani post racing. "Prior to the start today we had to perform some repairs to the boat, but once we got back out on the course and were able to be on the water and fight, it was great. As always, Porto Venere is beautiful and we are so happy to be here".

Matteo Marenghi Vaselli on Raya did well to finish up in second place in Race Four, Onorato came third.

Onorato's speed and handling remained consistent to finish in second position in Race Five. Valentin Zavadnikov on Synergy GT came on strong to take third, Alessandro Rombelli's STIG finished in fourth. Dario Levi on Fremito D'Arja took his best finish yet this weekend to be fifth.

The Corinthian division shuffled positions a bit with Wilma Homann on Fantastichina now in the lead, followed by #Melges20Next under-30 helmsman Valerio Galati! Overnight Corinthian leader Johannes Lind-Widestram on Intermezzo slipped back to third.

Racing concludes on Sunday and headed into the final stretch, Davies leads by a substantial 10 points however, Race Six will constitute a discard of each team's worst score which means things can change.

MEDIA AND RACING COVERAGE
As with other Melges 20 events in Europe and around the world, racing updates will be posted online at the Official Melges 20 Facebook Page. Tune in for the latest racing information, results, video interviews, and photos. Race reports, press releases and photos will be made available online each day post racing at melges20.com.

TOP TEN RESULTS (PRELIMINARY - After Five Races)
1.) Richard Davies, Section 16; 1-2-3-9-18 = 33
2.) Marco Franchini, Mezzaluna; 6-18-4-4-11 = 43
3.) Achille Onorato, Mascalzone Latino Jr.; 17-10-14-3-2 = 46
4.) Dmitry Samokhin, Rocknrolla; 20-3-2-12-15 = 52
5.) Alexander Ezhkov, Pirogovo; 12-7-18-7-13 = 57
6.) Alessandro Rombelli, STIG; 10-31-6-10-4 = 61
7.) Igor Rytov, Russian Bogatyrs; 13-26-7-6-9 = 61
8.) Michael Illbruck, Pinta; 22-25-1-8-6 = 62
9.) Matteo Marenghi Vaselli, Raya; 2-8-10-2-42/DNS = 64
10.) Guido Miani, Out of Reach; 25-1-42/DNS-1-1 - 70