Melges 40 Grand Prix Continues With Rombelli Taking the Lead

(16 November 2017 / Palma de Mallorca, Spain) - Day two in Palma at the 2017 Melges 40 Grand Prix hosted by Real Club Nautico de Palma featured two close races offering up a new provisional leader. Alessandro Rombelli's STIG with tactician Francesco Bruni is now ahead of Japan's Yukihiro Ishida's SIKON with Manu Weiller on tactics by one slim point.

The light and shifty conditions only complicated matters for tacticians today, a circumstance to blame for the ever-changing positions at the top. From today's heated battles, Richard Goransson at the helm of INGA accompanied by tactician Cameron Appleton came on strong early to take the win in Race Four ahead of Rombelli, ultimately moving him up in the overall standings to third.

"We recovered well, improving on all the imperfections of yesterday. For now we are satisfied because our boat speed seems good, and we feel we are quite competitive in the light conditions compared to yesterday's breeze," commented Rombelli back at the dock. "The game inside the fleet is really very interesting both for the beauty and performance of the Melges 40. And, because the level is definitely very high, every race is a great challenge. We see that our opponents are growing stronger and faster, and nothing is absolute. So, we realize that we need to remain focused if we want to try and defend our position - at this event and on the circuit as a whole."

Although more light and unstable air is predicted for Day Three, the Melges 40 Grand Prix in Palma has three races scheduled, one of those races will be the Garmin Race with guests aboard each Melges 40.

The Melges 40 Grand Prix is proudly supported by Helly Hansen, Garmin Marine, Barracuda Communication and North Sails.

FULL RESULTS (PRELIMINARY, After Five Races)
1.) Alessandro Rombelli/Francesco Bruni; STIG; 1-3-3-2-1 = 10
2.) Yukihiro Ishida/Manuel Weiller SIKON; 3-2-1-3-2 = 11
3.) Richard Goransson/Cameron Appleton; INGA; 4-1-4-1-3 = 13
4.) Valentin Zavadnikov/Ed Baird; DYNAMIQ SYNERGY SAILING TEAM; 2-4-2-4-4 = 16