The Melges 24 season has been kicked off in Finland. This first race was sailed just outside the town of Naantali known from the home of the Moomin characters. The entire weekend was magnicifant - blue sky, temperatures over 20 degrees and wind as shifty as before. But what was excellent this season open race attracted a record 10 Melges 24 boats. At the present moment the fleet consists of 22 boat (18 in Finland and 4 in Estonia).
After Saturday the fleet had a joint leaders FIN662 and FIN434. FIN529 in striking distance. Although the top 4 boats looked comfortable in points action at sea was tight thoughout the entire fleet. This was because of the wind being relatively light and shifty. It also picked up during the the day. What was special - sailing in shorts in Finland during early May was really weid (usually temperatures between 5 and 10)!
Then to Sunday - wind first from S but shifted to W during the morning making the course preparation challenging. After the wind stabled the wind started picking up and gusts came in appr 6 m/s. The two Midnight Sun Sailing boats showed that home ground experience is a skill to be used when you want to win races.
Full overall final results below for all three partisipating classes (Melges24, Platu and Escow).
Pictures, taken by Arto Kiiski (Finnish Melges 24 Fleet coach) are available at http://melges24.pictures.fi/kuvat/Finnish%20ranking%201%2C%202008/ If used please mention the photographer!
Next Melges 24 ranking race two weeks from now in Helsinki.
| Melges 24 | | | | | | | | | | |
| placing | sail num | boat name | helm | club | start 1 | start 2 | start 3 | start 4 | start 5 | start 6 | total |
| 1 | FIN-529 | Midnight Sun Sailing One | Sami Ekblad | NPS | 2 | 1 | (7) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | FIN-214 | Midnight Sun Sailing Two | Esa Harjulahti | NPS | (7) | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| 3 | FIN-434 | Miinakissa IV | Janne Salmela | HSK | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | (DSQ/12) | 4 | 14 |
| 4 | FIN-662 | Kaiser soze | Jaakko Perimaa | EMK | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | (5) | 15 |
| 5 | FIN-650 | Fonecta Finder | Tomi Hakola | EMK | 4 | 8 | 3 | 4 | (DSQ/12) | 6 | 25 |
| 6 | FIN-236 | Wetteri | Jorma Kinnunen | OM | (10) | 5 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 26 |
| 7 | FIN-316 | Team Uusikaupunki | Henri Jefimoff | UPS | 5 | (9) | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 28 |
| 8 | EST-573 | 4energy | Erki Mets | PJK | 6 | (10) | 6 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 36 |
| 9 | FIN-289 | Team289 | Kari Lukkarila | OM | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | (10) | 38 |
| 10 | FIN-425 | | Samuel Thesleff | NJK | 9 | 7 | (10) | 9 | 7 | 9 | 41 |
| 11 | FIN-328 | Elsa | Paul Andersson | | DNC/12 | DNC/12 | DNC/12 | DNC/12 | DNC/12 | DNC/12 | 60 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| E Scow | | | | | | | | | | |
| sijoitus | purjenro | Vene | Kippari | Seura | lähtö 1 | lähtö 2 | lähtö 3 | lähtö 4 | lähtö 5 | lähtö 6 | yhteensä |
| 1 | FIN-8 | Shuffle | Kai-Jussi Ruuskanen | EPS | 1 | 1 | 1 | (4) | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | T1 | Hang Ten | Joonas Vahtera | NPS | 3 | 4 | (4) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| 3 | FIN-2 | Loiskis | Ilkka Lumme | TPS | 2 | (3) | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 4 | LA88 | Flipperi | Jani Laine | HEIPS | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | (DNF/6) | DNF/6 | 18 |
| 5 | FIN-11 | Don Johnson | Sakari Rinne | NPS | 5 | (DNS/6) | 3 | 5 | 4 | DNF/6 | 23 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Platu | | | | | | | | | | | |
| sijoitus | purjenro | Vene | Kippari | Seura | lähtö 1 | lähtö 2 | lähtö 3 | lähtö 4 | lähtö 5 | lähtö 6 | yhteensä |
| 1 | 9959 | Peto Jr | Riku Ruokolahti | MSVK | 1 | (2) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 338 | Farrina | Andres Sjöblom | HSK | (3) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 3 | 134 | Lutfisk | Olavi Hakola | NPS | 2 | (4) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| 4 | 10457 | Averell Dalton | Jori Lathonen | HSK | (4) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 |