Monaco Sportboats Winter Series, Monaco Racing Fleet and Diva on the top

Monaco – All went according to plan with superb conditions for the second day which saw three races completed for the 27 Melges 20 competing for the Pirogovo Cup, and four races for the 29 J/70 ad 7 Smeralda 888s. Conditions were ideal with steady winds throughout the day.

In the Melges 20, Guido Miani (Monaco Racing Fleet) dominated the class with three wins and a fourth place in the guise of a below-par performance. Only the Russian Vladimir Prosikhin (Nika) managed to challenge his supremacy and is now lying second with 4 points. For the third step on the podium, there is everything to play for between the Swede Richard Goransson (Inga Form Sweden) and Italian Mirko de Falco (Pecceré).

In the Smeralda 888s it was a hard-fought battle for first place between Peter Grut (Gryphon), Monaco Championship leader in 2013, and newcomer Roberto Tamburelli (Forest Gump). In third place on equal points are the veteran stars of this series, Class President Prince Charles de Bourbon, and the irrepressible Adalberto Miani.

In the J/70, five teams: Diva (Ferdinando Battistella), Joyride (Geoff Carveth), Led Zeppelin (Yannick Heffner), Andrea Zaoli and Jacopo Carrain (Carpe Diem) dominated the fleet. It was an amazing sight all day, particularly in the last race with 28 boats arriving within four minutes of each other. Having led the fleet at the start and rounded the marks in first place, Jacopo Carrain (Carpe Diem), Monaco Class President was overtaken by Geoff Carveth (Joyride) on the last downwind leg, only grabbing back his pole position and victory in the last 50 metres, with both delivering a text-book match race duel.

Ferdinando Battistella (Diva) however has managed to hang on to the lead in the provisional ranking, thanks to two race wins ahead of Klaus Diesch (Lady Like) and Geoff Carveth (Joyride). One tiny point separates the first three.

Note to a fine performance by United Domains (Olivier Ocaya) with two third places.

Final day of racing starts tomorrow Sunday at 11.00am

Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series – Provisional Ranking

Melges 20 – Pirogovo Cup (28 entries, after 6 races)
1. Guido Miani (Monaco Racing Fleet, MON), 9 points
2. Vladimir Prosikhin (Nika, RUS), 13 points
3. Richard Goransson (Inga Form Sweden, SWE), 20 points

J/70 (29 entries, after 6 races)
1. Ferdinando Battistella (Diva, ITA), 14 points
2. Geoff Carveth (Joyride, GB), 15 points
3. Yannick Heffner (Led Zeppelin, GER), 16 points

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