The Razjaren crew defended Melges' Croatian championship title
This weekend, the Melges 24 Championship regatta took place in Biograd na Moru, which was also the last regatta of the sixth season of the CRO M24 Cup. The regatta was organized by the Briva Sailing Club, sailing took place from Friday to Sunday, and 20 crews from 6 countries were on the starting list.
The sailing conditions in front of Biograd were excellent, and a full program of 9 races was completed in three days. The regatta was opened best by the Italian Melgina, led by Paolo Brescia, but on the second day of the regatta, skipper Ante Ćesić and his team on the Melges Razjaren took the lead and in the end won convincingly.
Ante Ćesić and the crew of the Melges Razjaren from JK Split thus won the Croatian Championship for the M24 class for the fourth year in a row. Ćesić and Razjaren are also the winners of the 6th season of the CRO M24 Cup. The following crews sailed in the regatta in Biograd: Ante Ćesić, Anđela De Micheli Vitturi, Tonči Knezović, Ljubo Jerčić and Boris Bakotić. The owner of the boat and permanent crew member Lukasz Podniesinski did not participate in this regatta, who was replaced by Boris Bakotić.
The new national champion and winner of the CRO M24 Cup in the Corinthian division is the crew of Melgesa Little A. This crew sails under the flag of the Zvir sailing club and is led by Stjepan Ćesić. The crew also includes: Domagoj Jaklin, Ivan Kunić, Ivan Jurić and Ana Petričić.
In the U25 competition, the victory at the Croatian Open Championship was won by the crew of Cro-a-sail from the Opatija sailing club. Cro-a-sail competed in the following crew: Roko Stipanović, Matija Reljanović, Antonio Lukšić, Dino Kinkela and Stjepan Vitaljić. The winner of the sixth season of the CRO M24 Cup in the U25 competition is the crew of Melgesa Panjić Jr. from the Briva sailing club. The crew consisted of: Lucijan Jakovljev, Noa Šangulin, Luka Dokoza, Luce Šimić and Pavle Mandić.
– On the first day, we completed three races relatively quickly in the bora. The races were tense and challenging because there was a lot of wind. On the second day, we were served by the morning tramuntana of 10 to 12 knots, with a fairly strong current, and we again completed the three scheduled races quickly. On Sunday, the wind was from the direction of 310, about the same strength, the first start was around 12 o'clock, and again the sailing conditions were ideal. We are glad that 20 boats gathered at the national championship regatta, which is this year's record, and that Strambapapa and Melgina came again. For the first time, a strong British crew on Melges Adrenaline, formerly known as Black Seal, came to one of our regattas. Judging by the final results, they are all very serious crews.
Marko Mišura also commented on the entire CRO M24 Cup season:
– We were pleasantly surprised by the number of participants in this year's CRO M24 Cup regattas. We hoped that around 15 crews would compete in the regattas, but in the end there were between 18 and 20 crews in almost all regattas. Also, some strong crews, such as Melgina and Strambapapa, were regulars in our regattas this year, which is a recognition of our work. These crews previously went to Miami to sail with the American fleet, but now they have decided to join the Croatian fleet. This is another confirmation that the CRO M24 Cup is currently the strongest series in Europe and that the competition in our regattas is at the highest level. We have already received inquiries from foreign crews about when the CRO M24 Cup calendar for next year will be released, and that they intend to sail in Croatia in the future. We hope that some new Croatian crews will join us in the next season, which will culminate in the World Championship in Pula. It is especially important for us to animate new young U25 crews. We therefore hope that sailing clubs will encourage young sailors to sail in the Melges 24 class, because it is currently the pinnacle of sailing in Croatia.
This autumn, two regattas of the seventh season of the CRO M24 Cup will be sailed. The CRO M24 Cup regatta in Pula is scheduled from 24 to 27 September, which is also the last regatta of this season's European Sailing Series. This will be followed by the CRO M24 Cup regatta in Trogir, which will be held from 6 to 8 November. The Melges 24 World Championship will be sailed in Pula from 29 May to 5 June. In the run-up to this regatta, three or four CRO M24 Cup regattas will be held next year.
Ante Ćesić, skipper of the Razjaren crew, after winning another Croatian championship title said:
– It was a fantastic regatta, the organization was excellent both at sea and on land, and we had absolutely perfect sailing conditions. We sailed well the first two days, but we had some minor technical mistakes due to changes in the team. On the third day, we got along well and sailed phenomenally. We have been dominating the CRO M24 Cup regattas for a long time, and that is why we are especially pleased that this year two top Italian crews – Melgina and Strambapapa – have been sailing in our regattas all the time. Such competition helps us stay in the form we need to compete in the strongest regattas, such as the European and World Championships. We plan to compete in the European Championship, which will be held in Norway at the end of August, followed by the first regatta of the new CRO M24 Cup season in Pula. This is also an important regatta, because we need to see what the conditions are like there, since the World Sailing Championship will be held in Pula next May.
Photo: regate.com.hr
