Kuznetsov Crowned Melges 32 World Champion

Defending 2017 Champion Pavel Kuznetsov won the Melges 32 World Championship for a second consecutive year

Pavel Kuznetsov was at the helm of TAVATUY with tactician Evgeny Neugodnikov, and crew of Alexander Patrushev, Egor Konuhovski, Konstantin Besputing, Oleg Krivov and Valeriy Zatsarinskiy.

The final day in Cagliari brought on more light air conditions making only one race possible. For the start, it was an “all or nothing” situation as both Matteo Balestrero’s GIOGI (Branko Brcin, tactician) and Kuznetsov squared off.

Very decisively, Kuznetsov immediately went right while his opponent opted for the opposite side. As the fleet approached the top weathermark, a slight rotation in the wind tipped the scales in Kuznetsov’s favor, who already had a comfortable lead.

Balestrero on the other hand, found himself out of the top ten and with penalty, desperate to stay ahead of third place finisher Martin Reintjes’ CAIPIRINHA (Gabrielle Benussi, tactician).

Balestrero did well to finish the race in tenth, finishing the event in second overall. For Kuznetsov, a celebration at the finish line meant he would be World Champion for a second time.

Melges 32 World Championship
1st RUS 223 TAVATUY Pavel Kuznetsov – – 8 pts
2nd ITA 172 GIOGI Matteo Balestrero – – 17 pts
3rd ITA 186 CAIPIRINHA Martin Reintjes – – 18 pts
4th ITA 487 TORPYONE Edoardo Lupi / Massimo Pessina – – 22 pts
5th GER 229 LA PERICOLOSA Christian Schwoerer – – 24 pts
6th MON 181 G – SPOT Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio – – 24 pts
7th MON 2121 MASCALZONE LATINO Vincenzo Onorato – – 28 pts
8th ITA 191 FRA MARTINA Edoardo Pavesio – – 29 pts
9th POL 204 CASINO ROYAL Waldemar Salata – – 33 pts
10th ITA 185 AIR IS ESSENTIAL Roberto Monti – – 42 pts
11th ITA 236 DONINO Luigi Giannattasio – – 43 pts
12th NOR 212 PIPPA Lasse Petterson – – 48 pts
13th GER 193 WILMA Fritz Homann – – 49 pts
14th GER 215 HOMANIT (Corinthian) Kilian Holzapfel – – 52 pts
15th JPN 33 SWING Keisuke Suzuki – – 54 pts
16th ITA 194 T.ONE Manfredo Toninelli – – 59 pts
17th ITA 201 DUMBOVIT (Corinthian) Alessandro Lotto Flavio Campana – – 65 pts
18th SUI 202 SKADI (Corinthian) Carlo Babini Merlo – – 70 pts