Melges 32 World Championship, Ryan DeVos Volpe crowned 2016 World Champion

Newport, RI – Congratulations are in full order for Ryan DeVos’ Volpe with tactician Mark Mendelblatt, and crew members Mike Hill, Peter Kinney, Scott Nixon, Erika Reineke, Sam Rogers and Drew Weirda as they are the 2016 Melges 32 World Champions.

“We have competed in four World Championships and it feels so good to finally pull one off,” said a very ecstatic DeVos just after racing. “Going into today we had a nice cushion, but we knew, especially in this fleet, it’s never over until it’s over. We knew we needed to go out and sail our very best. When I think about the fact that we are racing against some of the best sailing teams in the world, it makes today’s victory even more rewarding.”

In a dramatic last day of competition, two final races were completed with DeVos’ cool, calm and very collected efforts winning him the prestigious overall trophy. In what seemed like a last ditch effort to defend his World title, Alessandro Rombelli’s Stig with Terry Hutchinson serving as tactician, hammered out a 4-1 scoreline to finish second overall, bumping Jason Carroll on Argo to finish out the podium in third.

“We knew defending back-to-back World Championship titles would be a big challenge,” commented Rombelli. “It was our first time sailing in Newport. Apart from the weather, the sailing has been incredible.”

Although Carroll (Race Nine) and Rombelli (Race Ten) took home the big race wins, some other teams also shined bright on the course. Andrea Lacorte’s Vitamina finished second in Race Nine which enabled him to close the event in the top five, while Morgan Kiss and the ‘kids’ on Hydra further secured their top Corinthian position with a third place finish.

Ed Tillinghast and his Dark N’Stormy team had a great final race of the series finishing second to Rombelli in Race Ten, followed by Christian Schwoerer on La Pericolosa in third and Chris Wientjes’ Stormvogel in fourth.

Standings.

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