Melges 24 Europeans mark 30 years with familiar champion

Ante Cesic defended his European title in Tønsberg as the championship marked three decades, and a long-serving Norwegian crew closed a campaign of its own.

The Melges 24 European Championship has been contested since 1996. Thirty years on, Croatia’s Ante Cesic successfully defended the title he won in Split in 2024, with victory in Tønsberg following his wins in the 2024 and 2025 European Sailing Series.

Racing concluded after nine of the scheduled ten races, the final day lost to a lack of wind. Cesic’s crew aboard Razjaren finished on 22 points, well clear of Italy’s Paolo Brescia on Melgina in second, with Monaco’s Vladimir Prosikhin completing the podium aboard Nika. The Corinthian division, contested separately for amateur crews, was won by Norway’s Peder Jahre aboard Storm Capital.

Cesic built the title around consistency as much as outright speed. He won four of the nine races and, once his opening ninth was discarded, never counted a result worse than sixth. Brescia had the pace to challenge, winning twice, but carried more expensive scores: his 16th disappeared as the discard, leaving a ninth and a tenth still on the card. Cesic put the championship beyond reach with consecutive wins in Races 7 and 8, securing the title with one race still to sail.

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Three decades, seventeen editions

This year’s championship was the 17th edition of an event that began in Barcelona in 1996. The championship is now raced for two perpetual trophies, the Giorgio Zuccoli Trophy for the overall title and the Menno Meyer Corinthian European Trophy. This year’s 30th anniversary edition, staged in Tønsberg, drew a 42-boat international fleet.

A campaign two decades in the making

Storm Capital’s Corinthian title was its second, seventeen years after the crew’s first win in 2009. The campaign was founded by Marius Falch Orvin in 2005 and has, by Jahre’s own account, kept much of its core crew together for close to twenty years. The championship also marked Falch Orvin’s final event with the team, with Ole Christian Bårdal joining for its next chapter. The team’s record also includes Corinthian World Championship victories in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Nergaard still racing 28 years later

Among the fleet in Tønsberg was Kristian Nergaard, the class’s first Corinthian World Champion in 1998. Twenty eight years later, he was back at a major Melges 24 championship, this time with his sons racing in the same fleet.