Melges 15 Dinghy - Try Before You Buy in Cascais

1st January 2024

Promoted

Awarded World Boat of the Year in 2022, the Melges 15 is now the fastest-growing class in the world, with 700 boats worldwide

To celebrate the launch of the European Winter Series in Cascais, Portugal, Melges Ireland is offering a double discount on the purchase of new boats for Irish sailors chartering at the series.

With a promotional charter fee of €475, new Melges 15 sailors can expect double this amount as a combined discount off a new boat. The charter includes a Melges 15 for five days, two days coaching and the three-day event. With the never-ending winter gales of late, there may never be a better time to book some warm-weather sailing in the world’s fastest-growing dinghy class.

Racing

There will be two Winter series events to aim for, March 1st – 3rd and April 12-14th. The events will be run in a relaxed manner by the highly experienced Sail Cascais team. The racing will take place from Friday to Sunday with optional coaching available on Wednesday and Thursday. Current Irish M15 sailors will attend which should be reassuring to those looking to try the boat for the first time. Sailors from the USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Portugal are also expected.

The Melges 15 is a pathway boat for junior sailors and an adult racing platform with a deep cockpit, high stability, and ease of handling

Coaching

Vasco Serpa, the current J70 European champion, and Eddie Cox from Melges will be leading the coaching and looking to pass on both general racing tips as well as Melges15-specific tricks. Between them, they have won numerous championships in A-symmetric boats. Sailors can dip in and out of this coaching as they wish.

Cascais

The events will be run out of Club Navel de Cascais, a venue that has previously hosted ISAF worlds, Americas Cup events and more recently, the TP52 World championships.

A venue well known to many Irish sailors, Cascais offers easy access to warm weather winter sailing. A 25€ Uber from Lisbon Airport gets sailors to Cascais in 25 minutes. With Lisbon Airport being served by Ryanair and Aer Lingus, there are multiple flight options to get there. At the time of writing, return flights to Dublin can be booked for less than €100.

There is no shortage of accommodation options from 5-star hotels to AirBnBs within a short walk to the club. With great golf courses, mountain biking, surfing, historic monuments and of course amazing food, sailors, family and friends can expect great fun and memories on and off the water Melges 15.

The Melges 15 is a pathway boat for junior sailors and an adult racing platform with a deep cockpit, high stability, and ease of handling. Crews of all ages, sizes and abilities can sail this double-hander. A gamechanger for dinghy sailing that allows families, friends & partners to sail fast & and have fun in a stable, high-performance boat. Awarded World Boat of the Year in 2022, it’s now the fastest-growing class in the world, with 700 boats worldwide.

Irish Fleet

Ireland has been leading the charge launching the Melges15 into Europe. With 12 boats in the country, 12 due to land in Howth next March, there is still time to place orders for new boats with a potential third container pencilled in to land early May next year in time for the Summer sailing season.

Maybe it’s time to Go to Cascais and see what all the fuss is about!

Contact

Reach out to [email protected] to learn more about the offer, how you can book your spot as well as for information on how to demo the boat in Irish waters.

Published in Melges 15

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Melges 15

About The Author

John Sheehy

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Royal Saint George Yacht Club member on Dublin Bay, Ireland. He grew up sailing in Dublin Bay and is a passionate team racer and match racer.

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About the Melges 15 Dinghy

The Melges 15 was designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by Melges.

The design prioritises stability, comfort, ease of use, and performance.

The Melges 15 is built to be sailed by everyone from friends and couples to families and kids. The design offers performance, comfort, and stability in one sleek package.

The Melges 15’s stable hull shape and ergonomic cockpit make it a suitable layout for adult racing and educational sailing. Easy conversion from a club configuration (non-spinnaker) to a one-design setup, provides more versatility to club programs and options for individual owners.

“The Melges 15 creates a clear pathway for junior sailors to get started and stay excited about sailing while also being comfortable and accessible enough for adults to learn, race, or cross-train,” according to Harry Melges III.

With the main design goals focused on stability and performance in various conditions, the boat features a narrow overall beam and a flat cross-section shape for stability, righting moment, and ease of planing. For a more forgiving feel upwind and to navigate larger sea states, the Melges 15 has just the right amount of fore and aft rocker.

Melges conducted extensive research and product testing to produce this layout factoring in cockpit depth, backbone height, and floor plan. The result, they say, is a comfortable environment for both the skipper and crew. The deeper cockpit takes the load off the sailor’s knees helping them feel locked into the boat while the high boom and gnav vang system work together to make the boat easier to manoeuvre.

The asymmetric spinnaker offers an additional performance element, while the single-pull launch and retrieval system makes handling the sail easy and fast.