FI BROWN REPORTS FOLLOWING HER SITE VISIT TO LAUDERDALE YACHT CLUB WHERE PLANS FOR THE 2001 WORLDS ARE IN FULL SWING

Following a two day visit to Ft Lauderdale in January I’m delighted to report that the Lauderdale Yacht Club is working flat out to ensure that the Melges 24 Worlds 2001 (November 8-17) will be the biggest and best Melges 24 event in the US to date.

The yacht club sits on a large waterside site just to the North of the 17th Street bridge across the harbour. A rebuild of the bridge is just nearing completion which means that boats can now pass under it at all times. It has extensive dockage around its perimeter to more than cater for the anticipated 100 plus Melges 24s plus all support boats, etc. The berths are on three sides of the club and we will have exclusive use of the moorings during the event.

The yacht club itself is a really terrific facility. Outside is a large lawn area and pool together with kids play area incorporating swings, splash pool, climbing frame, etc. It has several bars and restaurants and in addition a large marquee will be erected on the club lawn to accommodate the post race events and parties. There is good parking within the grounds and the club will allocate individual parking slots and corresponding vehicle stickers so that each boat has one permanently allocated parking slot on the site.
The large number of entries anticipated means that handling launching and recovery at the club is impractical so the club proposes to use a boat yard facility up the New River for this purpose. Yachts will prepare and undergo hull and rig measurement checks at the yard prior to launching and towing to the club with rigs down (about 45 mins away). Owners can elect to step the rig at the yard and motor to the club but will have to wait for the various road and rail bridges to open which will increase the journey time. The journey takes you right through the centre of Ft Lauderdale and is a fun trip in its own right so make sure you don’t volunteer to drive the truck back to the club if you’ve never been to Ft Lauderdale before!

Sail measurement and crew weigh in, etc will take place at the club. Their working dock and compound will be available for use by officials and competitors during the event for measurement, repairs, etc. There is also be a crane on site to lift boats in event of an emergency.

Following the championship arrangements have been made for boats to be stored at a preferential rate for those owners wishing to leave their boats in Florida for Jacksonville, Key West and/or SORC.
There are two options for race area, one to the north of the harbour entrance directly off the main Lauderdale beach and the other to the south of the harbour entrance off a nature reserve and beach. In the event that numbers require two courses both areas will be used. The maximum travel time from the dock to the far side of the race areas will be around 1 hour.

The Club is planning an extensive social programme including early evening parties each night with a daily prize giving as well as several other special social events including a final night prize giving dinner. They are also working with local bars, restaurants and clubs on special competitor deals, so bring your best drinking and dancing boots as well as your oilies.

Accommodation in Ft Lauderdale is plentiful and a list will be made available shortly (watch the web site for more details). As well as being a great sailing venue Ft Lauderdale is also a great place for a family holiday. The Club itself has good facilities for children and the area is teaming with tourist attractions (even Disneyland is only a few of hours drive away). The city is justifiably known as the Venice of America with hundreds of miles of navigable waterways as well as beautiful safe beaches, great shopping malls, marvellous bars, restaurants and clubs and a wide variety of cultural, sporting and historic attractions on offer. The weather in November is generally very good with temperatures in the 70s and 80s during the day and lots of sunshine.

For competitors flying in from overseas Miami is the nearest International Airport (just under 1 hour drive to Ft Lauderdale) and for those travelling from within the US Lauderdale has it’s own local airport. For those driving boats across America Andy Burdick reliably informs me that it takes around 24 hours to drive from Zenda and 50 hours from San Francisco. We are currently investigating shipping deals from Europe and would like to hear from anyone wishing to ship their boat. To register your interest in shipping please urgently contact Jim Schwerdt at melgesracing@btinternet.com.

If you would like to charter a boat for the event or are unable to race yourself and can make your boat available for charter please register through the Charter listings in the Boats & Equipment section of the site.

The Notice of Race and Entry Form will be available in March so again watch the site for further details.

If you have any other queries at all please don’t hesitate to contact me at e-mail editor@melges24.com or telephone +44 7711 718470. It’s going to be a terrific event and I look forward to seeing you all there.