HARRY MELGES TAKES FIRST TWO RACES AT YACHTING KEY WEST RACE WEEK

In the hotly contested Melges 24 class Harry Melges took both races on the opening day of Yachting Key West Race Week. With a northerly 10 knot breeze and glorious sunshine the 60 boat fleet had excellent racing with both races seeing plenty of place changing and some very close sailing.

In race one Karen Gottwald broke away from the pack early on, with Morgan Resser, helming for Neil Sullivan, Harry Melges and Bruce Ayres all hard on her heels.

Gottwald, whose performance has improved markedly in the last
year, managed to hold them off until the final moments of the race when Melges was just able to gybe inside her on the line and snatch first place.Resser took third with Ayres in fourth.

In race two Canadian Jim Pearson took the first leg but down the first run both Dave Ullman and Melges got through him. Ullman was in the lead at the end of the first run but Melges got by him up the second beat and determinedly defended all the way to the finish. Ullman held second and Peter Stoneberg came through to take third. The next 6 boats to finish were all overlapped making life hard for the race management team who had their work cut out to separate them.

The top performance by a European crew came from Mike Budd, helming for Roger Peacock, who took 9th and 7th,, whilst current holder of the Key West Melges title Brian Porter had a disappointing day ending up with an 11th and 10th. Please note official final results were not yet available at time of going to press.