DAY 4 - MELGES 24 CLASS - YACHTING KEY WEST RACE WEEK

Conditions today were very trying on the Melges 24 course as we were racing in 5-10 knots with a lot of chop. Many times the crew was inside the boat while pounding through large swell.

Harry Melges racing Zenda Express had the conditions figured out as he sailed through the fleet in race number one of the day and then port tacked the fleet in race number 2 of the day and lead from bell to bell. "We clearly had great speed today. We really focused on the wind up the course and really tried to sail the boat fast through the chop". Harry now has good lead over Morgan Reeser in M-Fatic as their team posted a 21, 4 today. Brian Porter's Full Throttle posted a 12, 3 today keeping them in a solid third place overall.

FRA-388 had a great day today as they finished 5, 2 overall for the day. They had tremendous speed downhill which was key today. Other notables on the day were Tony Watson's Typhoon team having two good races. Argyle Campbell having a great race in the morning. Cathy Wood sailing Foxtrot having a spectacular race in the morning. Keith Musto and Dave West had a great morning race as well.

While the fleet has now completed 7 races all of them still wait for the wind to blow! "This has not been typical Key West conditions, says Andy Burdick of Melges Boats. We are still waiting for the breeze we have become accustomed to here. Hopefully it will blow on Friday."

The wind is expected to be as high as 22 knots on Friday for the final race. We will see who is fast in the breeze.