John Pollard Takes Over the Lead on Day Two at US Nationals

From the US Class - If today's racing isn't proof enough that anyone can sail and win at a major championship in a Melges 24, then one must be unsure about what is. The light air conditions gave way to an new overall championship leader — John Pollard and his Xcellent crew of Rob Smith, Mickey Schwarz and Lawrence Crispin. The change of pace in racing conditions made for an incredible shake down in the end results.

Race one started in extremely light conditions with almost non-existent breeze, a change up from the aggressive heavy air experienced on day one. It was definitely a roll tack kind of day. The fleet managed a good clean start with third overall, Scott Nixon at the helm for David Ford on Lightwave Macro immediately taking advantage of some building pressure on the left while the fleet on the right side almost appeared stalled. And many followed in his footsteps feeling some speed such as Jeff Duval on Comet and Simon Strauss on Gill. Approaching the weathermark Strauss was right up the middle leading several boat lengths with Nixon right behind catching up quick, followed by Pollard. The sailing gods answered Bob Pethick's call on Bretwalda. Coming from the left with some new found wind and speed, Pethick steamed in, tucking at Strauss' transom just as they rounded the mark ahead of Nixon. Pethick had enough momentum to pass Strauss on the spreader leg and set the spinnaker with no problem. For the overnight leaders including Brian Porter on Full Throttle and Chris Larson on Rosebud the conditions proved to be tricky — both rounding in the bottom half of the fleet as did Jamie Lea at the helm for Stuart Simpson on Team Barbarians and John Ginson at the helm for Eamonn O'Nolan on Bateauneuf. Soon Strauss was pushed to fourth leaving Pollard, Pethick and Nixon to duke it out downwind. Pollard eventually pulls away from Nixon and Pethick to round the gate first. Nixon was second and Pethick followed.

It was noticable that the wind was coming in waves enabling the vast majority of the fleet to catch-up to the leaders including Mike Krantz at the helm for Rebecca Barkley on Lamorak leading the second pack of the fleet to the gate and jetting off to the right. This would be a big pay-off for Krantz. Meanwhile, at least a dozen other teams arrive at the left gate when the wind decides to bale. Needless to say this simultaneous spectacle was most entertaining to the spectator not to the competitor. Locked up in the jam was also Ginson and once realised that yelling wouldn't get anyone anywhere, things calmed and the boats progressed around the mark and headed back upwind for a course change of some 50-60 degrees. Coming in at the top was Pollard, followed by Krantz, Strauss, John Harrison on Airbourne, Larson found some speed and got back in the hunt, with Nixon close behind. The fleet leader changes continued to evolve and change constantly downwind. Sean Scarborough on Rhino, Sam Vasquez on Beer Goggles, Othmar Mueller Von Blumencron on Gannet and Argyle Campbell on Rock N' Roll got back in the game. Pollard pulled away from the fleet and cruised to win the first race. Right behind was Krantz in second and Nixon pulled off third.

With a little bit more wind, it appeared the overnight leaders were going to have a chance at redeeming themselves but it seemed that Larson and Nixon were the only two able to manage ressurection. Larson got off the line with Porter alongside fast. Bora Gulari at the helm for Chuck Holzman on Flyer, Morgan Reeser at the helm for Geoffery Pierini on Gazoo and new boat owner John Downing on USA-686 had equally good starts. The entire fleet had better speed because there was wind, 5-8 knots and it was starting to fill-in. The right side was favored, and paid off big as they piled in at the top mark: Bob McElwain on Silver, Marc Hollerbach on Fu and Nixon. Nixon beat Hollerback to the mark and challenged McElwain for the lead. Nice clean sets all the way down the line on the first downwind run as the breeze. At the leeward gate McElwain hung on rounding first, then Nixon. Downing stepped in to challenge Nixon. Downing took the lead, with Hollerbach now challenging Nixon with Reeser moving up the ranks. In the end, Downing held on and won, Hollerbach was second, Reeser grabbed third, Pollard hung in at fourth and McElwain settled for fifth. Nixon was pushed to sixth.

The last and final race of the day had a lot of speed initially with increased wind speeds up 8-10 knots then cooled toward the end, but nonetheless provided some interesting lead changes and racing conditions. After a first start general recall, getting a fantastic start, nailing the layline and first to the top mark was Reggie Fairchild on SabalMedical.com from Charleson, South Carolina. With the current being a serious factor and from Charleston, Fairchild is familiar with heavy current conditions and it showed. Great boat speed and solid boat handling contributed to a well sailed race. His only battle was with Ginson, Holzman and Pethick. As the race progressed, the wind baled and the four boats broke off from the main fleet, eventually from each other. Ginson repeatedly challenged Fairchild who very much appeared to be the strongest competitor in the race, but in the end Ginson called the shifts and won. Fairchild settled happily with second place considering the depth of the field of competition, with Gulari taking third, then Pethick.

Going into tomorrow's races and a throwout already calculated in the results, a serious change in the standings has occurred. Overnight leader Porter has been dethroned, now in fifth, by John Pollard in first overall with sixteen points total. Chris Larson managed to stay solid in second place seven points back, and Nixon remains in third. John Ginson, was also removed from his cozy, overnight second overall position down to fourth. Lea is sixth, down from fifth; Gulari is sixth, up from seventh and Campbell maintained his eighth place overall position. Simon Strauss is in ninth up from eleventh and rounding out the top ten, holding steady is John Podmajersky.

FULL OVERALL RESULTS
1.) John Pollard, Xcellent: 4, 4, 3, 1, 4, (13) = 16
2.) Chris Larson/Scott Holmgren, Rosebud: 7, 1, 2, 5, (11), 8 = 23
3.) Scott Nixon/David Ford, Lightwave Macro: (6), 6, 5, 3, 6, 5 = 25
4.) John Ginson/Eamonn O'Nolan, Bateauneuf: 2, 5, 4, 23, (25), 1 = 35
5.) Brian Porter, Full Throttle: 1, 2, 1, (22), 16, 17 = 37
6.) Stuart Simpson, Team Barbarians: 3, 3, 6, (17), 10, 15 = 37
7.) Bora Gulari/Chuck Holzman: 8, 8, 7, (34), 19, 3 = 45
8.) Argyle Campbell, Rock N' Roll: (18), 7, 9, 12, 7, 11 = 46
9.) Simon Strauss, Gill: (19), 12, 10, 4, 12, 18 = 56
10.) John Podmajersky, USA-511: 10, (18), 12, 9, 9, 16 = 56
11.) Bob Pethick, Bretwalda: (28), 17, 11, 6, 20, 4 = 58
12.) John Downing, USA-686: (29), 21, 13, 13, 1, 19 = 67
13.) Sean Scarborough, Rhino: 13, 10,14, 8, (34), 22 = 67
14.) Reggie Fairchild, SabalMedical.com: 14, 13, (21), 20, 21, 2 = 70
15.) Stan Schreyer/David Ford, Lightwave Nano: 11, 14, 22, 15, (24), 9 = 71
16.) Justin Chambers/Doug Kessler, LayLine.com: 12, 15, 26, 14, (39), 7 = 74
17.) Samson Vasquez, Beer Goggles: 20, 16, 24, 10, (28), 6 = 76
18.) Mike Krantz/Rebecca Barkley, Lamorak: 15, 27, 23, 2, (36), 21 = 88
19.) H. Scott Gregory, Team Satisfaction: 25, 20, 8, (35), 8, 30 = 91
20.) Marc Hollerbach, Fu: (31/SCP), 22, 18, 31, 2, 20, = 93
21.) Bill Carleton, Tiburon: 9, (47/DNF), 29, 11, 33, 14 = 96
22.) Martin Wedge, Eric: 21, 11, 19, (41), 13, 35 = 99
23.) Morgan Reeser/Geoffery Pierini, Gazoo: 5, (47/DSQ), 47/DSQ, 33, 3, 12 = 100
24.) John Harrison, Airbourne: 37, 29, (39), 7, 18, 10 = 101
25.) Othmar Mueller Von Blumencron, Gannet: 24, 9, 15, 25, (37) 29 = 102
26.) John Jennings/Bob Dockery, Barracuda: 27, (41), 20, 19, 22, 23 = 111
27.) Jeff Duval, Comet: 17, 19, 28, 27, 23, (32) = 114
28.) Kelly Gough/Shawn Grisham, BullsEye: (47/OCS), 23, 16, 21, 30, 25 = 115
29.) Chris Doubek, All or None: (47/OCS), 26, 17, 16, 29, 28 = 116
30.) Bob McElwain, Silver: (47/OCS), 39, 27, 26, 5, 26 = 123
31.) Kia Cox, Free-Range Lobster: 31, 28, 31, 18, 26, (36) = 134
32.) Steven Kopf, Blur: 23, 25, (32) 30, 32, 24 = 134
33.) Donald Wilson, Convexity: 26, 24, 30, 29, (35), 27 = 136
34.) Reid Collins, USA-604: 34, 31, 33, (39), 15, 31 = 144
35.) Gary Schwarting, Obsession: 16, 32, 37, 40, 27, (41) = 152
36.) Peter Cucci, El Matador: 33, 33, 25, 28, (40), 33 = 152
37.) Bernard Baker, The Artful Dodger: 30, 37, 38, 38, 17, (44) = 160
38.) Larry Sellers, Abby Normal: (47/OCS), 38, 47/DNS, 24, 14, 47/OCS = 170
39.) Jim Golden, Chillout: 35, 30, 35, 37, (45), 42 = 179
40.) Marc Steyn, Vapour Trail: 38, 34, 34, (42), 42, 38 = 186
41.) Charlie Hess, Shmoover: 40, 40, 36, 32, (44), 39 = 187
42.) Randy Wallace, Crazy Rooster: 41, 36, 40, (43), 31, 40 = 188
43.) Mike Royer, Strumpet: 36, (47/DNF), 47/DNS, 36, 38, 37 = 194
44.) Clive Daem, Shisayo: 39, 35, (47/DNF), 44, 43, 34 = 195
45.) Tony Stanley, Hermes: (47SCP), 47/DNS, 47/DNS, 47/DNF, 41, 43 = 225
46.) Duncan MacKenzie, Moving Target: 41/SCP, (47/DNF), 47/DNS, 47/DNS, 47/DNS, 47/DNC = 229

CORINTHIAN HEAT

As if the shakeup on the overall wasn't enough, the Corinthian competition saw the same. Friday's overall winner is John Harrison from Cocoa, Florida. John and his team of Craig Long, Mike Young and Jim Lacy had an outstanding day on the water - deserving of the top corinthian trophy for the day. In second place is Bob McElwain. His outstanding performance during the second race kept him in the running. Justin Chambers and his crew of Doug Kessler, Doug Thome and John Fewell took third place for the day.

TOP FIVE CORINTHIAN RESULTS
1.) John Harrison, Airbourne
2.) Bob McElwain, Silver
3.) Justin Chambers, LayLine.com
4.) Sean Scarborough, Rhino
5.) Bob Dockery, Barracuda

Special thanks for 2006 U.S. Melges 24 National Championship sponsors: Latis Yachting Solutions, LayLine, Melges Performance Sailboats and Quantum Sails.

For more information, please contact Joy Dunigan, USMCA Class Communications Director and 2006 U.S. Melges 24 National Championship Press Officer via email at communications@usmelges24.com or by phone at (912) 398-5776.