Monsoon Takes Leadership In Charleston
April 16, 2016 - Charleston, U.S. - With eight races complete, Bruce Ayres on Monsoon took over the lead on Saturday with a slim one point lead.. Friday’s wintery conditions were barely a memory after today’s picture-perfect Day 2 at Sperry Charleston Race Week, with 15-20 knots of wind inshore and over 20 outside the jetties. The conditions allowed for racing across all the courses at the spring’s premier event despite seas that ranged from ‘bumpy’ to ‘scary’ according to crews returning from the offshore race course.
Richmond, VA’s Travis Weisleder (Lucky Dog/Gill Race Team) last won Charleston Race Week nearly a decade ago, before taking a hiatus from the Melges 24 class, and thie College of Charleston alum is returning to the class with a bang in 2016. He sits just a point behind former world champ Bruce Ayres (Monsoon) after eight races, including a nearly four-minute smashing of the fleet in the final race of the day – an unprecedented victory in a fleet that usually sees dozens of boats cross the finish line within a minute. “That race was a lot of fun, but look – the forecast was right, the current relief was right, and so we went as far right as we could,” said Weisleder, who attributes his good success despite some rust to lots of recent work on speed and tune and lots of local knowledge. “John Bowden, one of our crew, lives and makes sails here, I raced here, so we’re not going to miss that one.” As usual in the Melges 24 fleet, it will, most likely, come down to the final race. “This is definitely a training regatta for us, but we think we’re fast enough to win it all. We’ll see tomorrow!” said Weisleder.
©2016 Tim Wilkes | Sperry Charleston Race Week
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Melges 24 (One Design - 29 Boats)
1. Monsoon, Bruce Ayres , USA - 8 -1 -1 -2 -2 -1 -1 -[9] ; 16
2. Lucky Dog / Gill Race Team, Travis Weisleder , USA - 2 -4 -2 -3 -[14] -2 -3 -1 ; 17
3. Helly Hansen, Tim Healy , USA - 7 -2 -3 -[11] -7 -3 -6 -6 ; 34
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