NEAR PERFECT CONDITIONS FOR THE MELGES 24S ON DAY TWO

Day two of the Acura SORC 2001 brought near perfect conditions for races 3 and 4 in the Melges 24 Class.

Racing got underway at lunchtime in 6-10 knots on flat water. The first start was heavily port biased resulting in a major log-jam at the port end and a general recall. The class got away clean on the second attempt and five boats quickly broke away from the fleet as they picked their way up the middle of the course. Brian Porter, Morgan Reeser, Harry Melges, Keith Musto and Kent Hagar were the five that got away and had tremendous racing all the way round the course. Boat speed was everything on the runs in the marginal planing conditions with places changing every few seconds. Down the final run Porter finally managed to grab and hang onto the lead with Musto, Reeser, Hagar and Melges pursing him over the line in that order.

By race four the breeze was up to 12-14 knots and the chop was starting to build with the increase. Again the top boats took the mid line up the course, tacking on the oscillating breeze all the way. Melges, Porter, Reeser and Musto again broke away, joined this time by Argyle Campbell. By the start of the first run the wind was up to 16 knots giving more consistent planing conditions although concentration was still required to keep the boat from dropping back off the plane. The lead changed constantly through the race and any five of the boats could still have won it coming round the final top mark. Eventually Melges got the better of Porter, Reeser grabbed third and Campbell and Musto took fourth and fifth respectively.

Going into the final day Harry Melges leads Morgan Reeser with Brian Porter in third and Keith Musto in fourth. With only 8 points between the top four boats yet again the Melges 24 result will go down to the final race and we can expect more great racing tomorrow.

Provisional Overall Results: (Full Results at acurasorc.com)