NERLINGER LEADING THE MELGES 24 FLEET IN ST PETERSBURG

From Joy Dunigan of the USMCA - Just shy of a three hour long postponement — that honestly, had everyone worried and wondering if the sailing gods were going to turn their backs on the fleet two days in a row, lifted just before noon. With reports of wind coming in from 195 at 4-5 knots and filling in fast, everyone scrambled, leaping onto boats and literally jammed the harbor in outgoing fashion.

And sure enough, all thirty-two Melges 24 teams arrived on the course to acceptable racing conditions. Despite an anticipated light air day, it was warm and the sunshine plentiful under crystal clear blue skies.

All the teams made it through the first start unscathed of a general or any individual recalls which commenced just before 1:30 p.m. with winds out of the southwest. Corinthian sailor supreme Bob Dockery shot off the line with a lot of speed. The fleet was split right down the middle as they sailed to the weathermark, with the right becoming more favored and paying off big as the fleet moved closer. Especially for Paul Hulsey. Right from the start Hulsey maintained the lead with Dockery on his heels to the finish. "We got lucky, breezed up the middle and won. We had a lot of fun. Glad that we got three races in." said Hulsey. Dockery took second place, John Harrison was third, Eric Nerlinger was fourth and Steve Jones at the helm of Sick Puppy was fifth.

Race two commenced almost immediately. Still under prevailing sunny skies, light air and noticably cooler tempatures the teams went back to racing. At the weathermark the rounding was tight, a sign that the course setting was perfect. This time around, Bora Gulari driving for Rob Bunn on Rumblur sprung from the fleet, coming in strong from the right to win just moments ahead of Nerlinger in second. Dockery was back in true form landing third and Steve Jones grabbed fourth, followed by Scott Gregory on Team Satisfaction in fifth.

Just before 4 o'clock, race three's course was being set and the M24s were ready to go at it again, especially if the wind would allow it. After a clean start, Nerlinger and Gulari match raced coming into the top mark. Gulari got the upperhand as the two tucked around and made their way to the offset, both teams successfully setting the spinnakers and firing up the speed. They didn't go unchallenged as Geoffery Pierini came around in third, Robin Clement rounded fourth with Jones knocking on his back door in fifth, all three very close behind the leaders. As the race progressed, 2004 St. Pete NOOD Champion Doug Fisher pulled out his speed card and cashed in at the finish only a boat length ahead of the Gulari. Challenged by Nerlinger, Gulari took second place by less than half a boat length. "We had a lot of challenges. Keeping up with Bill Hardesty's expectations was tough. We had some good starts. We made some boat handling mistakes, but we recovered," said Nerlinger who was third, followed by Dockery in fourth, then Clement fifth, Pierini was sixth just beating out Jones in seventh.

Going into Sunday's racing, which we hope will happen - weather conditions are going to be similar if not an exact carbon copy of Saturday. Eric Nerlinger is leading the Melges 24 fleet with nine points tied with second place finisher Bob Dockery. Steve Jones and his Sick Puppy crew had a fantastic day seated third overall.

FULL RESULTS
1. Eric Nerlinger 4, 2, 3 = 9
2. Bob Dockery 2, 3, 4 = 9
3. Steve Jones 5, 4, 7 = 16
4. Bora Gulari/Rob Bunn 14, 1, 2 - 17
5. Doug Fisher 13, 7, 1 = 21
6. Paul Hulsey 1, 13, 8 = 22
7. Kenneth Gray 8, 6, 12 = 26
8. Shawn Vowels 9,9,10 = 28
9. Geoffery Pierini 15, 8, 6 = 29
10. Scott Gregory 7, 5, 19 = 31

CORINTHIAN HEAT
Bob Dockery leads the Corinthian Division after one day of racing. He is no stranger to the Corinthian title and knows how to command this level of racing. He is by far one of the most focused competitors in the fleet. With so much heavy-duty competition, it will be interesting to see if he can hold on to the top spot. Other strong contenders is Steve Jones and Bora Gulari finishing today's racing respectively.

1. Bob Dockery
2. Steve Jones
3. Rob Bunn
4. Kenneth Gray
5. Scott Gregory

Check out full results at www.usmelges24.com