Othmar Mueller Von Blumencron Celebrates Another Major Melges 24 Title, 2008 Corinthian North American Champion

The battle for the Quantum Sails Trophy for the Corinthian (all amateur) Division at the 2008 Melges 24 North American Championships was between two teams from the offset - 2007 Corinthian World Champion, Othmar Mueller von Blumencron aboard USA 679 Gannet and David Dabney steering USA 626 Wireless. These two crews traded Corinthian blows throughout the championship and whilst von Blumencron maintained the upper hand throughout, there were a number of occasions when Dabney must have looked pretty big in the rear view mirror. It is an indication of the skill level in the Corinthian Division that both von Blumencron and Dabney finished inside the overall top fifteen – a fact which will have rattled several of the well know professional teams.

Victory is familiar to von Blumencron who also finished tenth overall when he clinched his 2007 worlds victory in Santa Cruz. In fact that overall result had looked set to be even better midway through the final race. In extreme conditions von Blumencron set off down the final run in the top bunch, but a snapped mast put paid to his chances of a top five championship position. Impressively, despite the rig failure, huge waves and the thirty five knot winds he still managed to surf across the finish line to secure his Corinthian world crown.

Three times voted Swiss ‘Sailor of the Year’ and a past Olympian in the single handed Finn class, von Blumencron has competed at over thirty world or European championships and has claimed six national titles in Germany and Switzerland in the Finn and Star classes. As well as his Melges 24 sailing he is also an experienced ocean skipper with more than twenty-five thousand miles under his belt and has had several successes racing his Beneteau 40.7, including PHRF Boat of the Week at Key West Race Week in 2002. When not sneaking out to go sailing von Blumencron is an executive director of a large outsourcing company.

Contrastingly, computer programmer David Dabney is a relative newcomer to the Melges 24 fleet. He raced one for the first time as tactician for Reggie Fairchild at Charleston Race Week earlier this year. A former Charleston College All American Skipper, Dabney soon got to grips with the Melges 24 and when the opportunity to drive Fairchild’s boat at the NA Championship came up he jumped at it. His finish as second Corinthian and twelfth overall is impressive when you factor in that he had not steered a Melges 24 in a race prior to this regatta. Fairchild, the current Corinthian US National Champion was also impressed with Dabney’s performance. ‘He practiced about 6 times before racing in the NAs and he performed very well in a very deep field. That's hard to do. I thought he might finish in the top half because he had good crew, but he and the team did much better than that.’

Von Blumencron now does much of his sailing in Annapolis, a factor which, when we spoke to him mid way through the regatta, he agreed was helping his performance. "We are seeing pretty typical conditions for Annapolis at this time of year. Cold air, strong winds and very shifty. It helps that we are used to sailing in this sort of weather I think." Whilst the weather was on his side von Blumencron commented that he found racing against the pro teams a challenge. "The big difference between Corinthians like us and the pro teams is the amount of time they get to practice. Normally we start off poorly and improve throughout the week. This time to counter that effect, we managed to get some practice in last week and it seems to have helped us start the regatta strongly." This strong start included a string of three single digit results in the first six races. Dabney’s opening two days were less consistent but on day two he did manage to slot in two fifth places either side of a twenty sixth, to keep von Blumencron on his toes. At the end of day two and with seven races sailed, von Blumencron held a twenty three point lead over second placed Dabney.

The following day’s two light airs races saw von Blumencron stumble slightly. In the first race of the day he recorded a twelfth but Dabney was just one place behind him. In the second race Dabney piled on the pressure with a sixth, whilst von Blumencron’s only answer was a nervy sixteenth. The margin was now down to sixteen points. On the final light airs day von Blumencron opened with a twenty first whilst Dabney chalked up a fifteenth. With von Blumencron able to discard this result, the gap narrowed by just one point and left him with a comfortable cushion over his challenger. In the final race von Blumencron was able to keep Dabney firmly in his grip, finishing thirteenth with Dabney two places back in fifteenth.

Othmar attributed his victory to a number of factors. "Local knowledge helped. Our speed has been really good this week. You are never certain of this. If you bring in some new sails it can affect your pace, but we have been fine this week and this has given us lots of confidence." He also paid tribute to his crew which included several new members. ‘This is a different team to the crew I had in Santa Cruz. Eric Mentzell is new to the Melges but has sailed with me a lot on my forty foot yacht and he has been doing bow this week. Alex Kraus also was not with me in Santa Cruz but we are old friends and we have sailed together a lot. Then we have young Chris Will, who is like a sailing celebrity as he was part of the Morning Light/Disney movie program. As a whole this is a new team and a fun team and they each have lots of talent."

Special thanks must go to Quantum Sails (www.quantumsails.com) for their generous support of the Corinthian Division at the 2008 Melges 24 North American Championship.

TOP TEN CORINTHIAN RESULTS (Final)
1.) Othmar Blumencron, Gannet
2.) David Dabney, Wireless
3.) Alex Shafer, Sweaty Betty
4.) Jim Golden, Chillout
5.) Henry Filter, Wild Child
6.) August Hernandez, High Voltage
7.) Bill Carleton, Tiburon
8.) Charlie Hess, Funtech Racing
9.) Jim Gunderson, BIG SKY
10.) Greg McCliment, Cujo

The 2008 North American Championship is sponsored by Pusser's Rum, Pusser's Caribbean Grille, Coral Reef Sailing Apparel, Gill, Melges Performance Sailboats, North Sails, Velocitek, Annapolis Wireless Internet (AWI), Harken, Sail 22, Quantum Sails, Westin Annapolis, Atlantic Yacht Rigging and Stuart Simpson's Team Barbarians. The Melges 24 Class and the Eastport Yacht Club are extremely proud to be partnered with these outstanding companies and thank them for their generous support of the 2008 Melges 24 North American Championship.