Still Too Close to Call After Four Days in Key West
From Joy Dunigan of the USMCA - The fabulous weather continued for Thursday's racing - amazing blue skies, warm temperatures with the breeze a little bit lighter than yesterday. In the morning on the docks, teams scrambled to prep the boats, gather the kits and for some morning prayers included more wind. But even with hopes a plenty, out on the course it was a carbon copy of Wednesday's conditions.
Overnight, Gabrio Zandona driving for Giovanni Maspero on "ITA-550 Joe Fly" was still leading the overall results by four points. Dave Ullman on "USA-505 Pegasus 505" lashed out at the competition by closing the gap, moving up to second which also won him Premiere Racing's Boat of the Day honors. Andrea Rachelli at the helm for Franco Rossini "USA-521 Blu Moon" slipped to third after an extremely tough day of racing.
After a slight postponement and starting line adjustment, race one started with a course bearing of 065 degrees, winds 5-8, initially fluctuating up to 10-12 knots. All the leaders looking to the left for wind and speed. In particular, Alan Field came out of the left with speed, Riccardo Simoneschi "ITA-693 Giacomel Audi Racing" on his heels. Chris Larson helming for Scott Holmgren on "USA-631 Rosebud" found just the right spot on the layline jumping ahead of Simoneschi. Into the top mark it was Field, Larson and Simoneschi respectively, each with good sets headed for the gate. Downwind, the breeze got lighter. Field with a slight speed advantage, match raced Simoneschi the entire leg. Larson went out on the right which paid off nicely. Zandona who rounded fifth looked to pickup some positions. A course change was posted at the gate with a new bearing of 095 degrees. Upwind Field lost his grasp on the lead. Larson who just managed to get by stayed out front and had really good speed rounding the mark a boat length ahead of him. Zandona worked his way back into the top three rounding third. Downwind spelled disaster for Joe Fly as trouble with the spinnaker stalled them mid-run costing them in the results. Larson went on to grab the win, with Field almost immediately behind in second. Francois Bernac at the helm for Philippe Ligot on "FRA-571 Partner & Partners" had a terrific race grabbing third.
Race two got off on time with a few individual recalls. The leaders followed suit as with the previous races heading left getting jump on the fleet. Upwind, the contention for the lead spot was intense with the left side favored. Almost the entire fleet was on port tack coming into the weathermark. Bernac, Eiviend Melleby helming for Lars Horn Johannessen on "NOR-366 Siste Stein" and John Jennings helming for Bob Dockery on "USA-549 Barracuda" were looking very strong. Once again Corinthian player extraordinaire Bruce Ayres on "USA-637 Monsoon" put his Melges 24 on high speed rounding first, aggressively chased by Bernac and Melleby. Downwind Ayres held his own rounding the gate first, Brenac in second and Melleby in third. The breeze got even lighter as all three headed right. As the race progressed the gap between Ayres in first and Bernac were neck-and-neck at the last leeward gate. Larson on the opposite gate grabbed second just ahead of Bernac. Behind Larson was Jennings heading left. Leader Ayres went right for the finish, a direction that would take him from first to fourteenth place. Literally out of left field a surprising jump on the fleet, John Pollard on "GBR-569 Xcellent" got a nice lift, played the inside (just like yesterday) and now in contention to win. The finish was fantastic as Pollard looked strong coming in on port. Jennings, also a Corinthian gained some ground and got back in the hunt right at the end on starboard and tacked too early leaving Pollard, whose speed was quite good to make another attempt at finishing first. Pollard took the win by a hair! Larson pulled up to take third, Melleby was fourth and Jack Franco at the helm for new boat owner John Downing on "USA-686" having a nice race finishing fifth.
As we look ahead to Friday's racing, in true Melges 24 style we are down to the wire. Only five points separate current leader Zandona and Dave Ullman in second place. It gets closer in third as Andrea Rachelli at the helm for Franco Rossini on "SUI-521 Blu Moon" is only one point away from Ullman. Two points further back is Simoneschi fourth and Melleby in fifth. This championship title, one of the most coveted in one design sailing is still very much up for grabs.
TOP TEN RESULTS
01. GABRIO ZANDONA/GIOVANNI MASPERO 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, (20), 12, 12 = 33
02. DAVE ULLMAN 7, 6, 5, 5, 1, 7, (13), 7 = 38
03. ANDREA RACHELLI/FRANCO ROSSINI 2, 7, 2, (10), 5, 8, 6, 9 = 39
04. RICCARDO SIMONESCHI 4, 9, 3, (17), 6, 5, 8, 6 = 41
05. EIVIND MELLEBY/ LARS HORN JOHANNESSEN 3, 1, (12), 7, 10, 10, 7, 4 = 42
06. FRANCOIS BERNAC/PHILIPPE LIGOT 15, 5, 9, 2 , (37), 6, 3, 8 = 48
07. CHRIS LARSON/SCOTT HOLMGREN 6, 10, 11, 11, 12, (18), 1, 3 = 54
08. JOHN GIMSON/EAMON O'NOLAN 12, 3, 10, 6, 4, 14, 10, (20) = 59
09. CEDRIC POULIGNY/MILES QUINTON 5, 4, 8, 12, 7, 4, 20, (28) = 60
10. ALAN FIELD 13, 13, 13, 1, 8, 11, 2, (17) = 61
CORINTHIAN HEAT
Today's amazing performances in the Corinthian competition today was just as thrilling and exciting as seeing all the overall action go on as well. In race two of the day the incredible crew work, boat handling and speed seen in Bob Dockery's "Barracuda" crew and Bruce Ayres' Melges 24 "Monsoon" Team. Ayres lead the entire fleet during race two for four of five legs. Dockery came to the rescue on the finish and battled it out with the top teams in the world. Other outstanding performances were witnessed by Chris Doubek on "All or None" from Barrington Hills, Illinois.
FULL DAILY CORINTHIAN RESULTS
01. BOB DOCKERY
02. BRUCE AYRES
03. CHRIS DOUBEK
04. SIMON STRAUSS
05. HENRI SAMUEL
06. OTHMAR VON BLUMENCRON
07. SEAN SCARBOROUGH
08. LOREN COLAHAN
09. LANCE SMOTHERMAN
10. GARY SCHWARTING
11. JIM GOLDEN
12. GUY MOSSMAN
13. MARTY JENSEN
14. TOM SINGLE
15. CLIVE DAEM
16. GREG HOULIHAN
Special thanks to professional photographer Andrew Sims. He served as the official Melges 24 photographer for the day. Check back to his web site often as he will be uploading some great shots from one of the classes favorite regattas very soon.