TEAM GILL WIN 2ND ANNUAL OCEAN REEF REGATTA

Melges 24 Owner Karen Gottwald, GL70 "Pied Piper" Owner and Ocean Reef Club member Dick Jennings hosted their 2nd annual event this past week at the Ocean Reef Club. Last year this event started as a fun little invitational regatta that Dick and Karen hosted out of one of the big sport fish resorts in Florida. The idea was that it certainly had the potential for awesome sailing in flat water but also to have a all-inclusive style regatta at a very nice resort for a reasonable price. For the 2nd year in a row they succeeded in both areas. The sailing was great and the outdoor meals were nothing short of spectacular.

The first year we had nine and just a very short list of boats were invited. Not to exclude anyone but simply to test the waters at this huge very nice private sport fishing resort. It worked very well on year one. Dick and Karen after that experience decided to raise the entry list cap or ceiling to 30 boats. At one time we had 22 commitments but ended up with 15 teams. Still a very nice number. If you ever have any questions about coming to Ocean Reef for a Melges 24 event or just to vacation you should contact anyone one of the owners below. I know all the answers and information that comes back to you will be very positive.

Plans are under way for the 3rd annual event already and there is now very serious talk about putting a bid in for the World Championship. For our European friends please check in with Quentin Strauss and Nigel Young to get feedback on their experience. Jeff Jones of the U.S. Class, Karen Gottwald, Dick Jennings, PRO Hank Stuart and the management of Ocean Reef have already started discussions. The sailing is as good as Key West or better. You are inside the reef though so no Gulf Stream worries and smoother water. This would make the venue fair for all teams and certainly a lot more fun to have a balanced and fair sailing area without any big secrets.

Now on to the racing this past weekend. While a smaller regatta there was absolutely no lack of talent and serious teams. We also had some new boats and new members to the class. One of the most important things we can do as class members is to welcome the new teams to our group. This week we had a couple of new teams sailing in their first event. Jack Jennings of Chicago who recently purchased M24 510 from Team Pegasus sailed in his first event and had some moments up towards the front. Welcome to the class Jack. Some tough teams and teams prepping for Key West Race Week made up the rest of the group. 2002 World Champions Jeff Ecklund and Harry Melges reversed roles with Jeff steering his first M24 event. Sheldon Ecklund who has been sailing with our class for a year now had some of his regulars that included Hans Melges and Judd Hirschberg plus Morgan Reeser. Neil Sullivan sailing his boat for the last time until he acquires his next boat had a very good team that included Doug Clark. Jeff Jones had Doug Fisher and his regular team aboard. Some veterans from other classes sailed here this week and they included Perry Lewis who sailed with Brian Torresen. Kate Mullins and John Sherlock had their very good team and also aboard was Max Skelly. Scott Gregory who is playing a key role in the M24 S.E. Circuit growth really had a good team this week and should be very tough at Key West. The neat thing was that the group was really tight sailing on the course. A couple of boats were off the pace but were physically sailing their boats well. With this group using older blown out sails really puts you behind the 8 ball quickly.

PRO Hank Stuart and his entire team really did a great job. If you are ever looking for 1st Class PRO then contact Hank. He sails out of Rochester, N.Y. and all contact information can be found through U.S.Sailing. Hank is one of us when it comes to one design sailing and really understands what we are looking for. The first four races were all W4s and the last race was a W2. We had one mile legs for all legs of the five races except the fourth leg of the 2nd race which was shortened slightly to beat a dying afternoon breeze. Hank intentionally set up the windward offset so that you were close reaching for 5 boat lengths then you had the quick left turn and the set.

Starts were very balanced and equal which was nice. Like last year Dick Jennings and Hank Stuart promptly called co-chair Karen Gottwald, his son Jack Jennings and one other boat on the first race just to let everyone know it was a level playing field J . Maybe 5 or 6 boats got busted by the line cops during the five races so that was nice to know current was not a factor and we were obviously given good lines to start with.

Sets were a premium because for the most part we had right hand courses all weekend when going upwind which put a premium on gybing to port quickly when going downwind. Also the port gybe was much faster on the wave set. All of the runs were favored center to center left going down.

Gates were fun. Lots of excitement but no protests or collisions to speak of. The PRO gave us a gate width that was 1/3rd the starting line length for the 15 boats and that worked very well. The waters off Key Largo inside the reef are much like Key West and relatively shallow so quick changes on marks are very easy for the PRO and his teams.

The competition was really good like I mentioned earlier. I feel a number of different teams could have won this event if just a few little things here and there might have been different. The Quentin Strauss team from Great Britain in the end survived and ended up with a very nice victory. His team mates included members from"Black Seal" and team "Gill". The Ecklund brothers in their first head to head meeting as Melges 24 skippers had some fun with each other on the course with Jeff just edging out Sheldon for 2nd and 3rd. Nice job to all three teams.

We had five different race winners which was really neat to see. That alone shows the balance among the group. One of the exciting wins for sure was seeing Karen Gottwald win the last race. Karen and her "Cagey" team rounded sixth at the last weather mark just behind fifth place Jeff Ecklund on "Star". "Cagey" gybed to port first, then "Star" this proved to be the move. Things were lining up for a very close finish. "Star" had just worked out about a boat length on "Cagey" as they were approaching the downwind finish on starboard but it would be very close if they tried to gybe and cross "Cagey" to win at the finish. Instead a tactical error by "Star" rounding a gate buoy just upwind of the finish sealed the victory for "Cagey".

Enough thanks cannot be given to Karen Gottwald, Dick Jennings, Hank Stuart, the Ocean Reef Club which included Leesa Crayne and Bob Ecuyer plus all of their teams. Leesa and Bob really made you feel comfortable, welcome and made sure that you always had everything you needed. The folks at Allied Marine were great with the launching and retrieving. Check out www.oceanreefclub.com for more information on this great site.

See you in Key West - sign up now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric Hood
Melges Performance Sailboats & North Sails Zenda