Melges 32 World Champion Goombay Smash

by Joy Dunigan on 25 Sep 2011 The Melges 32 World Championship, hosted by the Real Club Nautico de Palma, has come to an exciting end in Palma de Mallorca, Spain with congratulations being in order for the newly crowned champion William Douglass, tactician Chris Larson, and the crew of Marco Constant, Andy Escourt, Stu Pollard, Mark Towill, Chris Welch and Alan Nakanishi.

After a long, intense, and rainy on land postponement, around two o'clock a short trip out to the race course left the 29-strong fleet waiting for the wind. Unfortunately, it never arrived and no racing was able to take place leaving Douglass and his incredible team World Champions.

A fine congratulations also goes to second overall finisher John Kilroy on Samba Pa Ti as he fought hard to win the Championship, but lost by a single point. Lanfranco Cirillo aboard Fantastica, with Michele Paoletti and team are happy with their third place finish, however like Kilroy, would have loved the opportunity to have another go at the title.

In retrospect, Saturday, the final day of racing was the polar opposite of days past. Teams awoke to cloudy skies with heavy dark clouds and light fickle breezes on the last day of the 2011 Melges 32 World Championship, hosted by Real Club Nautico de Palma (RCNP). Every few minutes or so, the Race Committee and staff of RCNP worked very hard to first, keep teams well-informed of the course conditions and, importantly were on key for fast changing racing possibilities. In the meantime, sailors spent the morning gathered in the bar and enclosed patio areas glued to rugby on television.

In the end, racing on Saturday was not meant to be. The results after day four, stand as final.

Top Ten Results (Final):

1.) William Douglass/Chris Larson, Goombay Smash; [28]-3-12-6-1-7-10-2 = 41
2.) John Kilroy/Vasco Vascotto, Samba Pa Ti; 5-1-10-1-13-2-[28]-10 = 42
3.) Lanfranco Cirillo/Michele Paoletti, Fantastica; 10-9-3-2-2-[23]-3-13 = 42
4.) Yukihiro Ishida/Hamish Pepper, Yasha Samurai; 1-[24]-2-13-7-4-7-18 = 52
5.) Edoardo Lupi/Branko Brcin, Torpyone; [18]-18-6-3-18-1-6-4 = 56
6.) Vincenzo Onorato/Francesco Bruni, Mascalzone Latino; 2-5-20-12-[21]-1-1 = 59
7.) Jason Carroll/Cameron Appleton, ARGO; 3-12-13-4-[22]-3-21-6 = 62
8.) Joe Woods/ Paul Goodison, Red; [15]-10-15-8-12-14-5-5 = 69
9.) Filippo Pacinotti/Danielle Cassinari, Brontolo HH; 13-11-1-[17]-17-9-4-16 = 71
10.) John Porter/Jonathan McKee, Full Throttle; 7-[15]-5-15-15-8-13-8 = Official Event Website