2017 Melges 20 U.S. National Championship - Nail-biting final day

by Melges 20 on 20 Aug 2017 A massive round of congratulations is in order for newly crowned Drew Freides on Pacific Yankee. He and his team which includes Morgan Reeser and Charlie Smythe are the 2017 Melges 20 U.S. National Champions.

It took eight challenging races over the course of three days and Freides' extremely consistent performances to ultimately win the event by one point, ahead of John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti finishing second. Jason Michas' Midnight Blue came third, Liam Kilroy's Wildman was fourth and Jim Wilson's Oleander rounded out the final top five standings.

As Friday's rain gave way to a hot sun and blue skies, the wind went with it and Saturday morning looked like the perfect day for water skiing instead of sailboat racing. After a brief delay, PRO Anderson Reggio sent the fleet to the outside ocean race course to take advantage of a slowly filling seabreeze. As teams made their way past infamous Castle Hill, they were greeted with 6-7 ft swell, confused seas and no wind, leaving a portion of the fleet questioning the decision to enjoy Thames Street the night prior.

After a brief postponement to let the breeze continue to build and settle, Race Seven got underway with 6-7 kts out of the Southwest. Making no mistake about his intentions to seal the win, Freides started at the boat, tacked, legged it out into the right corner and took advantage of a nice starboard tack angle and pressure. The only boat besting Freides was Wilson who nailed the first beat on the right side, leading wire-to-wire for the win. Freides followed in second, and Daniel Thielman on KUAI was third. Kilroy had a tough time getting back from the left side of the course, but fought hard to grab eighth. The spread in points gave Freides the overall win with a race to spare.

In the final race of the day, Kilroy showed that his first race on Saturday was a fluke and took his fourth bullet of the series, cementing a second place finish overall. Capping off a stellar day, Wilson grabbed second, moving him up to finish the event fifth overall. Liam Kilroy sailed consistent to finish fourth. A very fast and well sailed team on Midnight Blue capped off the event with a final day 4-5 scoreline to secure third overall.

A Very Special Thanks

As always, thanks to all the teams who participated - without you this event would not have been possible. A round to appreciation goes out the PRO Anderson Reggio and his Sail Newport Race Committee, most notably Emily Greagori and Vinnie Pattavina for a very professionally executed and managed event. Special thanks to goods provided by Farmer Willies Ginger Beer and BoatBrim.

Next Up

Eyes will shift back to Europe one last time before the World Championship hosted by the New York Yacht Club for the Russian Open on September 1-3, the fifth and final event of the 2017 Melges 20 World League. Beyond the Worlds, two final events in Japan will take place, and the 2017-18 Miami Winter Series cranks up again in December.

Top Five Results (FINAL - After Eight Races, One Discard)

1.) Drew Freides, PACIFIC YANKEE; [4]-1-3-2-2-1-2-4 = 15
2.) John Kilroy, SAMBA PA TI; 5-2-1-1-1-5-[8]-1 = 16
3.) Jason Michas, MIDNIGHT BLUE; 3-5-4-[7]-3-3-4-5 = 27
4.) Liam Kilroy, WILDMAN; 2-8-2-3-6-2-[15]-6 = 29
5.) Jim Wilson, OLEANDER; 6-9-6-5-[19/DNF]-10-1-2 = 39

Top Five 2017 Melges World League Results (After Ten Events)

1.) Igor Rytov, RUSSIAN BOGATYRS = 116 pts.
2.) Vladimir Prosikhin, NIKA = 72 pts.
3.) Achille Onorato, MASCALZONE LATINO = 64 pts.
4.) Krzysztof Krempec, MAG TINY = 62 pts.
5.) Rodney Jones, AUDI SUNSHINE COAST; 58 pts.

Top Five 2017 Melges World League, North America Results (After Three Events)

1.) Drew Freides, PACIFIC YANKEE = 57 pts.
2.) Liam Kilroy, WILDMAN = 49 pts.
3.) Rob Wilber, CINGHIALE = 46 pts.
4.) Igor Rytov, RUSSIAN BOGATYRS = 46 pts.
5.) Daniel Thielman, KUAI = 44 pts.

2017 Melges 20 National Championship - Preliminary Cumulative Results

Bow Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 T O Total National Championship Racing One Design Division Melges 20 1. 300   USA 300 PACIFIC YANKEE Melges 20 Drew Freides 4 1 3 2 2 1 2 4 [4] 15.0 2. 313   USA 13131 Samba Pa Ti Melges 20 John Kilroy 5 2 1 1 1 5 8 1 [8] 16.0 3. 228   USA 228 Midnight Blue Melges 20 Jason Michas 3 5 4 7 3 3 4 5 [7] 27.0 4. 311   USA 311 WILDMAN Melges 20 Liam Kilroy 2 8 2 3 6 2 15 6 [15] 29.0 5. 250   USA 250 OLEANDER Melges 20 James Wilson 6 9 6 5 19/DNF 10 1 2 [19] 39.0 6. 414   USA 414 CINGHIALE Melges 20 Rob Wilber 8 4 7 4 4 9 7 19/DNS [19] 43.0 7. 76   USA 7676 KUAI Melges 20 Daniel Thielman 9 3 10 12 5 7 3 8 [12] 45.0 8. 305   USA 305 Midnight Sun Audi Melges 20 Alexis Michas 7 6 5 8 8 16 9 3 [16] 46.0 9. 898   RUS 898 RUSSIAN BOGATYRS Melges 20 Vladimir Prosikhin 1 7 11 6 7 6 13 11 [13] 49.0 10. 306   USA 306 TALISMAN Melges 20 John Bailey 14 10 9 14 10 8 5 7 [14] 63.0 11. 15   ISV 1315 CRUZAN RHODE Melges 20 Timothy Pitts 12 11 8 13 13 11 6 12 [13] 73.0 12. 265   RUS 265 RUSSOTRANS Melges 20 Yurii Morozov 13 13 13 15 16 4 12 10 [16] 80.0 13. 280   USA 280 BOBSLED Melges 20 Bob Moran 16 14 14 10 11 12 11 9 [16] 81.0 14. 225   USA 225 Flygfisk Melges 20 Tom Kassberg 10 16 12 9 9 14 14 14 [16] 82.0 15. 200   JPN 271 Gimlet Melges 20 Tamotsu Aritomo 11 15 15 11 12 15 10 13 [15] 87.0 16. 308   AUS 308 Dark Star Melges 20 John Bacon 15 12 16 17 15 17 16 15 [17] 106.0 17. 196   JPN 224 TEMPUS Melges 20 Koji Matsumoto 18 18 19/DNF 16 14 13 17 16 [19] 112.0 18. 227   USA 227 KINETIC Melges 20 Bob Hayward 17 17 19/DNS 19/DNS 19/DNS 19/DNS 19/DNS 19/DNS [19] 129.0