Newport delivers more of a good thing at Melges 20 World Championship

Justin Quigg's CHARACTER 2.0 leads the all-amatuer division at the 2017 Melges 20 World Championship - October 2-7 - Newport, R.I. - USA Barracuda Communication

Daniel Thielman's KUAI (USA-7676) charges the windward mark ahead of Caleb Armstrong's MOBY (USA-213) and Alessandro Rombelli's STIG (ITA-65) © Barracuda Communication

As the fleet blasted off the line to start Race Four, sailors quickly figured out that while the breeze direction was the same as the day before, Day Two had a new bag of tricks. Longtime Melges 20 sailor Daniel Thielman and his team on KUAI have showed solid speed all week and they managed to pick some nice shifts and eek out a bullet over a hard charging Jim Wilson and his Oleander team. Grabbing third place was the New Bedford Yacht Club team led by Caleb Armstrong on MOBY. Drama was beginning to unfold as Wilson was mounting a charge to take the lead from overnight leader Drew Freides on Pacific Yankee who impressively climbed back from a deep first windward mark to finish seventh.

Drew Freides' PACIFIC YANKEE (USA-300) © Barracuda Communication

After a small adjustment to the starting line to compensate for a pulsing left shift and one general recall, Race Five began. Despite the lefties, teams that were able to work the top right's combination of stronger breeze and favorable ebb tide were able to make big gains. Using his ample Melges 20 World Championship experience, John Kilroy on Samba PA TI put together a convincing race win followed by Igor Rytov's Russian Bogatyrs. The younger Kilroy, Liam on Wildman, had an amazing first downwind going from 17th to third to finish on the podium.

Igor Rytov's RUSSIAN BOGATYRS (RUS-898) and Bob Moran's BOBSLED (USA-280) blast downwind. © Barracuda Communication

With the fleet thinking that it was a race to the deep right corner up the first beat, the Sou'Wester threw a curveball and a big left shift descended after the start allowing those who extended straight off the line to dig into the leftie and find themselves in a good place at the top mark. 2016 Melges 32 World Champion Alessandro Rombelli on STIG had a great start and extended left to lead at the top mark followed by Armstrong and Alexis Michas on Midnight Sun.

In a heated race all around the track, Rombelli held on for the bullet with Michas in second and a hard charging Cinghiale Team with Rob Wilber at the helm made a gain on the last downwind to grab third. A happy Rombelli commented at the dock, 'The last race, we managed another good start. We were faster upwind than the previous start, so we managed to sail to the mark in first position and held it until the end. It was very difficult today as the conditions were trickier than yesterday, but we sailed a great race.'

Thank you to New York Yacht Club for serving as hosts, and our chief sponsors Melges USA and North Sails.

Hammer Down

After two days of epic World Championship racing, Justin Quigg's Character 2.0 extended his lead ever so slightly in the Corinthian division over Cesar Gomes Neto's Portobello. Sweden's Johannes Lind-Widestam on Intermezzo remains in third.

Post race, sailors gathered at NYYC Harbor Court for the daily awards hosted by Team Slingshot and Red Sky, with specialty team drinks and an impressive raw bar.

The forecast for Thursday, Day Three in Newport at the World Championship, calls for a whole new scenario - light breeze. Already, there is a great deal of discussion about which course (inside or outside) the fleet might race tomorrow.

Top Five World Championship Results (Preliminary - After Six Races, One Discard)

1.) (USA) Drew Freides, PACIFIC YANKEE; 1-2-2-[7]-6-7 = 18
2.) (USA) John Kilroy Jr., SAMBA PA TI; 11-3-6-6-1-[13] = 27
3.) (USA) Jim Wilson, OLEANDER; 4-1-5-2-[20]-17 = 29
4.) (RUS) Vladimir Proshikin, NIKA; 5-6-[39/DNF]-4-4-12 = 31
5.) (USA) Daniel Thielman, KUAI; 9-4-4-1-15-[39/DNF] = 33

2017 Five Melges 20 World League Results (After 12 Events Complete)

1.) (RUS) Igor Rytov, RUSSIAN BOGATYRS = 136 pts.
2.) (RUS) Vladimir Prosikhin, NIKA = 95 pts.
3.) (ITA) Achille Onorato, MASCALZONE LATINO JR. = 82 pts.
4.) (USA) Drew Freides, PACIFIC YANKEE = 77 pts.
5.) (RUS) Alexander Ezhkov, PIROGOVO = 73 pts.

2017 Melges 20 World 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 T O Total World Championship Racing One Design Division Melges 20 1. 1   USA 300 Pacific Yankee Melges 20 Drew Freides 1 2 2 7 6 7 [7] 18.0 2. 313   USA 13131 Samba Pa Ti Melges 20 John Kilroy 11 3 6 6 1 13 [13] 27.0 3. 250   USA 250 Oleander Melges 20 James Wilson 4 1 5 2 20 17 [20] 29.0 4. 309   RUS 309 Nika Melges 20 Vladimir Prosikhin 5 6 39/DNF 4 4 12 [39] 31.0 5. 76   USA 7676 Kuai Melges 20 Daniel Thielman 9 4 4 1 15 39/DNF [39] 33.0 6. 311   USA 311 Wildman Melges 20 Liam Kilroy 7 5 12 8 3 18 [18] 35.0 7. 65   ITA 65 Stig Melges 20 Alessandro Rombelli 10 9 11 12 9 1 [12] 40.0 8. 301   MON 301 Raya Melges 20 Matteo Marenghi Vaselli 8 11 15 9 8 6 [15] 42.0 9. 898   RUS 898 Russian Bogatyrs Melges 20 Igor Rytov 2 19 3 23 2 28 [28] 49.0 10. 217   USA 217 Slingshot Melges 20 Wes Whitmyer Jr 6 7 8 10 18 21 [21] 49.0 11. 8   USA 8 Shimmer Melges 20 Russell Lucas 20 13 7 14 7 9 [20] 50.0 12. 228   USA 228 Midnight Blue Melges 20 Jason Michas 28 8 9 13 10 11 [28] 51.0 13. 414   USA 414 Cinghiale Melges 20 Rob Wilber 3 28 1 26 22 3 [28] 55.0 14. 213   USA 213 Moby Melges 20 Caleb Armstrong 24 31 16 3 13 4 [31] 60.0 15. 14   USA 14 Red Sky Sailing Team Melges 20 Paul Reilly 16 17 13 15 11 5 [17] 60.0 16. 305   USA 305 Midnight Sun Melges 20 Alexis Michas 21 33 20 16 5 2 [33] 64.0 17. 50   ITA 50 Fremito d'Arja Melges 20 Dario Levi 22 20 19 5 32 8 [32] 74.0 18. 23   ITA 23 Mascalzone Latino Jr Melges 20 Achille Onorato 19 12 23 11 16 25 [25] 81.0 19. 229   CAN 229 Character 2.0 (Corinthian) Melges 20 Justin Quigg 18 15 18 18 21 15 [21] 84.0 20. 47   RUS 47 Kotyara Melges 20 Oleg Evdokimenko 12 14 22 20 17 31 [31] 85.0 21. 306   USA 306 Talisman Melges 20 John Bailey 15 18 21 17 19 16 [21] 85.0 22. 304   USA 304 Merga Melges 20 Drew Wierda 14 10 10 24 34 34 [34] 92.0 23. 88   USA 88 Heartbreaker Melges 20 Robert Hughes 39/DNF 39/DNS 17 19 12 14 [39] 101.0 24. 200   BRA 200 Portobello (Corinthian) Melges 20 Cesar Gomes Neto 17 16 29 27 23 19 [29] 102.0 25. 214   CAN 214 Grinning Streak Melges 20 Rhonda Joyce 25 25 14 21 29 26 [29] 111.0 26. 265   RUS 265 Russotrans Melges 20 Yurii Morozov 13 21 26 30 25 32 [32] 115.0 27. 225   USA 225 Flygfisk Melges 20 Tom Kassberg 23 24 31 22 27 22 [31] 118.0 28. 15   ISV 1315 Buds to Blossoms Melges 20 August Schram 30 23 33 34 14 27 [34] 127.0 29. 308   AUS 308 Dark Star Melges 20 John Bacon 29 29 30 31 31 10 [31] 129.0 30. 210   AUS 13 Angophora Melges 20 Guido Belgiorno-Nettis 26 22 24 29 36 29 [36] 130.0 31. 294   RUS 294 RUS 294 Melges 20 Leonid Altukhov 27 27 28 32 26 24 [32] 132.0 32. 280   USA 280 Bobsled Melges 20 Bob Moran 34 30 25 33 24 23 [34] 135.0 33. 4   SWE 202 Intermezzo (Corinthian) Melges 20 Johannes Lind-Widestam 35 26 32 28 30 20 [35] 136.0 34. 25   MON 25 Path Melges 20 Anatoly Karachinsky 31 39/DNS 39/DNS 25 28 30 [39] 153.0 35. 227   USA 227 Kinetic Melges 20 Bob Hayward 32 32 27 36 37 35 [37] 162.0 36. 196   USA 196 Sinful Opportunity (Corinthian) Melges 20 Ben Wilkinson 39/DNF 34 34 35 33 36 [39] 172.0 37. 17   USA 17 Solas (Corinthian) Melges 20 John Murphy 39/DNF 39/DNS 39/DNS 37 35 33 [39] 183.0 38. 303   BRA 303 Onda Melges 20 Eduardo Souza Ramos 33 39/RET 39/DNF 39/DNC 39/DNC 39/DNC [39] 189.0   2017 Melges 20 World Championship - Corinthian Teams - Preliminary Cumulative Results Bow Sail Number Yacht Name Yacht Design Owner/Skipper Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 T O Total World Championship Racing One Design Division Melges 20 1. 229   CAN 229 Character 2.0 Melges 20 Justin Quigg 18 15 18 18 21 15 [21] 84.0 2. 200   BRA 200 Portobello Melges 20 Cesar Gomes Neto 17 16 29 27 23 19 [29] 102.0 3. 4   SWE 202 Intermezzo Melges 20 Johannes Lind-Widestam 35 26 32 28 30 20 [35] 136.0 4. 196   USA 196 Sinful Opportunity Melges 20 Ben Wilkinson 39/DNF 34 34 35 33 36 [39] 172.0 5. 17   USA 17 Solas Melges 20 John Murphy 39/DNF 39/DNS 39/DNS 37 35 33 [39] 183.0