Melges 32 Mania

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 24 Sep 2010 Hands down, the Melges 32 is one of the coolest OD classes on the planet. Quick upwind and a turbo-charged sled ride off the breeze, the boat practically defines the term 'speed to burn'. Stir in some of the world's best sailors, who are active in the class' ranks because they love the boat, not [necessarily] for the paychecks); a strong international community, and the associated media buzz surrounding high-level events and things get spicy quickly.

Spotlight on San Francisco Bay: The legendary Rolex Big Boat Series, hosted by the venerable St. Francis Yacht Club, took place this past weekend and Melges 32's featured prominently. More importantly, the class' Worlds are also being sailed on the Bay right now (and are also being hosted by the SFYC), so—no shocker here folks—all of the top teams used the Big Boat series to tune-up for their Worlds.

Italy's Luca Lalli (B-Lin) finished the Big Boat Series in first place, with Pieter Taselaar's Bliksem in second place, and Joe Woods' (GBR) Red in third. Americans did exceptionally well in this event, with eight out of the top ten teams flying the Stars and Stripes. Impressively, Lalli is a relative newcomer to the Melges 32 fleet, and, at 26 years of age, is also likely the youngest skipper on most Melges 32 starting lines. '[This was] my first year sailing in the USA and especially San Francisco is very amazing for me...with Alcatraz here and the fog up on the Golden Gate Bridge...it's very cool.'

Flash-forward to the Worlds and this hyper competitive fleet is quickly demonstrating that any number of boats are capable of winning at any time. While Lalli and his B-Lin are sailing strong, the leader board contains plenty of names that were not necessarily on the high end of things during the Big Boat Series. Which is precisely the magic of this class: With names legendary like Russell Coutts, Jonathan McKee, Rob Greenhalgh, Torvar Mirsky, Andrew Campbell, Gavin Brady, Chris Larson, Brad Read, Stu Bannatyne, Morgan Larson and Hamish Pepper, (amongst other top-flight sailors and owners) competing, every race is up for grabs.

And with San Francisco serving up its world famous 18-24 knot winds, you can bet your last roll of duct tape that this is the race of the week. Be sure to check out Chuck Lantz, Chris Rays and Erik Simonson's' great images of the Melges 32 Worlds action, and stay tuned for more coverage from this grand-prix event, which concludes Saturday afternoon.

Fair winds and following seas,