Melges 24 North American Championship - Burns and Filter fighting

by Betsy Lawless on 25 Sep 2010 Melges 24 North American Championship 2010 - Melges 24 racing just doesn't get better than this! Day two of the 2010 Melges 24 North American Championship in Rochester was a humdinger with three more amazing races in glorious sunshine and south-westerly winds ranging from 18-25 knots with occasional gusts up towards 30. The offshore wind ensured flat water and on the downwind legs the boats were flying.

Overnight leader Adam Burns, sailing USA378 Presto got the day off to a steady start with a sixth followed by a third, while Alan Field, sailing USA811 WTF, who was lying second overnight just one point behind Burns, was equally consistent with a third in race five and a fourth in race six. Going into the seventh race and with the discard now in play Burns held his lead by a single point from Field and the scene was set for a showdown for the overall lead.

Field led from the start while Burns was left to battle it out back in the pack. A change of overall leader looked to be on the cards, but luck was not on Field's side and despite having a comfortable lead at the final turning mark the race was a long way from over. A broken batten meant that on the last beat Field struggled to find enough boat speed to hold off the rapidly closing fleet.

'As the chasing pack ground down his previously impressive lead Field and his crew must have been praying for the finish line to come towards them but ultimately he ran out of runway. On the line he and Burns crossed so close together that only the race committee could separate them. Ultimately Burns had taken victory by a matter of inches so he retains the overall lead by two points from Field.

Whilst Burns and Field were slugging it out Henry Filter of Annapolis sailing USA721 Wild Child was busy putting in the top performance of the day, winning races five and six and placing an extremely close third behind Burns and Field in race seven. We spoke to him after racing to get his view of the day.

'The first couple of races it was a little lighter than it was in the last and we had two pretty good starts and got off the line cleanly and were able to sail our own race. My tactician did a really good job of connecting the dots downwind going from puff to puff and just going really fast and we were able to sort of accelerate and extend our lead, which is why we won those two races.

'It got a little windier, probably 20 plus for that [seventh] race and there were some big puffs coming down and we were struggling to keep the boat on its feet and keep going forward. We had a really bad start, we started sort of third row up at the boat, just misjudged the start, our timing was bad, so we tacked and took everybody's stern and went hard right and right didn't pay on the first beat.

'I think we probably rounded the weather mark ninth or tenth and we were able to catch up a little bit from there downwind. Our speed down wind is pretty good, we've sailed together for a little while and we're starting to figure it out a little bit which is good.

'And we got in touch with the leaders again and got closer and closer as we went round the course and I was amazed to see that we were all right there, the top three boats were within like two boat lengths, maybe even a boat length at the finish.'

In the overall standings Adam Burns retains his lead by two points from Alan Field. Henry Filter retains third overall but his excellent performance today means the points gap has closed and he is now just three points behind Field. USMCA President Steve Kopf of Sullivans Island, sailing USA773 Blur-Pacific Energy Ventures also had a really good day today with a pair of second places followed by a seventh, which moves him up the leader board from fifth to fourth. Sadly Kopf's good fortune was at the expense of Nick Amendola of Connecticut sailing USA556 Entourage Racing who drops from fourth to fifth. In the Corinthian standings Adam & Lori Burns now have a three point lead over Henry Filter with August Hernandez of Chicago sailing USA533 High Voltage in third and Charlie Hess in USA615 FUNTECH Racing fourth.



Competition for today's Pusser's Wipeout Of The Day Award was fierce with great entries from at least half a dozen boats including several of the big names. But ultimately there was a clear winner in the shape of CAN723 helmed by Uri Saks from Markham, Ontario, and crewed by Gordon Delgaty-Cook, Jason Hearst and Mike Kociolek. They made it almost all the way to the bottom of the final run in race six but a big gust as they tightened up to make the line caught them napping and down they went. They struggled to release the kite halyard and stayed down for a good five minutes ensuring that all of the photographers got a chance to snap them. Thanks guys for a great show!


The regatta continues until Sunday with up to three races remaining to be sailed.



Overall Top Ten



1. Presto - Adam & Lori Burns - 12 pts

2. WTF - Alan Field - 14 pts

3. Wild Child - Henry Filter - 17 pts

4. Blur-Pacific Energy - Steve Kopf - 19 pts

5. Entourage Racing - Nick Amendola - 27 pts

6. High Voltage - August Hernandez - 36 pt

7. The Djinn - Ken Gray - 39 pts

8. FUNTECH Racing - Charlie Hess - 52 pts

9. PNW Rocks - Dan Kaseler - 54 pts

10. Bellatrix -Kevin Morgan - 61 pts

10. Matador - Pete Cucci - 61 pts



Corinthian Top Five



1. Presto - Adam & Lori Burns - 7 pts

2. Wild Child - Henry Filter - 10 pts

3. High Voltage - August Hernandez - 19 pts

4. Funtech Racing - Charlie Hess - 27 pts

5. Bellatrix - Kevin Morgan - 32 pts