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Melges 24 Pre-Worlds win to Melleby on Full Medal Jacket + images

by Justin Chisholm on 16 May 2011
Melges 24 World Championship - Pre-Worlds Fiona Brown http://www.fionabrown.com
The concluding day of the Pre-Worlds Regatta at the 2011 Melges 24 World Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas, saw an unexpected return to the breezier conditions with which the venue is more synonymous, with the final two races being completed in 15 - 18 knots.

A 6,2 scoreline today for overnight leader Eivind Melleby on NOR 804 Full Medal Jacket, was enough to seal an overall win in the Pre Worlds Regatta. Melleby finished the two day series tied on points with second placed Lorenzo Bressani on ITA 817 Uka Uka Racing, who chalked up a win in the first race today before finishing fourth in the second race. A seventh and a sixth score today saw Nathan Wilmot at the helm of IRL 607 Embarr take the final Pre-Worlds podium position. The winning Corinthian, all amateur team was USA 15 Abordage owned and helmed by Erwan Le Gall from San Francisco.

The Melges 24 World Championship will take place at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club from May 11 to 21.
With racing in the main World Championship series scheduled to start in the morning, most teams spent the afternoon after racing today on boat preparation, final sail selection and planning for the week of racing ahead.

Soling Olympian and America's Cup sailor Espen Stokkeland, tactician aboard Full Medal Jacket, said that the Norwegian team were looking forward to the coming week. 'There are so many great teams here this week. The racing is going to be intense, with all of the top guys battling it out against each other. We expect the racing to be really close. It's going to be great.'

470 Olympic Gold Medalist Nathan Wilmot seemed content with his team's preparation in the lead up to the championship. 'This is my first Melges 24 regatta. It's been interesting so far. I think I need to learn to stay behind the line a bit more as we have managed two recalls in three races. The boats are great though - great fun to sail and close racing, a pretty similar style to the 470, other than you also have a backstay to deal with. All in all the Melges 24 experience has been really nice and we are looking forward to the week'.


AUDI helmsman Ricardo Simoneschi (ITA) appeared confident and relaxed on the eve of the main championship. 'As a team we are happy with the job we have done up to now. In terms of the venue, I think it is a very interesting place. We were told that the winds were generally very strong and quite steady here, but in the last few days we have already seen a variety of conditions and some quite big windshifts. So I think there will be plenty of tactical options and the racing will actually be quite open.' Simoneschi also noted that the steep chop which prevails in Corpus Christi presented it's own challenges. 'For sure the wave patterns here make life very challenging for the helmsman upwind in particular. It is very easy to let the boat slow down and you have to do lots of work with the mainsheet and the tuning of the boat to counter this.'

With so many strong teams competing, there is little doubt that this year's championship will be one of the most closely fought ever, and picking a clear favourite at this point is virtually impossible. The general consensus amongst the competitors at this evening's Opening Ceremony held at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club, was that consistency, starting ability and downwind speed were likely to be the key factors in determining the overall winner. There was also a general anticipation of some spectacular sailing ahead when the inevitable classic big breeze Corpus Christi conditions make an appearance.

Racing in the 2011 Melges 24 World Championship main series begins on Monday May 16 and runs through until Saturday May 21, with two races per day scheduled.

 Melges 24 Pre-Worlds

Bow/Sail   Boat   Skipper Yacht Club    1   3   4    Total Pos
27 / NOR 804   Full Medal Jacket   Eivind Melleby   Royal Norwegian Yacht Club     1   6   2     9T  
1  
21 / ITA 817   UkaUka Racing   Lorenzo Bressani   SVBG     4   1   4     9T  
2  
04 / IRL 607   Embarr   Conor Clarke   Royal Jamaica Yacht Club     5   7   6     18  
3  
25 / USA 820   New England Ropes/West Marine   Bora Gulari   Bayview Yacht Club     13   13   3     29  
4  
07 / AUS 686   Coco   Heath Walters   Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club     8   19   10     37T  
5  
22 / FRA 644   ZIG ZAG 18   Henri Samuel   YACHT CLUB DE DINARD     12   16   9     37T  
6  
20 / SUI 596   Blu Moon   Flavio Favini   YCL     33/DNF   2   5     40T  
7  
02 / USA 812   Brick House 812   Kristen Lane   St. Francis Yacht Club     2   5   33/DNS     40T  
8  
17 / BER655   hedgehog   Alec Cutler   Royal Bermuda Yacht Club     7   3   33/DNF     43  
9  
15 / ITA 735   ALTEA   Andrea Racchelli   CVCI     33/DNS   10   1     44  
10  
16 / ITA 819   AUDI   Riccardo Simoneschi   YCCS     3   9   33/DNS     45T  
11  
23 / USA 15   Abordage   Erwan le Gall
[Corinthian]  
Golden Gate Yacht Club     9   23   13     45T  
12  
11 / CAN 121   Black Dog   Dave Black
[Corinthian]  
Etobicoke Yacht Club     15   21   12     48  
13  
24 / USA 786   BATTLE RHYTHM   Guy Mossman   Carolina Yacht Club     14   4   33/DNS     51T  
14  
08 / AUS 553   Bandit   Warwick Rooklyn   CYCA     11   33/OCS   7     51T  
15  
18 / USA 494   Wee Jaggie   Andrew Walford
[Corinthian]  
Oklahoma City Boat Club     16   22   14     52  
16  
31 / USA 379   Team Velocitek   Daniel Kaseler   Port Madison Yacht Club     33/DNS   12   8     53  
17  
30 / USA 201   Mako   Stephen McMillan   Tahoe City Yacht Club     17   25   18     60  
18  
12 / USA675   12happythoughts   David Brede   CYC Seattle     33/DNS   18   11     62  
19  
13 / USA 615   Funtech Racing   Charlie Hess
[Corinthian]  
BYC     33/DNS   20   16     69  
20  
06 / USA 623   Brick House 623   Peter Lane   St. Francis Yacht Club     6   33/OCS   33/DNS     72T  
21  
33 / USA 480   Monsoon II   Mark Hulings
[Corinthian]  
Corpus Christi Yacht Club     33/DNS   24   15     72T  
22  
05 / USA 700   ARDOR/C.R.E.A.M.   David O'Reilly   ChYC     33/OCS   8   33/DNS     74  
23  
10 / USA 533   High Voltage   August Hernandez
[Corinthian]  
Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club     10   33/OCS   33/OCS     76  
24  
14 / USA 24   Smokin   Kevin Clark
[Corinthian]  
Encinal     33/DNS   11   33/DNF     77  
25  
03 / USA 674   Rosebud   Scott Holmgren
[Corinthian]  
OCBC     33/OCS   14   33/DNS     80  
26  
32 / JPN 783   Esprit   Eiichiro Hamazaki
[Corinthian]  
Seabonia Yacht Club     33/OCS   15   33/OCS     81  
27  
09 / USA 344   Cold Shot   Steve Eller
[Corinthian]  
Austin Yacht Club     33/OCS   33/DNS   17     83T  
28  
28 / GER 635   Unsponsored   Christof Wieland
[Corinthian]  
Bayrischer Yacht Club     33/DNS   17   33/OCS     83T  
29  
01 / USA 811   WTF   Alan Field   California Yacht Club     33/OCS   33/DNS   33/DNS     99T  
30  
26 / USA 604   Tom Slick   Jeff Wittenberg   Columbia     33/DNS   33/DNS   33/DNS     99T  
30  
29 / USA-749   FULL THROTTLE   Brian Porter   Lake Geneva Yacht Club.     33/DNF   33/DNF   33/DNF     99T  
30  

 

 












Melges 24 World Championship website
Melges 24 website

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