Charleston Race Week - Shimmering victory in Audi Melges 20

by Joy Dunigan on 23 Apr 2012 At the 2012 Charleston Race Week, Russell Lucas on Shimmer, with team mates Harry and Hans, took the victory in Audi Melges 20. This is Lucas' first major regatta win since entering the class last season. 'It was just great sailing with these guys,' said Lucas 'What a great event. We had so much fun.'

Lucas won by a single point, just ahead of Travis Weisleder aboard Layline Race Team. Overnight leader Michael Kiss on Bacio slipped to finish in third.

PRO Hank Stuart delivered one more race on Sunday, completing an incredible nine race series at Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week for the Audi Melges 20 fleet. The day got off to a very wet start as thunder clouds hung heavy over Charleston harbor, raining on and off all day.

A surprising turn of events in the overall standings occurred with overnight regatta leader Kiss being disqualified from the first race of the day on Saturday. This allowed Russell Lucas' Shimmer and Travis Weisleder's Layline Race Team to move up easily into first and second respectively.

'When we left the dock yesterday we said we would try to avoid three things — don't hit a mark, don't hit another boat and don't be OCS.' explained a disappointed Kiss. 'Well... we did all three and then, we missed the opportunity to get a 20% scoring penalty, so instead we ended up with a disqualification. All that being said, third overall is not so bad.'

Marc Hollerbach's Fu claimed another fantastic win of the one and only race of the day, followed by Kiss in second and Deneen Demourkas on Groovederci in third. Lucas managed an eighth place finish, just behind Weisleder in seventh. Surely, a second race could be held as it was going to be a showdown. Lucas now sat in first, one point ahead of Weisleder, who in turn was one point ahead of Kiss. Paul Reilly's Red Sky was another point behind in fourth. Daniel Thielman's Kuai sat tight in fifth.

The hopes of getting in another race slowly diminished as the Race Committee attempted a tenth heat. It was abandoned just before the start as the breeze failed to produce quality race conditions.

First and foremost the IAM20CA would like to congratulate the winners, as well as thank all the teams that traveled to Charleston, S.C. to race. Without you, the great competition and big fleet racing just wouldn't be possible. Special thanks to PRO Hank Stuart, Deputy PRO Sue Miller and their entire Race Committee staff who delivered sheer perfection in race committee-management. And last, but certainly not least, many thanks to the Sperry Top-Sider Charleston Race Week organizers, in particular Randy Draftz and team!

Top Ten Results (After nine races, with one discard)

1.) Russell Lucas, Shimmer; 9-7-3-3-7-1-2-[14]-8 = 39
2.) Travis Weisleder, Layline Race Team; 2-2-2-8-8-[12]-5-7-7 = 40
3.) Michael Kiss, Bacio; 1-1-12-[31/DSQ]-16-1-17-2 = 41
4.) Paul Reilly, Red Sky; [20]-3-8-4-6-6-9-2-5 = 42
5.) Daniel Theilman, Kuai; 21-6-[25]-11-4-2-7-3-12 = 66
6.) Sid Gorham, Funner; 11-9-4-9-12-13-[26]-1-9 = 67
7.) Marc Hollerbach, Fu; 10-13-7-19-1-14-[27]-6-1 = 71
8.) John Arendshorst, Blink 20/20; 13-[17]-10-6-10-3-4-9-17 = 71
9.) Mark Plaxton, INTAC; 19-5-[31/DNF]-1-13-17-3-4-16 = 77
10.) Tony Tabb, Elevation Racing; 3-10-6-10-11-15-[16]-11-21 = Event website