2023 U.S. Melges 24 Nationals at Fontana, Wisconsin - Day 2
by U.S. Melges 24 Class Association 7 Oct 2023 22:09 EST
October 6-8, 2023
2023 Melges 24 U.S. National Championship © Up Top Media / Felipe Juncadella
Teams awoke to cool temps, plentiful sunshine and very windy conditions on Day 2 of the 2023 Melges 24 U.S. National Championship on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. The Melges 24 celebrates her 30th Anniversary this weekend and the cool, breezy conditions certainly put the icing on the birthday cake. Three short-track races were conducted setting up the fleet nicely for a proper Sunday showdown.
Moving to the top of the scoreboard and now leading by three points, defending National Champ Brian Porter on Full Throttle won Races Four and Five.
"This was the most gorgeous Fall day you could get with really good breeze out of the north-northwest, very shifty," said Porter post racing. Porter, who is a Lake Geneva local, had a terrific day, maybe even got a little lucky at times so he thinks. "It was such a fun day. Good breeze. Sailing fast. Planing downwind. Big shifts."
Overnight leader, Bora Gulari helming Knocky Knocky dropped back one spot and tied things up in points with Race 6 winner Eddie Cox at the helm of Zenda Express.
"Today was a really fun day of racing. Pretty shifty, which is classic Lake Geneva. A perfect Fall day for sailing," said Cox. "This is such an impressive fleet. The sailing today was very competitive."
Completing the top five is Geoff Fargo's Sentinel in fourth, and Chelsea Simms's Straightarrow moved up to fifth overall. Sailing with George 'Bear' Peet, Baby Simms-Peet, Jeremy Wilmot, Ian Beckley, and Paris Henken, they had a satisfying day on the water with a beautiful 2-5-2 daily scoreline.
As for the 14-strong Corinthian division, they kept right in step with the top half of the fleet. Two all-amateur teams close out the top ten — Dan Berezin's Surprise in ninth and Mike Dow on Flying Toaster in tenth. LGYC Commodore Chuck Lamphere on Entente is twelfth overall, finishing the day as third Corinthian.
Disappointingly, for overnight Corinthian leader Brent McKenzie sailing X-Kahn, a combination of boat damage and an equipment failure have taken him out of the remainder of the regatta.
Hard knocks came and went quickly for Tony Stanley's Hermes and John Shockey's Wombmates Racing, but both bounced back nicely to participate and score well in Race Six.
Another notable Corinthian team is the all-amateur, youth team from Dillon, Colorado that are focussed on going fast and having fun. "This was such a blast today," said Joss Quarantillo racing Cannonball along with fellow youth crew members Ruth Bergman, Canyon Caperton and Harbor Scheuermann. "We had a lot of fun. Our favorite part was going fast — 15.5 downwind was awesome! Tomorrow is going to be a lighter, but we are having fun and going to try and focus on going fast."
Sunday is the final day of racing. Two races are scheduled with a start time of 1000. Conditions are expected to be a little bit lighter than today, still tricky racing with it coming more out of the west-northwest.
Provisional Results after Day 2: (top five, 6 races, 1 discard)
1.) Brian Porter, Full Throttle; [6]-3-2-1-1-3 = 10pts
2.) Bora Gulari, Knocky Knocky; 1-2-1-[5]-4-6 = 13pts
3.) Eddie Cox, Zenda Express; 4-[7]-3-3-2-1 = 13pts
4.) Geoff Fargo, Sentinel; 2-1-5-8-3-[10] = 19pts
5.) Chelsea Simms, Straightarrow; 9-4-[10]-2-5-2 = 22pts
Corinthian
1.) Dan Berezin, Surprise; [30/DSQ]-10-11-6-7-14 = 48pts
2.) Mike Dow, Flying Toaster; 11-8-[20]-10-11-19 = 59pts
3.) Chuck Lamphere, Entente; [20]-15-6-13-15 = 65pts
4.) Jamie Torres, Smile and Wave; 13-11-14-18-[23]-11 = 67pts
5.) Tony Stanley, Hermes; 19-12-12-[30/DNS]-12-12 = 67pts
Full Results available here.