International Melges 32 Class Blog

Congratulations William Douglass aboard Goombay Smash! Tactician Chris Larson, Marco Constant, Andy Escourt, Stu Pollard, Mark Towill and Alan Nakanishi are 2011 Melges 32 World Champions1

After a monumental day and turn of events on the water in Palma at the 2011 Melges 32 World Championship, all have arrived at RCNP for the final showdown between John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti, William Douglass’ Goombay Smash and Lanfranco Cirillo’s Fantastica. One very slim point separates them from one another and the grand title of Melges 32 World Champion.

Currently in Palma it is raining. Although it is light, everyone expects to get some racing in, at least one race. It is understood there will be breeze.

Thousands of photos have been collected throughout the last few days. Enjoy:
Photo Galleries
Real Club Nautico de Palma, Nico Martinez
International Melges 32 Class Association, Joy Dunigan
Professional Photographer, Max Ranchi
Professional Photographer, Ainhou Sanchez
Professional Photographer, Ruben Ballester

Video Interviews - Courtesy of Zerogradinord.it
View The Complete Library of Interviews & Daily Highlight Reels

We are on the brink of Day 3 in Palma at the 2011 Melges 32 World Championship, where there are plenty of mixed reports of no breeze, could be light breeze and more than expected breeze forecasts abound on the docks. The majority chatter is it will be lighter than light. Less than Tuesday. If that is the case (as the AP flag is up on land), perhaps the standings will witness another shake-up. Light air has a tendency to stir things up. Teams prefer breeze.

Entertainment — Americans William Douglass (Goombay Smash) and Steve Howe (Warpath) showed up with drum in hand this morning, cigarette lit bringing an ecentric and light-hearted approach to the event. Others looked on with big smiles.

SOME GOOD NEWS — we’ll see.
Tuesday, we were able to squeeze some announcements out onto Facebook, so do stay there for sure. We’ll try again, and hope to make a successful connection. We’ll keep trying to post more full blurbs here on the blog.

This week will be filled with birthdays — Happy Birthday Sam Rogers on Sicktrix and to Ms. Katherine, wife of John Kilroy… Jason Carroll celebrates on September 24th!

Full Results
Melges 32 Photo Galleries

Lighter conditions are in the forecast for the second day of racing in Palma at the Melges 32 World Championship. At the time of this post, the AP flag is still in position on the pole, although teams have started to head out to the course anyway. Lounging by the pool in the very warm Spanish sunshine apparently was too low key, so several team are making their way out to the course…

After Monday’s lay day, the docks are buzzing with anticipation of the start of Day 1 in Palma at the 2011 Melges 32 Worlds. Postponement is up on land at the moment, however should be coming down soon. Light air is in the forecast. According to Argo coach Dave Ullman, should be light to medium but still great racing conditions.

The IM32CA Press Team will be out on the water, and will attempt to bring you all the action from the water via this blog. Do know we appreciate everyone’s patience as the connection does appear to be very slow on the course. We will do our best…

For now, check out the following links for news, results and photos:
Official Event Website (Results)
Official Website of the International Melges 32 Class Association (IM32CA)
Photo Gallery – JOY | IM32CA
Photo Gallery – RCNP | Nick Martinez

© 2011 JOY | IM32CA

Greetings to everyone from beautiful Palma de Mallorca where 29 Melges 32 teams have assembled to race at the 2011 World Championship. The Melges 32 is clearly the superstar of Palma this week. Yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) are filled with preparations for the big event, sail measurement, weigh-in, ISAF interviews and lots of practice on the water. The overall setting is one of yachting’s best examples of elegance as teams leisurely lounge about on the docks and enjoy the warm and humid Palma conditions. All the Melges 32 boats border the popular swimming pool area. Just their presence adds to existing grace and beauty of an already exquisite venue.

Stay close as registration, measurement and check-in wraps up tomorrow (Monday). Championship racing commences on Tuesday, September 20 and ends on Saturday, September 24. The IM32CA Press Team is partially onsite and will be doing their very best to bring everyone back home the latest and greatest news from Palma. We anticipate news, lots of photos and plenty of on-the-water action so stay glued to this blog, as well as melges32.com. All publishings on the Melges 32 Blog and Website auto-populate to the class’ Facebook and Twitter pages, so no matter which way you choose to connect, you should be able to adequately stay on top of what is happening in Palma.

For now, enjoy a nice selection of First Day Of Practice Racing.
Please be sure to bookmark the Official Event Website for the 2011 Melges 32 World Championship.

As published by Scuttlebutt:

On the first day of the Melges 32 Worlds last week, the San Francisco Bay thermal was in town, and the race committee gave the fleet of overpowered, high charging sprit boats three gut hiking races in 20+ knot winds. That night, there were pleas for clemency, as another three race day could separate the men from the boys sooner than the boys wanted to be separated. Nice try, guys.

With light winds forecasted for later in the regatta, and the sheep in the paddock on day two, dinner plans would have to wait. But while the racers were getting thrashed on the course, on-water and online spectators were reveling. And for this contest, the proverbial 50 yard line seats were at the weather mark.

While getting to the weather mark was hard enough, getting around it proved to be some kind of rodeo. “Son, get on your spurs and chaps – it’s round-up time.” Turning at the off-set mark and getting the 1300 sq ft kite to the masthead didn’t always work out as planned. Among the incidents of failure, videographer Vince Casalaina caught one of the uglier moments, and it resulted in an interesting decision by the protest committee.

It was day two of the Worlds, at the first weather mark of race three on that day. Joe Woods’ Red team rounded the offset mark, and in the process of raising their kite, was fully out of control within 10 seconds. As they rounded up, another 10 seconds passed before Michael Dominguez’s Bronco team literally speared Red with their pole, taking aim at their aft weather quarter.

Luckily, Bronco’s pole retracted on contact. Otherwise both Bronco’s pole and Red’s hull would have been a lot worse off. And what about the protest? Red was found at fault based on Rule 16.1 which says, “When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear.”

Said Anthony Kotoun, Bronco’s tactician, “At that wind speed, you’re hauling the mail which affects your reaction time. So when somebody flips over in front of you, it depends on how far away they are as to whether you can get around them. A similar situation happened to me in Key West on another boat, where the boat ahead flipped over and we ran them over and shredded our kite on their spreader. There is a certain amount of trust you have that the guy in front of you will have a good set. And sometimes, it doesn’t happen.”

Here’s the must-see video:

Race 7

Race 8

Race 9

Race 10