International Melges 32 Class Blog

San Francisco, California – Congratulations to 26-year old Luca Lalli on B-Lin Sailing as he has clinched the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship title, two points ahead of his strongest adversary John Porter on Full Throttle. Aboard Lalli’s Melges 32 was tactician Lorenzo Bressani, Flavio Favini, Federico Michetti, Carlo Zermini, Luca Faravelli, Lorenzo Del Rio and Stefano Nicolussi. Jeff Ecklund on STAR had a phenomenal week pulling up to secure third overall.

With two additional races on PRO John Craig’s agenda, ultra light conditions greeted the fleet as they made their way out to Berkeley Circle for the final showdown between top seated Lalli, Porter and Andy Lovell on Rougarou. With a mere 6 knots of breeze, the fleet went racing with Don Jesberg on Viva rounding the top mark in first, followed by Yukihiro Ishida’s Yasha Samurai, then Alex Jackson’s Leenabarca in third. The three raced downwind with Jesberg holding on for first with Lovell coming in from the right to slide in for second. Back upwind Lovell stretched his lead with Ishida overtaking Jesberg. Lovell took the win, Ishida was second. Porter, although rounding the first mark about mid-fleet, recovered well to challenge Jesberg for the third position at the finish. Jesberg had a little more momentum, just barely making the line to take third. Porter settled for fourth. Ecklund was fifth.

At this stage of the day, Porter had the title in hand with a one-point advantage over Lalli. As the race committee scrambled to fire off the second race of the day, prior to the 2:30 p.m. cut-off, teams were just as anxious to get in one more heat. The breeze was still light and fickle, lots of sunshine and flat seas prevailed as they went into almost immediate sequence once the line was set, Z-flag in effect. As the fleet approached the line, the first start resulted in a general recall with a Z-flag penalty applied to Porter and Kip Meadows on roXanne. Jackson, on the other hand shot off the line making a lane for the top spot around the mark, followed by Steve Howe on Warpath and Pieter Taselaar’s Bliksem rounding third, Lalli in fourth. Firmly in the lead, Jackson took the win with Howe maintaining a second. Lalli finished third, sealing the deal for the championship win and title a substantial 11 points ahead of second overall Porter.

On behalf of the International Melges 32 Class Association, a very special thanks to every team that traveled to make this the largest Melges 32 Worlds ever. A great round of appreciation is extended to PRO John Craig and his entire race office staff, especially Melanie Roberts, Regatta Chair Nadine Franzyck and the St. Francis Yacht Club for the warm reception and hospitality. Extra special thanks to Sailgroove’s Chris Love, St. Francis Yacht Club Junior Director Mike Kalin and guest commentator Offshore Rules’ Justin Chisholm, presented by Velocitek.

T2Ptv has been on site all week long filming the 2010 Melges 32 Worlds. Please check out their website this upcoming week as a highlight reel will be posted.

The 2011 Melges 32 World Championship takes place on September 20-25 in Palma de Mallorca, hosted by Real Club Nautico de Palma.

Top Ten Results (After 10 races, 1 discard)

1.) Luca Lalli/Lorenzo Bressani, B-lin Sailing; [15]-6-1-8-8-2-7-4-9-3 = 48
2.) John Porter/Jonathan McKee, Full Throttle; 3-[23]-10-4-4-11-4-2-4-17/ZFP = 59
3.) Jeff Ecklund/Harry Melges III, STAR; 6-[19]-9-13-1-8-1-10-5-10 = 63
4.) Andy Lovell/Johnny Lovell, Rougarou; 2-4-3-25-13-6-8-6-1-[31] = 68
5.) Steve Howe/Morgan Larson, Warpath; [33/DSQ]-9-17-5-12-1-11-7-13-2 = 77
6.) Alex Jackson/Rob Greenhalgh, Leenabarca; 10-5-4-21-6-5-[24]-21-8-1 = 81
7.) Doug Douglas/Russell Coutts, Goombay Smash; 13-1-14-1-[25]-9-9-16-20-4 = 87
8.) Joe Woods/Paul Goodison, Red; 7-20-5-9-10-[33/DNF]-6-8-11-5-6-17 = 88
9.) Pieter Taselaar/Jeremy Wilmot, Bliksem; [23]-12-2-14-2-13-16-22-11-5 = 97
10.) Yukihiro Ishida/Tony Rey, Yasha Samurai; 4-21-11-16-11-[24]-17-5-2-12 = 99

Full Results
Full Entry List
Full Crew List

Photo Galleries
Sharon Green
International Melges 32 Class Association

Visit the official website of the International Melges 32 Class Association. If you are unable to attend the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship, stay in touch by subscribing to the IM32CA RSS Feed or visiting the Official Melges 32 Blog. The Melges 32 can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

The opening three races at the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship in San Francisco produced some spectacular action with breezes building steadily throughout the day from around twelve knots to well over twenty by the third race.

Always a difficult regatta to predict, day one saw three different race winners.  Class newcomers Tirade (Stefan Goldwater NZL) took the first in spectacular style, leading from the off, they blitzed away from the fleet on the first downwind leg and were never seriously challenged again. The second race was won by another team new to the class – William Douglass (USA) on Goombay Smash, who looked totally in control for the entire race. The third race saw the Italian Luca Lalli on B-Lin Sailing return to form with a win after an otherwise lacklustre performance in the previous two races.

It is Andy Lovell (USA) on Rougarou who leads at the end of day one, after an impressively consistent performance which saw them clock up a 2,4,3, scoreline. Second is the Kiwi crew on Tirade and third is Alex Jackson (USA) on Leenabarca.

Here is the best of the action as we saw it:

Andy Lovell’s Rougarou served up some some hot Cajun to today on the Berkeley Circle in conditions which left the competitors hoping for seconds, even thirds! Clear blue skies and fresh breeze in the 18 -25 knot range plus that lovely 3-4 foot square chop was presented in heaping portions. Warpath and Banshee collided in race one with Warpath protesting and Banshee retiring.

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San Francisco, California – If Tuesday’s practice race gave any indication as to what is yet to come for the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club, then every team will get a full dose of classic San Francisco/Berkeley Circle conditions. It’s exactly what they signed-up for. An absolute perfect, 18-24 knots of breeze with slightly higher gusts, sunshine and an ebbing tide took to the course of the official practice race of the event.

Every team has now completed measurement, registration and all the other tasks that go along with getting prepared for a worlds, including trips to the wine country, professional baseball and football games, not to mention a monumental party presented by none other than owner Stuart Simpson and his Team Barbarians crew. The entire fleet gathered at CIRCA on Chestnut for the Barbarians at The Golden Gate featuring Treaty Oak Platinum Rum, rocking and dancing the night away to the tunes of Joe Bachman & the Crew featuring Courtney Jansen (a Key West Sloppy Joe’s favorite!). On behalf of the International Melges 32 Class Association, a very special and sincere thanks to Stuart! You are the BEST!

Championship racing begins on Wednesday, September 22 and completes Saturday, September 25. If you are unable to be with the fleet in San Francisco, then tune in with Sail Groove’s Chris Love and commentator, St. Francis Yacht Club Junior Director Mike Kalin for all the action. Watch LIVE from the course, presented by Velocitek. Updates will also be made available on the official Melges 32 Facebook and Twitter pages.

Full Entry List

1. Phil Lotz/Rick Merriman, Arethusa
2. Jason Carroll/John Baxter, ARGO
3. Derek Campbell/Dalton Bergan, Banshee
4. Martin Knetig/Martin Trcka, Black Mamba
5. Pieter Taselaar/Jeremy Wilmot, Bliksem
6. Luca Lalli/Lorenzo Bressani, B-lin Sailing
7. Michael Dominguez/Anthony Kotoun, Bronco
8. Naofumi Kamei/Kan Yamada, Bros.
9. Malcolm Gefter/John Mollicone, Celeritas
10. Ed Tillinghast/Charles Enright, Dark n’ Stormy
11. John Porter/Jonathan McKee, Full Throttle
12. Doug Douglass/Russell Coutts, Goombay Smash
13. Bob Hughes/Tovar Mirsky, Heartbreaker
14. Alex Jackson/Rob Greenhalgh, Leenabarca
15. John Taylor/Andrew Campbell, Ninkasi
16. Philippe Kahn/Mark Christensen, Pegasus-MotionX
17. Jim Swartz/Gavin Brady, Q
18. Rod Jabin/Chris Larson, Ramrod
19. Joe Woods/Paul Goodison, Red
20. Andy Lovell/Johnny Lovell, Rougarou
21. Kip Meadows/Andy Horton, roXanne
22. John Kilroy/Stu Bannatyne, Samba Pa Ti
23. Geoff Pierini/Brad Read, Shakedown
24. Takashi Okura/Francesco de Angeles, SLED
25. Jeff Ecklund/Nathan Wilmot, STAR
26. Stephen Pugh/Mark Ivey, Taboo
27. Stuart Simpson/Nigel Young, Team Barbarians
28. Jean Francois Cruette/Christian Ponthieu, Teasing Machine
29. Stefan Goldwater/Andrew Wills, Tirade
30. Don Jesberg/Zarko Draganic, Viva
31. Steve Howe/Morgan Larson, Warpath
32. Yukihiro Ishida/Hamish Pepper, Yasha Samurai

Full Entry List
Full Crew List

Visit the official website of the International Melges 32 Class Association. If you are unable to attend the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship, stay in touch by subscribing to the IM32CA RSS Feed or visiting the Official Melges 32 Blog. The Melges 32 can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.pressure-drop.us/forums/content.php?671-B-lin-Sailing-wins-Melges-32-Divison-RBBS-2010

View 2010 Rolex Big Boat Series | Pre-Worlds Photo Gallery – Day 2

The Melges 32 fleet enjoyed a brisk 12-14 knots and overcast skies to complete two additional races. Macatawa Bay’s Bob Hughes and his Heartbreaker program punched a hole in their scoreline with an aggressive effort to win race one, which also happened to be his first victory ever in the Melges 32 class. “When you win a race in this fleet, you’ve sailed a really, really good race.” said Hughes once back at the docks. “We didn’t sail a perfect race, because I think we still made quite a few mistakes. What I really enjoyed most was slugging it out with Porter to the finish like we did back in our Melges 24 days.” His stiffest competition came from Luca Lalli’s B-lin Sailing. After finding a fast lane on the first upwind beat, Lalli lead around the top mark, Hughes in second and Stefan Goldwater on Tirade from New Zealand third. Hughes moved into first by the leeward gate. On the last run, John Porter’s Full Throttle overtook Lalli for second, Lalli finished third, Jeff Ecklund’s STAR was incredible fourth and Euro Champion Joe Woods on Red rounded out the top five.

Porter went on to win the final race of the day, placing him fifth overall. “I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday.” said a smiling Porter after submitting a 2-1 scorecard. “Everyone was far more focused today on their jobs. At the last mark, I was so excited to be rounding in the top five. Yesterday we finished eighth and my guys said to me ‘we’re ahead of a lot of really good boats.’ That’s the level of competition we are up against here.” Porter continued. “Today, the boat was good, the attitude was good. You just have to maintain that all the time. Which is tough.”

1.) Pieter Taselaar/Jeremy Wilmot, Bliksem; 2-1 = 3
2.) Luca Lalli/Lorenzo Bressani, B-lin Sailing; 5-3 = 8
3.) Don Jesberg/Zarko Draganic, Viva; 4-7 = 11
4.) Joe Woods/Paul Goodison, Red; 1-12 = 13
5.) Phil Lotz/Rick Merriman, Arethusa; 7-6 = 13

Visit the Official Website of the Rolex Big Boat Series/Melges 32 Pre-Worlds.

“It was the first time out on the boat for Dougie ever.” says Marco Constant, Goombay Smash crew member. “It was a plain and simple, we were on starboard and Stuart Simpson’s Team Barbarians were on port. You can see by the damage who was where.” Repair work is in full action on the dock as fiberglassing in progress as well as the replacement of some severely bent stantions.