Sailing Blog
Perfect Conditions on Day 1 of Melges 20 Nationals »
August 27, 2010
Day 1 of the Melges 20 Nationals kicked off with a SE breeze at 13-18 kts, 4-5 ft waves and perfectly sunny skies. For the 20 boats racing, the conditions could not have been more perfect with some awesome downwind surfing and great, tight racing.
The fleet gathered in the starting area just outside the entrance to Macatawa Bay, and for the out-of-towners who were wondering about what type of current could be found on Lake Michigan, it did not take long to figure it out after looking at the boat and pin end of the starting which were facing downwind and pulling on their anchor lines. After several general recalls and postponements, the fleet finally got underway for race 1 under a Z flag start after an hour of messing around.
Michael Kiss with his son and tactician Chris Rast dominated the day with 3 bullets and showed that they learned a few new speed and boathandling tricks from their travels to Lake Garda earlier this summer. Michael is also a Macatawa Bay local and he seemed right at home in the big waves and breeze. In 2nd overall, John Adenhorst with Scott Nixon posted 3 3rd places and battled from the back of the fleet in race 2 for an impressive finish. And all the way from Great Britain, Simon Strauss is in 3rd place after a solid, consistent first 3 races.
On our team, “A Little Wicked”, owner George Gamble did a great job of keeping the boat moving and staying clean in all 3 races. Our goals for the day were to have good, clean starts and sail fast and let the rest of the racing take care of itself. We managed to pull off 2 great starts and our boat always felt fast which resulted in a 4, 8, 2 and 1 pt out of 3rd. There were not a ton a shifts to be played so having good boatspeed and staying out of trouble was key to having decent results.
The forecast for tomorrow is for a less breeze out of the same direction and with the swell left over from today, we should see some interesting conditions. Results can and photos can be found here. Stay posted for Day 2…
No Comments »
No comments yet.
TrackBack URL