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Melges 24 Worlds Recap »
May 22, 2011
Ok, I know that I have done a lot of whining about how our bodies were hurting and fatigued throughout the week, but now that the Melges 24 Worlds have come to a close, the bumps, bruises and overall achiness are still present, but it they are merely battle wounds that were well worth the pain after some very close sailing. We had the opportunity to race in outstanding conditions for 6 days, in the greatest boats in the world, against the best sailors in the world. It doesn’t get much better.
Headed into the final day, there was a feeling on board the Full Throttle that a battle was looming as the Bermudians were right on our tails, and 3 other boats were only 10 pts back in the standings. By sticking to our game plan of getting off the leeward half of the starting line clean, we were able to get a great jump on the fleet in the first race and battle for the lead. The lone Irish entry helmed by former Aussie 470 Gold Medalist Nathan Wilmot took the bullet, while we finished half a length behind in 2nd. The BER boat took a 7th which provided a bit of breathing room headed into the last race.
After checking our scores between races, taking a relax, and snacking on some gourmet pb and j’s, we had a 7 pt lead on BER 655, and an 8pt lead on IRL 607, and if BER won the race, we needed to finish 7th or better to secure 2nd place. Just as the Bermudians did the other day when they were OCS and came back to win, they had a tough start mid-line and were forced to tack out. Not being fooled this time, we expected them to come back strong out of the right, and sure enough towards the windward mark they were in the lead. On the FT, we were in a battle for 7th place and had the not so friendly reminder that regardless of where you are in this fleet, there are always good boats around that are not easily passed.
The positions remained the same after the downwind with BER holding onto their lead and us trying to fend of the Irish and Norwegians on either side of us to preserve 7th place. The leaders all gybed set at the windward mark with the breeze clearly stronger on that side of the course. After extending a small amount, we gybed in a clear lane and had a drag race to the corner. 3/4 Down the run, BER and a few other boats gybed early from the corner which would prove to be fatal as the boats who extended even further were able to hook into nice pressure.
Kristen Lane went into the corner the farthest, won the race and a battle for 2nd ensued between us, the Irish boat and the Norwegian. As we all shot the finish line, we took a 4th place, giving us second overall. The Irish boat did well enough to sneak into 3rd overall ahead of the Bermudians who slipped back to 4th.
Later in the evening, a great awards dinner was held with plenty of stories exchanged about battle wounds and relief that a long week of hard, intense sailing was finished. A cool portion of the evening came when Henri Samuel, a French Melges 24 sailor and former class prez awarded the Corinthian trophy to the top non-professional team. As Henri said, there are not many sports where you get to compete against some of the best in the field. You will never get the chance to golf with Tiger Woods. In sailing, you can race against the best, and particularly in the Melges 24 class, it is not uncommon to be rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in the sport on the starting line. This is a truly unique aspect of our sport, and a great feature of the 24 class. The Japanese entry of Eiichiro Hamazaki on JPN-783 took the overall Corinthian title, and were clearly the fan favorites of the fleet.
When we arrived in Corpus Christi, we weren’t sure how the week was going to turn out, where we would find some good food, and how we would last the 11 days in a town that is a bit rough around the edges. By the time we had left, we can now add Corpus to a list of “must-sail” destinations, and have solid memories from a very well run event by the people of Corpus Christi Yacht Club. The next Melges 24 Worlds in the US will be held in San Francisco in 2013…start getting to the gym…its gonna be windy.
Day 6 on-board footage from Full Throttle in some tight spaces here.
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