31 October 2009
Larson Holds His Nerve
To Take The Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis 2009 Melges 24 World Championship
The fifty-one international teams, who had travelled from
across North America and Europe to compete in the Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis
2009 Melges 24 World Championships, finally got the welcome opportunity to race
in double-digit breezes on the final day of the regatta. Despite the
Championship racecourse being shrouded in appropriately Halloween style mist
for most of the day, the Race Committee successfully banged off two four-leg
races in winds which peaked at around fourteen knots.
Chris Larson at the helm of 'West Marine Rigging/New England
Ropes', who had led the regatta on-and-off for much of the week, took a
seventeen point lead into the final day and looked odds-on to take the title.
However with the potential for three races to be sailed today, Larson was
always potentially vulnerable to attack from second placed Gabrio Zandona at
the helm of the Italian entry 'Joe Fly'.
If Larson was in fact feeling the pressure of leading the
championship into the final day, there was no visible evidence at the start of
the first race. With several of the top teams including Zandona, Lorenzo
Bressani on 'Uka Uka Racing' and Terry Hutchinson on 'Quantum Racing/Gill Race
Team' being called OCS soon after the start, Larson was able to pick his way
skilfully through the melee at the pin and followed eventual race winner Nico
Celon on 'Fantastica' off the line. Rounding the top mark with only Carlo Fracassoli
on 'Gullisara' in
front of him, Larson sailed a calm and composed race and went on to record his
fourth second place of the week. Zandona, Bressani and Hutchinson all received
twenty percent Z-flag penalties and following an announcement from the Race
Officer that there would be no third race, Larson now found himself in an
unassailable position. With no reason to compete in the second race of the day,
he and his delighted crew: Mike Wolfs, Curtis Florence and tactician Richard
Clarke, headed ashore to start to begin to celebrate their Melges 24 World
Championship victory.
The focus was now on the four-way scrap for the reindexing
podium places between Zandona on sixty-five points, Norway's Eivind Melleby on
'Full Medal Jacket' on sixty-nine points, Celon on seventy-two points and
Bressani on seventy-four points. Arguably the windiest of the Championship, the
final race was a real humdinger with the top ten boats packed closely together
at all the mark roundings. Jamie Lea on the British entry 'Team Barbarians'
squeezed in for a near perfect start at the pin and led the early part of the
beat. However it was Celon who led around the top mark, with Bill Hardesty on
'Events Clothing/Atlantis' in second and Lea in third. Hutchinson and Melleby
rounded in fourth and fifth and as the leaders, all in close formation, ripped
down wind for the first time, it was impossible to predict who would reach the
gate first. In fact Celon managed to hold his lead, but only just from the
charging Melleby who had blitzed into second place. The fierce battle for the
lead between these two lasted until the finish, with Celon eventually
prevailing and securing fourth overall. Meanwhile after rounding the first mark
outside the top ten, Zandona was making steady progress up through the fleet.
By the finish he was up to sixth, which tied him on points with Melleby. With
the count back applied Zandona claimed second overall, with Melleby clearly
delighted to have achieved the first ever Norwegian podium finish at a Melges
24 World Championship.
Without doubt Chris Larson is a popular and worthy winner of
this Championship. Significantly, the only one of the top three whose scoreline
did not include a race win, his amazing consistency in the capricious Annapolis
conditions was simply too much for the opposition. Soaking in his victory
tonight Larson said he was delighted to have won and relieved to have got
through the final day on top. 'As it turned out the OCS scenario on the first
race really meant the battle was over before it began. We were pretty surprised
just after the start when we saw Hutchinson, Zandona and Bressani all going
back. That pretty much handed control to us and there was the regatta over.'
The battle for the
2009 Corinthian Melges 24 World title proved to be equally and today brought a final
showdown between California's Bruce Ayres
sailing Monsoon and Annapolis local hero Othmar Mueller Von Blumencron sailing
Gannet. The battle for third place
was also extremely close with just seven points ultimately separating third to
seventh place.
Going into the day
Ayres had a narrow four-point lead over Blumencron who was ten points ahead of Charleston's
David Dabney in Conejo Racing-Ocean Sailing Academy and Germany's Christof
Wieland aboard Unsponsored, both on 35 points. Also tied on 39 points were Henry
Filter, from Annapolis sailing
Wild Child, and August Hernandez of Chicago aboard High Voltage whilst seventh
placed Zetzema Wietze helming Gelikt for Carlo Vroon of the Netherlands,
trailed them by just a further two points.
Wieland's chance of
the final podium position evaporated on the start line of the penultimate race
when he fell foul of the Z Flag and had to take a 20% penalty dropping him from
9th to 12th, his worst result of the series. Von Blumencron made no such mistakes
and led the Corinthian division from the off to take a confident win (and a
ninth in the overall race) with Hernandez second, Dabney third, Witze fourth
and the Ukrain's Vasily Gureyev sailing Null fifth. Ayres crossed the line in sixth
putting Von Blumencron into
the overall lead by a single point going into the final race. Dabney and Wieland
were now tied for
third with Hernandez fifth, Weitze sixth and Filter seventh.
For Ayres, one of the
veterans of the Melges 24 class and a former North American Corinthian Champion,
the Corinthian World title has long been unfinished business. From the off it was
clear he had no
intention of letting the championship get away from his grasp this time
around. At the first weather mark
he was lead Corinthian and managed to slide nicely over the top of a gaggle of
open division boats whilst Von Blumencron, coming in on the port layline, was
forced to dip and look for a slot rounding well into the teens. Having gained separation
Ayres
confidently stretched away and whilst Von Blumencron did manage to pick off
several of the open division boats between them he was never in a position to
challenge for the lead.
Meanwhile
the battle for third place was still raging. On the water it was Filter who took
the third in race
eleven, but right behind him was Hernandez with Wieland fifth, Weitze sixth,
Gureyev seventh, local boy Jim Golden eighth and a disappointed Dabney ninth.
Having finished first
and second respectively Ayres and Von Blumencron were tied on 28 points with
Ayres finally getting his hands on the much-coveted Henri Samuel Corinthian
World Championship Trophy on count back. Herenandez's fourth place was sufficient
to give him the final podium
position whilst a disappointed Dabney had to be content with fourth overall.
Speaking after racing
a delighted Bruce Ayres was full of praise for his crew of Don Smith, Dave
Navin and tactician Jon Pinckney. "I'd
like to particularly thank Don Smith and John Pinckney for hanging with me for
ten years and of course Dave Navin. We don't sail a lot but when we get to these
regattas our goal is to
hang in there with the best and we're delighted to have achieved that goal."
The International
Melges 24 Class (IMCA) would like to take this opportunity to thank the
Eastport Yacht Club, Regatta Chair Liz Filter, the Race Committee, the many volunteer
club members, the International Jury, title Sponsor Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis
and all the supporting sponsors, suppliers and private donors who so generously
contributed to make this regatta possible. This was the first time that the City
of Annapolis has
granted a one-design regatta the right to use the downtown City Dock as a regatta
centre and the Melges 24 fleet is proud to have been the first to enjoy such a privileged
position. "The sight of so many
Melges 24s right in the heart of Annapolis and the added buzz of an army of
spectators lining the dock morning and evening has made this a truly special
event for us." Noted the IMCA's Fiona Brown.
The success of the partnership
between the IMCA, Eastport Yacht Club and Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis was summed
up perfectly by Paul Rochelle, General Manger of Sheehy Lexus of Annapolis who
commented, "We are so proud to have been the title sponsor for the 2009 Melges 24
Worlds Championship. What an amazing competition! This has truly
been an exciting partnership - between sailing's elite competitors and the
Baltimore-Annapolis area's ONLY Elite of Lexus dealership!"
Full results are available from the Event Website
You can recap the regatta via the coverage posted from the race course on the IMCA
Official Blog.
For further information or to request photographs or video footage please contact
fiona.brown@melges24.com. [mailto:fiona.brown@melges24.com]
Provisional Overall Top Ten Overall
1. Chris Larson - West Marine Rigging/New England Ropes - 46 points
2. Gabrio Zandona - Joe Fly - 71 points
3. Eivind Melleby - Full Medal Jacket - 71 points
4. Nicola Celon - Fantastica - 73 points
5. Flavio Favini - Blu Moon - 83 points
6. Lorenzo Bressani - Uka Uka Racing - 85 points
7. Brian Porter - Full Throttle - 100 points.
8. Carlo Fracassoli - Gullisara - 102 points
9. Terry Hutchinson - Quantum Racing/Gill Race Team - 109 points
10. Bill Hardesty - Events Clothing/Atlantis - 119 points
Provisional Corinthian Top Five Overall
1. Bruce Ayres - Monsoon - 28 points
2. Othmar Mueller von Blumencron - Gannet - 28 points
3. August Hernandez - High Voltage - 45 points
4. David Dabney - Conejo Racing-Ocean Sailing Academy - 47 points
5. Christof Wieland - Unsponsored - 48 points
International Melges 24 Class Association | IM24CA | 3 Palmers Road | Emsworth | Hampshire | PO10 7DL | United Kingdom
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