Melges 24 class at Terra Nova Tradiing Key West Overall

by Fiona Brown/IMCA 24 Jan 2004 10:35 GMT

Sebastian Col sailing Partners & Partners wins the Melges 24 class at Key West © Rich Tomlinson / www.rick-tomlinson.com

SEBASTIAN COL TAKES MELGES 24 TITLE AT TERRA NOVA TRADING KEY WEST

In a thrilling final race today the fifty-eight strong Melges 24 Class at Terra Nova Trading Key West was decided in favour of Frenchman Sebastian Col sailing Partners & Partners with William Thomas, Christian Ponthieu, Thomas Allen and owner Philippe Ligot. With only five points separating Col and second placed Shark Kahn it was still wide open going into this final race and the spectator boats were out in force to watch them fight it out.

For the first time in nine starts the fleet got away clean with the wind offshore again at 020 degrees and 16 knots ensuring plenty of shifts to keep the sailors on their toes. Shark Kahn and Col set to before the start match racing for position on the line, as a result neither of them got a spectacular start although Col got the slight advantage coming off the line just to the left of centre.

The first beat was nip and tuck with Col working his way clear of the gaggle by the middle of the leg and stretching out a 50 yard lead by the weather mark ahead of Silvio Santoni from Italy, helming for Franco Maria Rao. Shark Kahn slotted into third from Maurice "Prof" O'Connell, helming for Enda O'Coineen and Des Faherty of Ireland with Philippe Kahn fifth and Bruce Ayres sixth. In the battle of the Ecklund & Melges brothers it was Sheldon & Hans who rounded first in seventh place with Jeff and Harry in ninth. Flavio Favini, helming for Switzerland's Franco Rossini, split the Ecklunds in eighth.

Down the first run Col opened up a nice one minute lead whilst Shark closed up on Santoni with whom he rounded the leeward mark overlapped. O'Connell had dropped back to ninth leaving Philippe Kahn in fourth just ahead of Favini while Kristian Nergaard moved up from tenth to sixth. The Ecklunds rounded together in seventh and eighth with Jeff just getting the inside track as Sheldon had a minor fumble on the rounding loosing a few valuable feet.

On the second beat Col again pulled away from the pursuing pack while Shark battled his way past Santoni. Philippe Kahn and Favini held their fourth and fifth places and Jeff Ecklund and O'Connell overtook Nergaard for sixth and seventh.

By the end of the second run Col had almost two minutes lead and the spectators definitely thought it was all over. Philippe Kahn had overtaken Santoni and rounded just behind Shark who had a minor horlicks with the kite, just rescued last minute by some very smart crew work. Santoni now sat in fourth from O'Connell, Favini and Jeff Ecklund with Sheldon Ecklund pulling back to eighth just behind his brother.

As they set up off the last beat both the Kahns got the better of a left-hander and suddenly Shark was right back on Col's tail, closely pursued by his father Philippe. A tacking duel ensued and two thirds of the way up the beat Shark finally got through. Philippe meanwhile was also catching up and Col found himself the meat in a Kahn sandwich as the three boats ground out tack after tack on the approach to the line. Despite constant pressure from Col, Shark crossed just ahead with Philippe third from Santoni. In the battle of the Ecklunds is was Jeff who got race honours in fifth from Favini, Sheldon Ecklund, Nergaard, O'Connell and Paul Brotherton, who pulled up to tenth on the final run.

Speaking after racing Col confirmed that it had been a tough but rewarding day - "For us it was the start that was most difficult. We had a good battle with Shark and were quite happy with how we came out. On the final beat we missed a shift and he got passed us, but with the five point lead we were reasonably relaxed. As always Key West has been great and we are delighted to win. Our next goal is the Melges 24 World Championship in Marstrand in August where we hope to challenge Shark for the World title."

In the overall standings Sebastian Col and Philippe Ligot's P&P Team win by four points from Shark Kahn with Kristian Nergaard third and Flavio Favini fourth. His tenth in the final race was enough to secure Paul Brotherton, helming the Terra Nova Trading Team for Scotland's Ian Cleaver, fifth overall while Philippe Kahn had to be happy with sixth. The war between the Ecklund and Melges brothers was eventually won by Jeff and Harry in seventh overall with Sheldon and Hans just trailing them in eighth. Silvo Santoni was ninth and Bruce Ayres tenth.

As usual Peter Craig's Premiere Racing Team have provided the Melges 24 class with an outstanding opening event for their year. Particular thanks must go to PRO David Brennan and his team who provided perfect racing every day and to all the event sponsors, including Terra Nova Trading and Nautica.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Name	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	P&P Sail. Team	Philippe Ligot	La Rochelle, FRA	1	- 59 ocs	1	2	1	6	7	3	2	23
2	Pegasus 492	Samuel Kahn	Waikiki, HI	4	5	4	1	-14	10	1	1	1	27
3	Baghdad	Kristian Nergaard	Oslo, NOR	22	4	3	4	2	-25	3	4	8	50
4	Blu Mun	Franco Rossini	Chiasso, SUI	-16	1	11	5	12	7	8	2	6	52
5	Terra Nova Trd.	Ian Cleaver	Argyll, SCT	14	11	-42	7	4	2	4	5	10	57
6	Pegasus 575	Philippe Kahn	Waikiki, HI	2	2	2	20	-30	22	2	6	3	59
7	Tickler	Sheldon Ecklund	West Palm Beach, FL	7	8	9	-29	7	3	10	9	7	60
8	Star	Jeff Ecklund	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	-17	13	6	3	15	12	5	10	5	69
9	Devotissimo	Franco Mavia Rao	Rome, ITA	10	17	-21	15	5	9	6	8	4	74
10	Monsoon	Bruce Ayres	Newport Harbor, CA	19	7	7	6	21	1	11	7	- 59 dnf	79
11	Rhino	Sean Scarborough	Ocean City, NJ	8	24	- 59 ocs	8	10	5	25	11	11	102
12	Xcellent	John Pollard	Torquay, UK	3	3	22 p20	23	-31	23	12	14	15	115
13	OVL	Martin Wedge	Hayling Island, UK	5	19	12	28	16	-39	16	12	12	120
14	Flying Toaster	Mike Dow	Traverse City, MI	11	6	-22	21	17	18	9	22	17	121
15	Maski	Dietrich Scheder	Hamburg, GER	18	26	8	14	8	14	-39	20	14	122
16	Wild Cats	Simon Strauss	Larchmont, NY	20	10	-30	12	13	26	13	13	16	123
17	Kilcullen	Faherty/O'Coineen	Dublin, IRE	6	- 59 ocs	40	16	6	11	19	19	9	126
18	Shadow	Peter Stoneberg	San Francisco, CA	15	28	14	19	-50	8	32	21	23	160
19	Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	Torquay, UK	13	16	31	32	24	4	14	-36	27	161
20	Cagey	Karen Gottwald	Chicago, IL	29	15	23	27	9	-33	26	23	13	165
21	Sitting Duck	Team Rojning	Stockholm, SWE	26	20	19	18	29	19	-36	17	22	170
22	Black Seal	Richard Thompson	St.PeterPrt,Guernsey	-38	12	16	11	22	24	31	33	25	174
23	Grinder	Jeff Littfin	San Francisco, CA	32	9	15	22	-40	27	35	16	20	176
24	Team Satisfctn.	Michael Schulz	Atlanta, GA	12	- 59 ocs	26	26	27	15	20	32	30	188
25	Silver	Joe Woods	Torquay, UK	34	39	13	9	-42	29	23	24	19	190
26	Moving Target	GrfthMrtschnkHnckl	Charleston, SC	24	-38	32	10	32	13	30	31	24	196
27	Startack	Nick Maxwell	Madison, WI	9	27	37	-56	34	17	27	18	29	198
28	New Deal	Jorgen G. Heje	Oslo, NOR	30	18	20	30	20	-45	24	26	33	201
29	Gone Mad	John Hyatt	Fort Myers, FL	-36	36	5	25	35	31	21	30	26	209
30	Enigma	Hubert Guy	Pasadena, CA	31	22	17	24	26	48	-54	27	18	213
31	Barracuda	Bob Dockery	Longboat Key, FL	23	21	- 59 ocs	13	3	59 ocs	34	15	59 dns	227
32	No Tourism	John Raymont	Columbia, SC	39	-45	18	17	36	44	28	25	40	247
33	Kilroy	Jeff Jones	Shelby, MI	35	14	29	39	49	20	37	- 59 ocs	28	251
34	Bada Bing	Tony Trajkovich	Lake Geneva, WI	25	46	27	34	25	-50	33	37	31	258
35	USA 495	CrookKivlinSyburg	Lake Geneva, WI	33	25	-55	41	55	21	22	43	21	261
36	Go Dogs. Go!	Tim Hawkins	Santa Cruz, CA	-40	34	24	31	37	40	29	34	32	261
37	Loonatic	Mike Royer	Marblehead, MA	27	37	28	37	18	36	-51	46	36	265
38	Dynamo Humm	Paul Hulsey	Detroit, MI	21	23	33	42	- 59 ocs	32	17	45	59 dnf	272
39	Trick Monkey	Matt Mayo	Dallas, TX	37	43	38	35	11	47	- 59 dnf	28	37	276
40	M&M Sailing	Dawn Riley	Melbourne, FL	49	33	48	45	39	16	18	29	- 59 dnf	277
41	Chachka	Lewmar	Guilford, CT	42	50	34	43	19	37	15	47	- 59 dns	287
42	Shiraz	Michael Sher	Denver, CO	41	31	46	-50	23	28	45	50	38	302
43	Obsession	Gary Schwarting	Naples, FL	-51	41	36	48	28	35	42	40	35	305
44	Hot Rod	Mitch Hnatt	Brick, NJ	28	- 59 dnf	25	38	45	34	38	42	59 dns	309
45	Forerunner	John L. Mathis	Pensacola, FL	53	29	41	44	38	42	40	44	- 59 dnf	331
46	Nobody's Girl	Scott A. Baker	New Orleans, LA	47	32	35	46	51	38	43	39	- 59 dnf	331
47	Elektra	Dan Van Heeckeren	Cleveland, OH	50	48	39	-53	44	30	41	48	37.2 rdg	337.2
48	Hand Slammer	Stiff Competition	College Park, MD	48	30	- 59 ocs	40	48	56	53	38	39	352
49	Adrenaline	Wolf Lixfeld	Toronto, CAN	52	- 59 ocs	44	33	46	43	48	35	59 dns	360
50	Trust Me	Thomas W. Carter	IndianHbrBch, FL	43	42	43	51	43	49	49	41	- 59 dns	361
51	Chute Me	Cindy Cromwell	Michigan	55	49	53	54	33	- 59 dns	44	49	34	371
52	Adrenaline	Preston Wake	Menominee, MI	46	40	47	55	47	41	46	- 59 dnf	59 dns	381
53	Magic Carpet	Dale MacPherson	Grosse Pt. Farms, MI	54	44	52	49	41	51	50	51	- 59 dns	392
54	Jessica	D Dwyer/R Darrer	Cork, IRE	44	- 59 ocs	49	36	54	55	47	59 ocs	59 dns	403
55	Barking Fish	Mark Bryan	Dallas, TX	56	- 59 ocs	51	47	52	53	56	52	41	408
56	Adios	GumowBlkwellBermn	Delavan Lake, WI	57	35	54	52	53	54	52	54	- 59 dns	411
57	Anger Managemt.	A Rosen/J Marks	Tampa, FL	45	47	50	57	- 59 dsq	46	59 dnf	59 dns	59 dns	422
58	Express Lane	Frank Davenport	Geneva, WI	58	51	45	58	56	52	55	53	- 59 dnf	428