Melges 24 World Championship at Key West Race Week - Day 4

by Fiona Brown 25 Jan 2002 07:52 GMT

FLAVIO FAVINI & HARRY MELGES HEAD THE LEADER BOARD AT MELGES 24 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The penultimate day of the 2001 Melges 24 World Championship brought an interesting mix of weather and sea conditions and some very exciting racing. Although the race committee had hope to complete 3 more races the dying, shifting breeze resulted in a wise decision to stop at two.

Downwind Fleet Action Jeff Jones & Vince Brun battle it out Photos © IMCA/Fiona Brown

Overnight leader Flavio Favini (helming for Franco Rossini) consolidated his lead in race 7 with another impressive win but race 8 saw him cross the line 7th with a protest hanging over him following an incident with Brian Porter on the final run. Harry Melges meanwhile put in another solid day to take a 2nd and 4th keeping him safely in second place overall.

"We were happy with this morning and then we came out OK in the second one. There are still two races to go so the situation is definitely still open. Full Throttle is protesting us for an incident in race eight so we'll have to see what the jury has to say." said Favini immediately he arrived ashore.

Race 7 started in 15 knots with a nasty chop on top of the long swell and for the first time all week the fleet seemed to favour the left hand end of the line. Unfortunately a number of teams were a little too eager and amongst those caught over the start line were Brian Porter, Laurent Pages and Morgan Reeser. Favini did not make the same mistake and yet again he led the race from start to finish. Melges had a moderate first beat to round 9th but an impressive first run took him through to 2nd and although he was never quite able to best Flavini, he comfortably hung on to 2nd for the rest of the race. Behind him places changed constantly at the front of the pack with Jamie Lea (helming for Richard Thompson) eventually taking 3rd from Robert Tennant 4th and Vince Brun 5th.

At the start of race 8 the wind was down to around 12 knots and it continued to drop off throughout the race. Although the worst of the chop had flattened off there was still a noticeable swell running and it was the crews who were on the pace with their gear changes and shift spotting that made it into the chocolates. George Szabo (helming for Jeff Jones) and Kent Haeger both put together excellent first beats to head the fleet round the weather mark just ahead of Vince Brun and Doug Clarke (helming for Paula Zubrzycki). Down the first run Brun managed to pull up to second but was unable to get past Jones who held him off all the way to the finish. Behind them the battle for places was fierce and positions changed with every mark rounding. Pages eventually took third with Melges 4th ahead of Clark and Brit Tony Weatherall (helming for Dave Clark). The battle for 7th and 8th between Porter and Favini was a humdinger and as a result of the incident in which Porter felt Favini infringed him it was also very vocal. Favini crossed the line just seconds ahead of Porter.

Melges was delighted with his 2nd and 4th and with the promise of his preferred light airs for the final two races tomorrow is looking forward to the last day. "We had a good day today. The wind was fading all day which was to our favour because Flavio and his team have been going so fast when the breeze is up. We finally got ahead of him in the last race so we've gained a couple of points back. We've got a couple of races tomorrow with some lighter air so we'll see what happens." commented Melges.

As we go to press the result of the protest between Porter and Favini, which will have a significant effect on the standings is still awaited. What is clear is that regardless of the result of that protest the championship is still very much open and we can expect some great sailing again tomorrow and Favini and Melges fight it out for the Melges 24 World Title.

The 2001 Melges 24 World Championship is being run in association with Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week 2002. Our thanks to Melges 24 World Championship sponsors Woody's Ice, Geneva Trading, LightSurf Technologies, North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, the USMCA and all Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week sponsors.

Provisional Results: (8 races, 1 discard, subject to protest)

Pos	Boat Name	Owner	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	Blu Moon	Franco Rossini	-13	11	1	1	1	1	1	7	23
2	Star	Jeff Ecklund	4	5	7	-15	5	3	2	4	30
3	Flipper	Vincent Brun	3	7	-20	11	8	4	6	1	40
4	Black Seal	Richard Thompson	2	2	4	17	9	11	3	-38	48
5	Full Throttle	Brian D. Porter	15	6	17	2	2	2	-29	8	52
6	M-Fatic	Neil Sullivan	9	1	6	-46	6	6	11	14	53
7	Region Ile de France	Laurent Pages	1	8	13	3	16	12	-38	3	56
8	Soromap-Big Ship	Vincent Jaricot	14	9	-18	4	4	5	4	16	56
9	Gorgeous Worgeous	Quentin Strauss	8	12	- 78 dnf	8	7	17	16	9	77
10	Rock N' Roll (c)	Argyle Campbell	5	-43	21	5	3	30	28	10	102
11	First Crush (c)	Paula M. Zubrzycki	21	10	15	6	29	19	-36	5	105
12	Where's Bob	Robert Tennant	25	-39	2	9	36	13	5	20	110
13	Monsoon (c)	Bruce Ayres	18	13	30	13	10	15	-32	18	117
14	Buzzard	Mike Toppa	22	21	14	-44	25	14	8	15	119
15	Kilroy	Jeff Jones	27	28	-37	25	21	10	10	2	123
16	Typhoon (c)	Tony Wattson	17	20	-43	20	22	16	18	12	125
17	Bad Manners	David Clark/Tony Wetherell	7	26	-36	10	30	29	20	6	128
18	Whamo (c)	David A. Happ	-40	16	22	12	24	27	19	11	131
19	Trailblazer (c)	Donald Jesberg	12	-38	3	22	32	21	13	35	138
20	Siesta (c)	Kunio Suzuki	20	14	19	28	13	23	23	-75	140
21	Wombat (c)	Paul Lovejoy	31	15	23	-49	20	7	7	40	143
22	Vito	Vittorio Strosek	24	-33	8	14	26	31	12	32	147
23	The New Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	28	32	25	7	-41	18	25	17	152
24	Sabotage	Jeff Thorpe	32	36	12	31	-56	9	9	24	153
25	USA 143	Doug Fisher	-37	4	27	16	35	33	14	25	154
26	Pegasus 24-1	Philippe Kahn	26	27	11	19	31	22	-33	21	157
27	IMADIES	Charon Benoit	16	17	28	30	23	-48	22	28	164
28	Mach Schnell (c)	Kent Haeger	23	3	31	-66	14	58	34	13	176
29	Taboo (c)	Sean/Todd Scarborough	36	30	9	34	17	35	17	-39	178
30	Dudley Do Right ©	Steve Suddath	34	24	10	32	-46	42	15	23	180
31	Pegasus 24-3	Philippe Kahn	10	29	44	23	12	25	-49	42	185
32	Wicked Feet (c)	Tom Freytag	11	18	32	-52	27	32	35	31	186
33	Loaded (c)	Roger Peacock	29	34	34	24	15	28	31	-48	195
34	Sharks Never Sleep ©	Rick Rajewski	49	31	-50	18	11	26	39	43	217
35	Hummer	Daniel Cameron	44	47	24	27	19	43	- 78 ocs	22	226
36	Flying Toaster	Mike Dow	39	-55	26	36	34	34	24	45	238
37	Fiver	Colin Bishop	19	23	54	- 78 dsq	42	39	37	29	243
38	Moving Target (c)	Miles Martschink	-60	45	16	38	38	8	42	58	245
39	Minor Threat (c)	Peter Dalton	38	46	48	26	18	40	-67	33	249
40	Zig Zag 16 (c)	Henri Samuel	33	19	-55	29	52	53	27	37	250
41	Nigel Grogan Audi	Nigel Grogan	35	37	47	-57	28	24	43	41	255
42	Lamorak (c)	Mike Krantz	53	35	41	33	37	- 78 dnf	30	27	256
43	TN3	Geoff Longenecker	41	41	45	39	44	46	-47	26	282
44	Groovederci	John & Deneen Demourkas	-62	22	5	41	50	62	48	61	289
45	Pog Ma Hon	Mike Condon	61	67	53	21	40	20	- 78 dnf	30	292
46	Frequent Flyer	John Sherlock	6	25	38	- 78 dnf	78 dns	78 dns	26	52	303
47	Snow Pile Express	Bob Clark	43	42	49	37	- 78 dns	78 dns	41	19	309
48	Cagey	Karen Gottwald	45	48	-62	50	39	41	45	53	321
49	Twist & Shout	Jessica Lord	46	53	33	- 78 ocs	33	44	54	59	322
50	Mad Hatter	Nick Halmos	30	40	- 70 p40	51	45	36	65	56	323
51	2 Contact Carib	Peter Hout / Frits Bus	58	56	35	40	51	37	- 78 ocs	49	326
52	Remarc (c)	Brian Cramer	56	50	40	35	54	49	46	-64	330
53	@ccelerator (c)	Philipp Schoeller	52	58	29	56	-68	54	40	46	335
54	Clapped Out Toy Boy	Ian Cleaver	51	54	52	42	48	45	- 78 ocs	51	343
55	Liberty 2 (c)	Doug Kessler	50	64	66	48	47	- 78 dnf	21	54	350
56	Frozen 4	Bill Allen	47	44	46	- 78 ocs	72	52	56	36	353
57	BladeRunner/Jacuzzi ©	Torsten Bergh	-70	49	60	47	43	47	50	67	363
58	Adrenaline	Wolf Lixfeld	-73	57	65	61	55	51	61	34	384
59	Spank Me Again (c)	Richard Peper	54	-65	61	54	49	64	51	55	388
60	Gone Mad	John Hyatt	66	62	69	-70	58	38	44	57	394
61	WKD Blue	Joe Woods	64	-72	56	62	53	56	62	50	403
62	Star Tack (c)	Nicholas Maxwell	59	59	-68	58	64	57	63	47	407
63	Express Lane	Frank A. Davenport	- 78 dsq	73	51	45	63	55	53	71	411
64	Fish (c)	Mike Fisher	57	51	64	59	62	63	55	-65	411
65	Slippery	Jim Pearson	67	61	59	- 78 ocs	69	59	59	44	418
66	Bad Influence (c)	Guy Mossman	69	63	67	43	61	50	-71	69	422
67	Trick Monkey (c)	Matt Mayo	55	- 78 p40	42	65	71	66	66	62	427
68	L'il Iodine (c)	John D. Laundra	48	60	63	63	- 78 dnf	78 dns	52	63	427
69	Forerunner (c)	John Mathis	65	68	58	-69	60	65	57	60	433
70	ELEKTRA (c)	Dan van Heeckeren	63	70	57	55	67	70	58	-72	440
71	Hurricane (c)	Bill Rogner	-71	52	70	68	66	69	64	66	455
72	Machtapus smb (c)	Daniel J. Dingeman	-75	75	72	60	59	61	60	73	460
73	Iemonja (c)	Seth Siegler	74	- 78 dnf	78 dnf	53	65	60	69	70	469
74	Dirty Wight Boy ©	Bill Blank	68	76	75	67	57	67	- 78 dns	78 dns	488
75	Spicy Monkey (c)	Steve Beckman	72	-74	71	71	70	68	68	68	488
76	Jane Jetson	Brandon Flack	42	69	73	- 78 dnf	78 dns	78 dns	78 dns	78 dns	496
77	USA 31 (c)	Mike Sterenberg	- 78 dnf	66	74	64	73	78 dnf	70	74	499