Welcome to the last day of racing for the Melges 24 in Key West!
Racing is expected to start on time, 15-20 on the breeze… Going to be a wet day…
Course bearing of 050
Melges 24s are in sequence…
Breeze still hanging in at 16-20 for the start…
UKA UKA Racing’s bowman is 15 year old Matteo from Italy who was brought to key west to stand in for their regular bowman who is out injured due to a skiing accident. He is obviously doing a great job as the Italian team have led the class since day one.
We chatted to Matteo via UKA UKA Racing trimmer Federico Michetti as the pair arrived early this morning to prep the boat.
Lorenzo Santini’s UKA UKA racing continues to lead the Melges 24 class after four days and eight races. Their lead has been slightly diminished however going into the last day they still have a healthy seven point advantage over franco Rosini’s Blu Moon. This Swiss entry were boat of the day today with a third and a first and they have a margin of six points over Giovanni Maspero’s Joe Fly who matched UKA UKA Racing with a second and a fifth today. Alan Field continues to be the best of the American teams and consolidated this position by winning race one and finishing eighth in the final race of the day.Going into the final day they sit just six points away from a podium position overall. They will need to be mindful of the challenge from behind from Ricrdo Simoneschi and Vince Brun who lie four and seven points respectively back.
The Melges 24 overall results are far from easy to predict and with two races scheduled for tomorrow none of the top teams can afford to falter as the series comes to a tense conclusion. We will be out on the water to bring you all the action so check back for our roundup of the final results tomorrow. Until then here is the video action from today’s races:
Start of race 7:
Race 7 first windward mark:
Race 8 Start:
Second leeward marks race 8:
Course change implemented…
Blu Moon
Uka Uka
Porter
Joe Fly
Babs
USA 768
USA 769
Kolius
Field
McCliment
Brun
Zandona, Rast and Porter out front…
Around in first:
Zandona
Rast
Porter
020 course bearing, breeze light and fickle for the start of race two…
Short postponement in effect, Melges 24s go racing in about 10 minutes..
Breeze went had left for the start… Bressani and Rast vie for position… Several individual recalls including Brun…
The wind is back up for the finish…
Very shifty conditions, and pockets of air in race 1 of the day are making for an interesting shake up in the results..
Alan Field with a phenomenal lead.
Really shifty air downwind.. Field still out front, then Rast, Brun, Zandona, Jena Wathne, Porter, Ayres, Kolius…
Bressani and Simoneschi deep…
Through the gate
Field
Rast
Brun
Zandona
Wathne
Just prior to the start, the race committee moving the course – fleet standing by under short postponement.. Breeze dropping off – now around 7.
Course 4, bearing 040…
Now in sequence…
The breeze looks left at the start, further up the course we can see the breeze is shifting again…
Breeze back up 10-11…and back off again. Rast, Simoneschi, at the pin. Massive left shift as the fleet gets a start, couple of general recalls.
Down drafts nailing the fleet just after the start…
