Bora Gulari of the USA on New England Rope leads the 2022 Melges 24 World Championship, hosted by Lauderdale Yacht Club.
Gulari (4-1-2) sailing with Kyle Navin, Norman Berge, Ian Liberty and Michael Menninger, leads with 7 points after three races on day 1, with second Harry Melges IV USA (1-5-5) on 11 points and in third, Laura Grondin USA (6-2-10) with 18 points.
Conditions were ideal for the class with winds of 15-23 knots from the North and North-East and big waves providing blistering speed sprints downwind.
Harry Melges IV and his team on Zenda Express (top image) had a great start to take the first win of the championship went to the newest boat and one of the youngest teams in the fleet.
Second place went to Laura Grondin on Dark Energy and third to Travis Weisleder on Lucky Dog.
In race 2, Gulari’s New England Ropes, who after a fourth place in the opening race, then took a clear win from the second race ahead of Laura Grondin with Bruce Ayres on Monsoon in third place.
The third race win of the day went to the Corinthian team of Italy’s Niccoló Bertola and his team on Taki 4 (21-12-1).
The victory was especially sweet since it was Bertola’s birthday. Taki 4 is a three-time Corinthian World Champion (2016, 2017, 2019).
“It feels great!” said Harry Melges IV at the dock after the races. “We did a really great day sailing out there in Fort Lauderdale and it was just perfect,”
The British team of Richard Thompson (7-28-16) on Black Seal are in 19th place.
2022 Melges 24 World Championship – After 3 races (31 entries)
1st USA 820 NEW ENGLAND ROPES – Bora GULARI 4 1 2 – – 7 pts
2nd USA 866 ZENDA EXPRESS – Harry MELGES IV 1 5 5 – – 11 pts
3rd USA 864 DARK ENERGY – Laura GRONDIN 6 2 10 – – 18 pts
4th USA 851 MONSOON – Bruce AYRES 5 3 12 – – 20 pts
5th USA 858 LUCKY DOG – Travis WEISLEDER 3 8 9 – – 20 pts
6th USA 849 FULL THROTTLE – Brian PORTER 10 6 6 – – 22 pts
7th USA 865 PACIFIC YANKEE – Drew FREIDES 2 17 7 – – 26 pts
8th GER 859 NEFELI – Peter KARRIÉ 8 4 14 – – 26 pts
9th USA 829 RAZA MIXTA – Peter DUNCAN 13 13 3 – – 29 pts
10th USA 811 GAMECOCK – Peter MCCLENNEN 22 7 4 – – 33 pts
11th ITA 830 TAKI 4 (COR) – Niccolo BERTOLA 21 12 1 – – 34 pts
12th ITA 722 ALTEA – Andrea RACCHELLI 12 20 8 – – 40 pts
13th USA 825 WAR CANOE – Michael GOLDFARB 11 14 15 – – 40 pts
14th CAN 415 SUNNYVALE (COR) – Fraser MCMILLAN 14 9 18 – – 41 pts
15th CAN 853 ZINGARA – Richard REID 15 15 11 – – 41 pts
16th USA 863 SHAKA – K.c. SHANNON 9 11 22 – – 42 pts
17th USA 720 TALISMAN – John BAILEY 18 6 13 – – 47 pts
18th USA 862 3 1/2 MEN (COR) – Steve SUDDATH 20 10 20 – – 50 pts
19th GBR 835 BLACK SEAL – Richard THOMPSON 7 28 16 – – 51 pts
20th USA 801 FLYING JENNY – Sandra ASKEW 16 22 17 – – 55 pts
21st USA 856 SENTINEL (COR) – Geoff FARGO 17 19 23 – – 59 pts
22nd USA 717 BAD IDEA – Scot ZIMMERMAN 19 21 25 – – 65 pts
23rd USA 805 DECORUM (COR) – Hunter RATLIFF 24 26 19 – – 69 pts
24th USA 838 BRIO – Manfred SCHMIEDL 26 18 26 – – 70 pts
25th CAN 629 SURPRISE (COR) – Dan BEREZIN 23 24 27 – – 74 pts
26th CAN 11 GOES TO ELEVEN (COR) – Duncan STAMPER 25 30 21 – – 76 pts
27th USA 775 JAWS (COR) – Roger COUNIHAN 30 27 24 – – 81 pts
28th USA 812 NIKITA (COR) – Paul Krak ARNTSON 29 23 DNF – – 84 pts
29th USA 708 TRAMP – Thomas RITTER 31 29 29 – – 89 pts
30th USA 798 WOOP-WOOP (COR) – Geoff MCFARLAND 28 DNC DNC – – 92 pts
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