Freides leads Melges 20 US Nationals

Newport, RI (August 17, 2017) – The 2017 Melges 20 US National Championship got underway today with two races for the 18-boat fleet. Drew Freides’ Pacific Yankee with crew Morgan Reeser and Charlie Smythe posted a 4-1 to take the early lead, but three other boats sit within three points of the lead.

On a traditional sunny, summer day, Newport is known for giving sailors a headfake with a weak, northerly, morning breeze, only to have that fade into a solid, southwest seabreeze. Knowing the conditions well and despite the solid northerly morning gradient, PRO Anderson Reggio wisely postponed the 2017 Melges 20 U.S. National Championship fleet, and settled on a 2 o’clock start on the ‘outside’ race course to take full advantage of that seabreeze.

Once the wind direction settled into the 200 degree heading, Reggio got the fleet underway to kick off the 2017 National Championship. Showing no signs of slowing down from their European Championship victory a few weeks ago, Vladimir’s Prosikhin sailing on RUSSIAN BOGATYRS took the bullet in the first race, followed by Liam Kilroy on WILDMAN in second and a very fast Jason Michas on MIDNIGHT BLUE in third.

With the seabreeze hovering in the 9-11kt range, Race Two started clean with Drew Freides and his team on PACIFIC YANKEE at the pin, extending to the left corner to sail a nice port tack angle and lead at the top mark. Behind Freides, a heated battle was underway with Alexis Michas’ MIDNIGHT SUN, former World Champion John Kilroy on SAMBA PA TI, Rob Wilber’s CINGHIALE, Michas and Prosikhin fighting for position in the top group. On the final beat, Daniel Thielman’s KUAI legged it out to the right side to snag a nice right shift sneaking into third place, behind Kilroy in second and Freides in first.

The forecast for tomorrow is for plenty of wind… and rain.

Six more races are planned with racing to continue daily through August 19.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Day One Results (2 races)
1. PACIFIC YANKEE, USA300, Drew Freides – 4 -1 ; 5
2. Samba Pa Ti, USA13131, John Kilroy – 5 -2 ; 7
3. RUSSIAN BOGATYRS, RUS898, Vladimir Prosikhin – 1 -7 ; 8
4. Midnight Blue, USA228, Jason Michas – 3 -5 ; 8
5. WILDMAN, USA311, Liam Kilroy – 2 -8 ; 10
6. KUAI, USA7676, Daniel Thielman – 9 -3 ; 12
7. CINGHIALE, USA414, Rob Wilber – 8 -4 ; 12
8. Midnight Sun, USA305, Alexis Michas – 7 -6 ; 13
9. OLEANDER, USA250, James Wilson – 6 -9 ; 15
10. CRUZAN RHODE , ISV1315, Timothy Pitts – 12 -11 ; 23
11. TALISMAN, USA306, John Bailey – 14 -10 ; 24
12. Flygfisk, USA225, Tom Kassberg – 10 -16 ; 26
13. Gimlet, JPN271, Tamotsu Aritomo – 11 -15 ; 26
14. RUSSOTRANS, RUS265, Yurii Morozov – 13 -13 ; 26
15. Dark Star, AUS308, John Bacon – 15 -12 ; 27
16. BOBSLED, USA280, Bob Moran – 16 -14 ; 30
17. KINETIC, USA227, Bob Hayward – 17 -17 ; 34
18. TEMPUS, JPN224, Koji Matsumoto – 18 -18 ; 36

Source: Melges 20 Class