2015 Audi Melges 20 U.S. National Championship – The Michas Touch

Charleston, SC (April 20, 2015) – Three additional races were held on the final day of the Audi Melges 20 Nationals delivering down to the wire racing. A full round of congratulations are in order for two-time Sperry Charleston Race Week (CRW) Champion and now, 2015 U.S. National Champion Jason Michas on Midnight Blue with tactician Mark Mendelblatt and crew Tim Hotchkiss. Canada’s Paul Currie and his Wild Deuces crew comprised of David Mori and Justin Barnes captured Corinthian U.S. National Champion for second consecutive time.

The last day of racing at Nationals featured three races with Michas pretty much stealing the show. He gained the overall lead after Saturday’s two races, and then finished off the Championship with a 1-11-1 (the eleven was Michas’ discard). Drew Weirda’s Peshmerga excelled in the breezy conditions to win the second race of the day. Other teams that worked their way through the breeze to find some great finishes today include Daniel Thielman on Kuai getting a nice second place in Race Six, Paul Reilly on Red Sky grabbed third in Race Seven, and Bob Hughes’ Heartbreaker took a third in Race Eight, his best score of the entire regatta.

“I think the best thing about sailing here, is one of the hardest things about sailing here – there is a lot of current so there are a lot of passing lanes,” commented Michas post racing. “Some of it is trial by error. Obviously Mark is an incredibly talented sailor so finding those passing lanes is something he does very well. It’s very special to have him on board.”

In second overall is Richard Davies’ Section 16. Davies managed to put together a solid string of single digit finishes with only one double digit score, which of course was his discard.

“We had really good racing this weekend. You can have so much fun in this class,” said Davies who is also the North American Fleet President. “We’ve got a big summer planned between sailing in Europe, and then coming back for some really nice warm-up events on the West Coast for Worlds. There are some huge opportunities for getting a real feel for the experience that the World Championship will be.”

But the real star of the day was Kassberg. His third place finish is his best ever at a major Audi Melges 20 regatta.

The International Audi Melges 20 Class Association (IAM20CA) wishes to thank every competitor for making this championship the best ever! Additional thanks goes out to Sperry Charleston Race Week and the Race Committee, the Carolina Yacht Club (CYC) and Kreidefels who sponsored the Saturday, Audi Melges 20 debrief at CYC.

The next event scheduled to take place is the Canadian Nationals set to go on May 29 – 31, several Audi Sailing Series events and then it’s on to the World Championship on September 30 – October 3 in San Francisco.

TOP TEN RESULTS (After 8 Races, 1 Discard)
1.) Jason Michas, Midnight Blue; 8-2-3-8-2-1-[11]-1 = 25
2.) Richard Davies, Section 16; 2-[14]-6-2-1-9-6-6 = 32
3.) Tom Kassberg, Flygfisk; 4-3-8-4-8-4-5-[15] = 36
4.) Cesar Gomes Neto, Portobello; 1-4-4-11-4-12-2-[14] = 38
5.) Bruce Golison, Midlife Crisis; 5-6-1-[16]-10-3-8-5 = 38
6.) Drew Weirda, Peshmerga; 6-[18]-11-3-13-5-1-2 = 41
7.) Wes Whitmyer, Slingshot; 7-5-5-6-7-6-7-[12] = 43
8.) Brian Porter, Full Throttle; 11-1-2-[18]-5-10-9-13 = 51
9.) Robert Hughes, Heartbreaker; 9-11-15-5-3-8-[17]-3 = 54
10.) Paul Reilly, Red Sky Sailing Team; 10-7-14-7-6-8-[16]-3-9 = 56

TOP CORINTHIAN RESULTS (After 8 Races, 1 Discard)
1.) Paul Currie, Wild Deuces = 98 pts.
2.) John Brown, Blind Squirrel = 105 pts.
3.) Robbie Wilkins, Vamoose = 117 pts.
4.) John Murphy, Solas = 154 pts

Event details – Results – Photos

Report by class media.