Brian Porter wins Melges 24 US Nationals

Cascade Locks, OR (August 9, 2015) – After two days of epic conditions at the Melges 24 U.S. National Championship, today’s winds offered just enough to complete one more race for the 36 boats. Brian Porter’s team on Full Throttle posted a third place to secure their title win in the 8-race series, with Jeff Madrigali at the helm of Kevin Welch’s Mikey finishing six points back in second. Matt MacGregor and his Good Enough team finished sixth overall as the top Corinthian team.

It was Porter’s seventh title win, assisted in this edition by tactician Andy Burdick, Sam Rogers and Matt Woodworth. In the deep Corinthian division, which had 24 teams, Seattle-based MacGregor was sailing with crew Keith Hammer, Kati Belden, Genevieve Livingston and Ren Chandler.

Report by M24 class:
Sunday marked the final day with racing scheduled to start at 1100, however when teams arrived at the course area, the Columbia River Gorge was like glass. In fact, many who have sailed at this venue before went on to describe the conditions as very unusual and extremely un-Gorge like. The fleet waited for almost three hours before some signs of breeze appeared on the horizon.

Just around 2 o’clock the fleet was finally able to squeeze in one last race. Within a 20 minute span of time, there was no breeze, and then there was 10-12, building as the race progressed topping out at a perfect 15-18 knots. As the fleet traveled upwind, it was spread evenly across the race course, converging at the top with Dan Kaseler on Raptor Deck in first, reigning Canadian National Champ Richard Reid on Zingara in second, followed by Porter, Ayres and Stamper.

The breeze slacked off downwind with Kaseler very much in control, Ayres moving up into second, Porter hanging tough in third. Corinthian’s Bond, Gord Galbraith on Lekker and Stamper rounded sixth, seventh and eighth raising the bar in the all-amatuer division.

It was not until the very last run, that Ayres tried to put the moves on Kaseler for the lead, unfortunately it was not enough to overtake. Kaseler won the final race, Ayres came second, Porter was third, Doug Wilhelm’s Wilco was fourth and Bond rounded out the top five finishers.

TOP TEN RESULTS (FINAL – After Eight Races, One Discard)
1.) Brian Porter, Full Throttle; 1-[3]-1-2-1-1-1-3 = 10
2.) Jeff Madrigali/Kevin Welch, Mikey; 17-1-2-1-2-2-2-8 = 18
3.) Bruce Ayres, Monsoon; [6]-2-3-3-5-4-4-2 = 23
4.) Dan Kaseler, Raptor Deck; 2-[6]-6-4-3-5-3-1 = 24
5.) Doug Wilhelm, Wilco; 4-4-5-5-[9]-3-8-4 = 32
6.) Matt MacGregor, Good Enough; 9-5-7-8-[11]-6-6/RDG-10 = 51
7.) Herb Cole, Judo Chop; 3-15-4-6-6-12-[40/DSQ]-9 = 55
8.) Mike Bond, Honey Badger; 12-7-[15]-11-7-11-5-5 = 58
9.) Steve Boho, The 300; [18]-17-18-7-14-9-8-7 = 80
10.) Richard Reid, Zingara; 5-10-8-[40/DNS]-4-8-7-40/RET = 81

TOP TEN CORINTHIAN RESULTS (FINAL – After Eight Races, One Discard)
1.) Matt MacGregor, Good Enough; 51 pts
2.) Mike Bond, Honey Badger; 58 pts
3.) Duncan Stamper, Goes To Eleven; 83 pts
4.) Gord Galbraith, Lekker; 83 pts
5.) Fraser McMillian, Swish; 85 pts
6.) Kevin Clark, Smokin’; 90 pts
7.) John Rahn, Pickled Beets; 91 pts
8.) Manfred Schmiedl, Brio; 108 pts
9.) Sallie Lang, Posse; 117 pts
10.) Duane Yoslov, Looper; 133 pts

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