Team Kilroy Sets Pace at Melges 20 Worlds

San Francisco, CA (October 2, 2015) – Big breeze was the theme as the 39-boat fleet completed three more races at the 2015 Audi Melges 20 World Championship. John Kilroy and his son Lian continue to set the pace, and now with a discard, the gap between the skippers has narrowed from 10 to 6 points.

In the Corinthian division, Russia’s Oleg Evdokimenko aboard Kotyara had a great day advancing into the overall all-amateur division lead. Overnight leader Paul Currie from Canada on Wild Deuces is now in second, ahead of Jay Golison’s Midlife Crisis steady remaining in third.

Race Recap
From Race Four’s light to moderate breeze with flood, to Race Five’s moderate to heavy and flood to ebb, then Race Six’s classic bay area, nuking conditions, it was a day filled with a little bit of everything for everyone.

By far, the final race of the day was the most exciting and eventful. For the start, eighteen knots set the pace with the top weather mark reporting gusts over twenty. The breeze oscillated 5-10 degrees continuously which made the beats and runs all the more challenging.

Monaco’s Corrado Agusta on Customly figured things out early rounding the weather mark in first ahead of Rhonda Joyce’s Grinning Streak in second, and Cesar Gomes Neto on Portobello in third.

Downwind, Joyce had a smile a mile wide as she and her team of Matt Woodsworth and fiance Mike Wolfs ripped downwind to round through the gate, holding their third place course position.

Back upwind, it was gnarly. Big waves and full-on breeze pounded the fleet, as the top six separated themselves to become the lead pack. Agusta remained strong, and Kilroy improved to round second. The final run though took its toll on Agusta, Gomes Neto, and others as they wiped out on the jibe set to finish.

This window of opportunity is exactly what Kilroy was looking for as he slipped into the lead and won. Agusta recovered to finish second. Joyce had her best finish to take third, followed by Miani in fourth and Gomes Neto finishing fifth.

“Today was better. We had a lot of fun. We were really happy with the conditions today,” commented Agusta post-racing. “We had good boat speed and went upwind well. We are still practicing as this is our first season in the class. Gabrio (Zandona, tactician) made some really good calls today. We have a great team, a really great group.”

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for more breeze.

Racing is scheduled on September 30 to October 3. Eleven races are planned, with one discard after six or more races.

Preliminary Standings (Top 10 of 39; 6 races, 1 discard)
1. Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy , USA – 1 -[6] -3 -2 -4 -1 ; 11
2. WildMan, Liam Kilroy , USA – [13] -1 -6 -1 -1 -8 ; 17
3. Out of Reach, Guido Miani , MON – 2 -[22] -5 -10 -2 -4 ; 23
4. Portobello, Cesar Gomes Neto , BRA – 5 -2 -[16] -6 -6 -5 ; 24
5. Pacific Yankee, Drew Freides , USA – [18] -8 -1 -5 -3 -10 ; 27
6. Oleander, James Wilson , USA – 9 -[25] -2 -4 -9 -6 ; 30
7. Customly, Corrado Agusta , MON – [40] -9 -21 -8 -7 -2 ; 47
8. Mascalzone Latino jr., Achille Onorato , ITA – 6 -13 -4 -[24] -18 -9 ; 50
9. Pinta, Michael Illbruck , GER – [16] -5 -15 -11 -8 -11 ; 50
10. STIG, Alessandro Rombelli , ITA – 10 -3 -8 -[27] -11 -21 ; 53

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Photos: ©2015 JOY | International Audi Melges 20 Class Association