Hot and light at Melges 24 US Nationals

Fairhope, Alabama (May 24, 2019) – The opening day at the 2019 Melges 24 US National Championship endured record-breaking temps and light to moderate breezes out of the South-Southwest.

Four races were completed with Georgia’s K.C. Shannon at the helm of Shaka with tactician Jackson Benvenutti taking the overall event lead. Bruce Ayres’ Monsoon with Mike Buckley as tactician finished the day solid in second place.

Although the single-digit scoreline did the trick today, third place finisher Michael Goldfarb racing Warcanoe experienced highs and lows. He came away with two out of the four (Race One, Race Three) daily wins.

John Brown’s Blind Squirrel felt the full brunt of today’s challenging conditions, but found the nut in Race Two taking the bullet ahead of Travis Weisleder’s Lucky Dog/Gill Race Team. Seven-time National Champion Brian Porter racing his famous Full Throttle Melges 24 won Race Four.

“It was light air racing today, but we like the bigger breeze,” admitted Porter. “In two of the races, we made some mistakes that were costly, but we are ready to back out there tomorrow, and hope to get in six more races for the event.”

Steve Suddath’s 3 ½ Men are seventh overall and hold the In the Corinthian division lead.

Racing is planned for May 24 to 26.

Event details – Results – Photos

Day One Results (Top 10 of 35; 4 races)
1. Shaka, KC Shannon , USA – 2 -7 -4 -3 ; 16
2. Monsoon, Bruce Ayres , USA – 8 -5 -3 -7 ; 23
3. Warcanoe, Michael Goldfarb , USA – 1 -17 -1 -5 ; 24
4. Zingara, Richard Reid , CAN – 10 -8 -2 -11 ; 31
5. Lucky Dog, Travis Weisleder , USA – 6 -2 -6 -20 ; 34
6. Mikey, Kevin Welch / Jeff Madrigali , USA – 16 -12 -5 -2 ; 35
7. 3 1/2 men, Steve Suddath , USA – 9 -9 -9 -12 ; 39
8. Full Throttle, Brian Porter , USA – 21 -4 -14 -1 ; 40
9. Flying Jenny, Sandra Askew, USA – 14 -16 -11 -6 ; 47
10. Slingshot, Wes Whitmyer Jr , USA – 11 -10 -20 -8 ; 49