Melleby and Revkin win Vintage Gold Cup

Richland, MI (October 5, 2019) – After an eight-race series with very challenging conditions, Eivind Melleby (NOR) and Joshua Revkin (USA) are the 2019 Vintage Gold Cup winners with an impressive four bullets in the score sheet.

A beautiful brisk and sunny morning welcomed the 26 teams competing on Gull Lake with the wind blowing from the southeast at about 12 knots, and soon the fleet was on the water to get going with the final three races scheduled on the last day.

Entering today, Melleby and Revkin (above) were leading the series by a three point advantage over Lars Grael (BRA) and Arnis Baltins (USA), and the competition between the two on the race course was palpable.

On the first of today’s three races, the Norwegian team got the their third bullet and the Brazilian team was right behind them in second. In the second race, Olympic medalist Lars Grael was the first across the finish line. Evind Melleby scored the highest number of the series, a 10th, which was then was dropped after the last race. The playing field remained open between the two for the final race.

The Norwegian/American duo did not miss their opportunity to win the race and the series, while Grael/Baltins scored a fifth that brought them into second overall at the 2019 Vintage Gold Cup regatta. Arthur Anosov and Dave Caesar (USA) are third overall, with just seven points from the winners. They were very consistent on the last two days of the regatta, winning two races and claiming two seconds out of today’s three races.

“It was good that we pulled the longer straw in the last race to seal the deal,” said 2017 Star World Champion Melleby. “We had some troubles in today’s second race and we were back in the pack, but we luckily sorted that out.

“It’s been great racing here at the Vintage Gold Cup, with the lake very shifty conditions, we even had a couple of auto-tacks today and it is always fun. We had a good week, it’s fantastic to sail on these beautiful wooden boats and seeing 26 of them on the line is just a great sight.”

“Dilly Dilly is a fantastic boat that Jon VanderMolen gave us,” added crew Revkin. “We loved it, everything was working very well and we are very happy to have won it for him.”

The Robert M. Boudeman Family Trophy passes from the hands of the two-time Vintage Gold Cup Paul Cayard, to Melleby and Revkin, at the awards ceremony at the Gilmore Car Museum.

“It was a fabulous event, I am biased of course!” said Don Parfet, co-chair of the event. “But we have four classic rigs and I have the privilege of winning that category with the oldest boat in the fleet, it was a lot of fun.

“We had tight racing among the Classic and super tight among the Performance wooden boats, so I couldn’t be happier about the turnout and the conditions… maybe just a little cold but we are sailors, we love it like that! In a few months we will begin to think about the 2020 edition, there’ll be a lot more to come, we’re going to have to find more wooden boats because more sailors want to join this event!”

Racing was on October 3-5 for any wooden Star boat that has been restored to approximate original specifications with modern equipment that may include hiking straps and aluminum mast and boom. Also featured is a Classic Vintage Cup category for the boats that will include a wooden mast and boom.

Event information – Race details – Results – Facebook

Final Results (Top 10 of 26; 8 races, 1 discard)
1. Dilly Dilly, Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin , NOR – 4 -1 -1 -3 -2 -1 -[10] -1 ; 13
2. Star of the Sea, Lars Grael / Arnis Baltins , BRA – 1 -[5] -2 -2 -4 -2 -1 -5 ; 17
3. Magic, Arthur Anosov / Dave Caesar , USA – [12] -4 -3 -1 -1 -7 -2 -2 ; 20
4. Flapper, Tomas Hornos / Jon Klerk , USA – 3 -2 -6 -6 -9 -5 -3 -[10] ; 34
5. Scimitar, Paul Cayard / Danny Cayard , USA – 2 -7 -4 -5 -[11] -4 -8 -4 ; 34
6. Mya, Larry Whipple / Austin Sperry , USA – 7 -12 -10 -11 -5 -8 -5 -[27] ; 58
7. Quantum, Mark Reynolds / Hal Haenel , USA – 5 -6 -11 -8 -16 -6 -[17] -8 ; 60
8. Pink Lady, Luke Lawrence / Bryan Milne , USA – [27] -3 -9 -18 -8 -13 -4 -6 ; 61
9. Chips, Bobby Lippincott / Chad Easley , USA – 11 -8 -13 -12 -3 -[14] -13 -3 ; 63
10. Pearl II, Myles Pritchard / TC Belco , USA – 13 -13 -[20] -13 -14 -3 -7 -7 ; 70

Source: Star Class