| ||||||||||||||
|
Melges 24 News Sail Information || M24 News || M24 Tuning Guide ||M24 FAQs || Contact M24 Experts || Order
See also: 2004 Regatta Reports | 2003 Regatta Reports | 2001/2002 Regatta Reports
Melges 24 Sails
When the venue was announced for the 2008 M-24 Worlds I thought to myself this is it!! The biggest M-24 regatta ever held in the class was on the cards, my prediction was to exceed the La Rochelle Worlds in 2000 which if my memory is working some way right was approx 125 boats. Porto Cervo in Sardinia almost made it in numbers with the final total being 114 boats from roughly seventeen countries, what a fantastic turn out. If you ever get the opportunity to race in Porto Cervo this is a must do venue! What a club for starters, I have to say they did a fantastic job running the regatta and everything ran like clock work. We were blessed with two of the Worlds best race officers in Hank Stewart and Peter “Luigi” Reggio. If you ever want to see how race officers should operate these are the guys to watch, flawless is the only way to describe them…….. As in 2007 I was racing with the Team Barbarians from the UK. Owner Stuart Simpson has been in the class from year one and was sailing his 14th or 15th consecutive season in the class. Sailing with our regular team of Jamie Lea and Justin Chisholm we were really looking forward to the regatta. With so many boats in the field they split the fleet into four groups and sailed qualifying rounds to separate the fleet into Gold and Silver. Then carrying all your points forward another six races were held to determine the final winners, as it turned out the wining team from Italy had it sewn up after race eleven but just to prove it wasn’t an accident they went out and finished 2nd in race twelve! They made it look so easy winning by 32 points just to prove a point!
Second overall went to a new team under the command of Alberto Bolzan, sailing ITA-727 Pilot Italia for Gianni Catalogna. These guys got off to a flying start winning the Pre-Worlds and dominating the start of the event with a 2,1,3,1,7,4 score line! Now that really is a flying start, again there was a common thread with this team as they were also powered 100% by North Sails. Despite using a rival sail brand to win the 2006 World Championships with Nicola Chelon Alberto recognized the versatile nature of the North Sails and knew what he wanted for 2008. These guys had a few small hiccups towards the end of the series but still sailed beautifully to take a very well deserved 2nd overall, nice sailing guys. Luca Valerio, sailing ITA-722 Alina Helly Hansen for Maurizio Abba also sailed a truly inspired series. With my good friend and North Sails colleague Daniele Cassinari calling tactics these guys surprised a few of the teams with their speed. I really do not know how he does it but one minute they are safely tucked away behind you sailing in dirty wind, the next minute there they are hoisting spinnakers whilst you’re still on the wind! I wish I knew the secret but if you ask Daniele all he says with a smile “It must be the sails!” As he uses the same sails as me and the rest of our customers I think there has to be a little more to it! Well done guys and of course Roberta who keeps all the boys in check, a great performance well done. So that’s the top three overall taken care of, what more can I say? Well over in the Silver fleet the story also seems to be following a similar pattern! 1,2,3* overall were using North Sails to power to the front of the Silver fleet where the racing was as close and competitive as the Gold fleet. I think it’s safe to say that the Melges 24 class enjoyed it’s regatta in Porto Cervo! It was a great venue for our American friends to visit and many of them took the opportunity to visit other Italian cities before the long trip home. I think if in a few years time the class is lucky enough to go back to Porto Cervo we will see lots more teams crossing the Atlantic to sail in what is arguably the top sailing location in Europe. Final thought: Out of the forty sails used in the top ten boats thirty three were provided by North Sails, I think the message is very clear if you want to go fast, GO NORTH. Sail Fast for 2008. For information on our fast Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts.
Melges 24 Sails
Bayview Yacht Club -
Detroit, Michigan The largest Melges 24 US Nationals ever took place at Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, Michigan this past weekend. Melges 24 fleet member Paul Hulsey put on a spectacular show on and off the water. 8 full on championship races, rockin’ bands and top notch dinners made the event first class. Audi was the title sponsor and they had some pretty awesome product on display at the regatta. These new cars fit in well with the sexy Melges 24. North Sails were present in force at this Championship. Vince Brun, Harry Melges and Andy Burdick were all there supporting the class, helping customers and passing on tuning tips to all. Harry Melges assisted in a tuning clinic on registration day. Many boats took advantage of his knowledge and skill. Short practice races were managed by Bayview YC and Latis Yachting Solutions. Many sailors commented on how cool this was. Day one had a nice warm breeze reaching 15mph at times. Ideal Melges 24 racing. Three races were completed with Brian Porter and Full Throttle winning two of them. David Ford from Newport, RI. was in attendance. His two boat campaign was helmed by Bill Hardsesty and Mark Ivey. Each boat had North Sails throughout and they were fast on this day as well.
Light conditions persisted on the final day. Porter held on to his lead to become the 2007 National Champion. North Sails Finished 1, 4,5,6 and won 4 of the 8 heats in the National Championship. No question, the customers choice is North Sails. They have a simple set up program to go fast in all wind conditions. The downwind sails (The North Max Runner) are by far the fastest. Going fast downwind in the Melges 24 is key and with a North Kite you have a big speed edge. What was fast? Following is a brief list of things we did on Full Throttle in order to achieve maximum speed upwind and downwind.
The key here is to trim the main enough as your apparent wind moves way forward. This helps get the boat up on a plane.
55 Melges 24’s competed for this championship and no doubt North Sails were leading the way. They are indeed the most user friendly sails on the market. For information on our fast Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. To order new sails online, click here.
Melges 24 Sails
If I am 100% honest I was not really looking forward to this years European Champs in Neustadt Germany, I did not like the idea of sharing our regatta with the German equivalent of Cowes week! I was used to the Melges 24 being the star of the show and not having to share the limelight with the Farr 40 fleet and the rest of the Rolex Baltic week fleets……….However like most things in life you shouldn’t knock it until you have tried it and my fears were completely unfounded as I quickly discovered. The Farr 40 fleet added a certain something to the start of the regatta, they almost had as many America’s Cup sailors in their fleet as we did! Only overlapping with us by a day added some additional topics of conversation before the start of the Europeans and the support from Rolex was fantastic. We are used to sailing in very nice regattas with lots of support from big name sponsors but Rolex really know how to add value to a sailing regatta and a big thank you to them and all the other sponsors of this year’s big European event. As for the rest of the Rolex Baltic Week competitors we did not really see very much of them either on the water or in the Rolex marquee, it would seem like my initial worries were all for nothing! This year’s event drew close to eighty competitors from thirteen or more countries; it really was to be a very European regatta. In recent years the Italian fleet has been taking a bit of a strangle hold on the class and this years event was to be no different. Five of the top ten were sailing under ITA sail numbers and even this year’s winner sailing under a Swiss flag was being driven by an Italian with several Italian crew! Please do not get me wrong we love racing against all these guys but things are starting to get a little out of hand and it’s about time we started to give them a harder time! By now you will have read all of the professional journalists reports from the regatta including nail biting race by race analysis, you can relax now as you will not be getting this again from me! This is the short version! If my memory is working correctly we spent most of the practice day waiting for wind and also waiting for the race officer to run a race for us. Eventually the fleet got a little bored waiting and small groups started to have races of their own in the 2-3 knot winds that were sprinkled very sparingly across the Baltic. After a few hours of this and still no sign of wind the fleet returned to shore to make final preparations. As always at the big regatta’s there was plenty of small but important jobs to be done to finally be ready for the 2pm start on day one. Finally Saturday afternoon arrived and the fleet headed out into Ground Hog Day……..This is one of my favorite films and if you have not seen it each day was just like the last for the main character of the movie! To sum up we went out on the water in very little wind and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get a race away with no luck. The fleet eventually returned to shore a little frustrated but all in one piece ready for day two. I think I may have mentioned Ground Hog day again as I looked out of the window from our apartment in the morning! But how wrong could I be? After a bit of hanging around we finally got three very nice races away and the fleet had a very light but enjoyable days racing. Team barbarians with Stuart Simpson as team leader got off to a flying start winning the first race and scoring a third and eleven in the next two. The third race of the day was certainly the toughest one for us as we were nudged to a standstill on the line by one of our European cousins from France! Tacking onto port after the gun and fully in the third or fourth row off the start things were not looking good for another top ten finish! However sometimes God smiles down on us and we came nose to nose with one of our fellow country men half way up the beat. We went right and they went left and the next time we saw them was after the finish………We had managed to fight our way up to eleven and they had stay back in thirty seven, like I said someone was looking after us in that race!
Same conditions again for day three, Ground Hog Day, light winds late start with lots of hanging around. Finally off again and a flying start for us again in Team Barbarians, first at the top mark only to see our name in lights on the Black Flag DSQ board. An eerie silence came over the boat as any one of you that has experienced this disappointment will know…..Back down to the start line that was still in place, re ran the start several times using the same transits, something not adding up, better go and have a chat with my friends on the International Jury tonight! Watching the fleet sail round in a perfect 6-8 knot breeze was frustrating to say the least. Next race was almost a copy of the last race the day before, a dropping breeze made it very difficult to guarantee anything. However as always the cream seems to rise to the top of the glass and the good guys come out at the front. We had another solid race taking fifth and feeling quite pleased with ourselves…….If only we could lose that black flag??? Tuesday morning came and my visit with the International Jury was as expected, a waste of good resting time! However what it did bring was a lot of wind and rain, now living in Ireland these days I am quite comfortable with both elements but together on this morning they did not look that inviting. Several hours waiting on shore and the conditions seemed to get worse not better! Only seconds after I had said to the lads we will not be racing for several hours yet the AP came down and we were sent out to sea. I remember someone who had obviously not raced in the Baltic before saying that they were setting up for big winds and flat water! Well in the marina the water was quite flat but once out of the safety of the Harbour it became clear very quickly that the water was far from flat! The fleet literally flew to the start line with winds from 25 to thirty knots, another bold statement from yours truly saying the race officer was mad and we would be going in soon resulted in the warning gun being fired for race six! Now I am sure you have read about this race already but Five masts were broken including ours! One keel fin snapped off resulting in a capsize and rescue for one of the Italian Teams, he should be getting quite used to this by now as this is the second time it has happened to him. Lots of damaged sails, boats and people, but as always the good teams rise to the occasion and Franco Rossini and Blue Moon retained their lead of the regatta.
At this point moral on Team Barbarians had hit a new all time low! Having broken the mast on the first downwind of race six were lost any hope of a top five finish for the week. Feeling a little dejected we walked away from the boat with talk of going home etc……….But the true British spirit came through at about 12pm that night after several beers and at 7am we were on the dock with a borrowed mast sweeping away the debris and getting ready for day five of the regatta. But unlike most good stories this one does not have a happy ending! The penultimate day was plagued with light winds and showers and there was to be no racing for the day. The twelve race schedule was looking a bit sick with only 6 races in the bag after five days of trying and with a forecast for more light winds we finally cracked. Borrowed rig down, tidy away and book flights home a day earlier than planned. Not great for our overall result but we had been aiming high and after the mast braking that opportunity was lost. Reading the reports and talking to our fellow team mates race 7 was the one to miss alright. Very light winds, big shifts etc…….I think this race spoiled the regatta for many teams. But as always happens the best guys keep cool heads and do what they have to do. Out of the 12 race schedule with one discard only seven races were sailed in six days which was a real shame. Personally for me I came away strangely happy knowing that our team is getting stronger and just a fraction of additional good fortune and we could have had our best result to date. North Sails had a fantastic market share at the regatta with over 70% of the boats flying North Sails. In the break down for the top ten overall things look like this:
Open Division
Corinthian Results
All of the above Teams were using a combination of the AP-3 Mainsail, J-7 or J-8 Jibs and the VMG and PZR Spinnakers. North Sails designs have dominated the class for several years now and 2007 has been no different. If you want easy consistant speed in all conditions you need look no futher. Congratulations to all the winners that chose to use North Sails.
Sail fast……… For information on our fast Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. To order new sails online, click here. (*) partial inventory
Melges 24 Sails
The 2007 Melges 24 Worlds were held last week in Santa Cruz California. 58 Teams battled it out for the World title in the cold waters of the Pacific in what turned out to be a stunning sailing location. During the end of 2007 I was invited to join the Team Barbarians from the UK and it was a late call from team boss Stuart Simpson that took us to Santa Cruz. What a great decision that proved to be as the 2007 Worlds will go on the record books as being one of the top regatta’s for the class in recent times. We had been planning to sail the Volvo Cup regatta back in Italy but as the main event got closer and closer it became clear it was one not to miss. The mix was perfect, wind everyday gradually building throughout the day and generally topping out at over 20 knots. Sunshine for most of the regatta, a very high quality field sporting most of Europe’s best Teams, race officering of America’s Cup standard and of course do not forget the final race! Like the last race in the Italian nationals in Sardinia the final race in Santa Cruz will be etched in the memories of every sailor on the track as a classic day in the M-24. Race started in 16-18 knots and finished up in 30 knots plus…………Big waves, four masts broken, spinnakers shredded, people falling overboard and being rescued and of course do not forget that final run! Many of you will have been following the regatta on line and with the excellent reporting from the class I am sure most of you are up to speed with what happened! What I am sure many of you will not be aware of is how well the North Sails performed in this regatta. Although we did not take the ultimate prize with our up wind sails a certain Mr. Dave Ullman and Team Pegasus selected to use the North PZR high wind spinnaker! I have to say I was not surprised to see the other members of Team Pegasus using the North chute but Dave himself! That did surprise me a little but I guess he only used it for one reason? Because it was FAST! My old friends and rivals the Porter brothers have to be the unluckiest team at the regatta. These guys have been consistently at the top of the class for as long as I can remember and sailed a great series. With only a few hundred yards to the finish and minutes away from their first World title disaster struck. By now the big gusts were 30+ and on their final approach to the finish the tack line jumped the cleat on their spinnaker. As all you seasoned asymmetric users will know this is not good! The tack line came tight about 20 feet from the boat and vroom they were on their side! No issue of course for these seasoned sailors, drop the kite into the water, boat comes up and away you go! What could be simpler?? Well this works just fine with the tack line fully on and cleated, not though when it’s slack and the sail promptly went under the boat! From having the win in sight the guys slipped to 20th and their worst result of the regatta. As we all know this is just one story of many on how the final out come could have been so different! But when your worst result to that point was 8th you realize how well these guys were sailing in a very tough fleet. Well how did the North Sails fair in the end?? Take a look for yourself and see:
Overall results Open:
So out of the 40 Sails used in the top ten of the M-24 Worlds 75% were North Sails! I think that tells you something about the product. Why would so many sailors put their trust in North? Well one of the reasons is that we supply the same sails to our customers that we use ourselves. We do not keep any special products just for the chosen few or the big works teams, we sell and use the best products we have to all sailors. I think the other big reason is the consistency of the product. Each time you get a new North Sails they set up in the same way, the tuning is simple and they are fast across a wide wind range in the hands of pros or Corinthians. That last statement really counts for the majority of our clients, in fact let’s look at the Corinthian results!
Overall Results Corinthian Worlds:
Talking with many of the Corinthian Teams during the regatta the reason they select North is for ease of use and trim. They see many of the big pro teams using regatta specific sails and some very fine tuning which is great in the hands of the pros…………But for most of our clients they want speed with ease! That is what we at North try to deliver with every M-24 sail we produce, in fact some of them are so easy to use even other sailmakers win World Championships using them!
Team Barbarians Regatta Team Barbarians has been one of my arch rivals for the last 6 years or more and when I was invited to join them late in 2006 I was delighted. These guys have always run a professional show and as my time with Team Gill was at an end it seemed like the perfect fit. For me the M-24 class has been a passion for the last 13 seasons and during this time I have enjoyed sailing with about 4 teams. So each time I switch to a new side it takes a time to get the dynamics right. The switch to Team Barbarians was interesting for me as I have sailed with Jamie Lea the helmsman in the past. Even so it still takes a time to get back into our old routines. Different helms prefer the tactics being called in different ways, but it was not so long before things started to slip into place. Jamie has been a renowned pin end starter for many years and he is quite good at it! So it came as a bit of a surprise to many of our fellow competitors when we started at the starboard end of the line in seven out of nine races! For each start the principle race officer set a healthy Port bias on the line to tempt the guys away from the right side of the track. We signed up for that in race 1 & 2 but quickly realized that 20 degrees was not enough to cross the right hand side of the fleet and stopped trying after two attempts! We had some really great races but also had our fair share of issues! The biggest one being our jib halyard snapping below decks whilst approaching the windward mark in the lead in race six! We were lucky to save the mast and to have only missed the second race of that day. Had it happened in race one we would not have been quite so cheerful! Some consistency was appearing in our score line and we were delighted to find ourselves 5th overall half way through the regatta. With some very close racing and the big race on Friday we slipped down to 6th overall at the end of the regatta. With such a tight and talented field of sailors we were delighted with the results of our first Worlds together and look forward to the rest of the 2007 season. We used the standard North Sails at this regatta and always felt on the pace no matter what the conditions. Thanks to Stuart Simpson, Jamie Lea and our own JC for a great regatta. For us the next stop is the Volvo circuit in Italy and then the Europeans in Germany. I hope to see many of you there. Sail fast and look only NORTH! For information on our fast Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. To order new sails online, click here.
Melges 24 Sails
North Sails another victory to their list this past weekend in San Francisco. The PCC regatta dished out a wide range of conditions - perfect for North Sail designs as our Melges 24 sails are the most consistent and the most user friendly. The six race series featured stellar San Fran. Bay breeze on Sunday ranging up to 18 mph. Porter liked this winning two of the three races on Sunday. Also going fast with their North Sails were Chris Larson/Scott Holmgren the classes current US National Champions. Argyle Campbell was quick too sporting all new North Sails. Thank you Don Jesberg for hosting a great Melges 24 event! For information on our fast Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. To order new sails online, click here.
Melges 24 Sails
Scott Holmgren aboard “Rosebud” has been crowned the 2006 Melges 24 National Champion after 9 exciting races in Jacksonville, Florida. The fleet of 47 boats saw a variety of conditions and North Sails excelled in all phases of the regatta. Scott and his Rosebud team used North Sails exclusively and their boat speed was simply unmatched on the racecourse allowing them to win 3 of the 9 races. Make sure you are giving your team the best chance to win and order a set of new, Melges 24 North Sails Today! Next up on the M24 is Key West race week where the top Melges 24 teams in the US and the World will be competing. It is an event not to be missed. North Sails One Design will be available to deliver sails to this first class event and to help with tuning and speed tips on site! Check www.usmelges24.com for full results and reports. For information on the latest developments on our Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. To order new sails online, click here.
Report by Vince Brun Brian Porter with Harry Melges, John Porter and David Navin as crew, and using exclusively North sails, won the 2006 North Americans held in Santa Cruz this year (2007 Worlds will be held in Santa Cruz). Overall Results: For more information on the the new main and the regatta, please contact Harry Melges, Vince Brun, or Seadon Wijsen..
Report by Vince Brun Riccado Simineschi using exclusively North Sails, dominated the 2006 Acura Miami Race Week by winning seven of the eight scheduled races. They used North Sails AP-3 main, J-7 jib, and Max Runner Here's the top 10 overall: Photos courtesy Sharon Green / Scuttlebutt | Photos courtesy Tim Wilkes/Event web site | Videos For information on the latest developments on our Melges 24 sails, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. To order new sails online, click here. (*) partial inventory
Report by Vince Brun Melges 24 Worlds - Key Largo, Florida ( 105 boats ). The AC Prada Team with match racing ace, James Spithill at the helm and Olympians Charlie and Jonathan Mckee on tactics, won the 2005 Melges 24 Worlds in Key Largo, over a real Italian team led by Gabriele Benushi. Benushi lead most of the regatta, until the last two days, when James took the lead and the overall win. The Prada Team performance should be greatly attribuited to James great starting skills ( 105 boat in one start ) and spectacular big fleet tactics from the Mckee brothers. Overall results: On the Corinthian Division, North again proved to be the winners choice with the top three boats choosing North sails. Most teams used the North AP-3 main, J-7 jib, MaxRunner, and PowerReacher for sail models. For more Melges 24 information, please contact the North Melges 24 experts. For additional information about our winning designs click here. To order new sails online, click here.
Report by Vince Brun With Melges 24 class showing great participation, we have enjoyed a 54 boats fleet at the East Coast Championship held in Jacksonville, Florida. The conditions were most from 12 to 20 kts for the first three races on Saturday, to very light winds on Sunday racing. Brian Porter with Andy Burdick calling tactics, dominated Saturday racing with two firsts and a second. But on Sunday racing, after an average first race, only four points separated the top four boats going into the last race. The Prada team of James Spithill with Charlie and Jonathan McKee calling tactics, showed great fleet management, holding up their lead and winning the event. With the World Championship just weeks way, this was the last regatta before the World's, and therefore the record participation. Currently we have 105 boats registered for the Worlds which will be held at Key Largo, Florida, early December. We would like to congratulate first top Amateur Martin Kullamn, powered by North Sails Overall Results:
Report by Sam Rogers Tight Racing on Final Day of Gold Cup Sailed: 7 Discards: 1
For more information about our new Melges 24 designs, please contact our Melges 24 experts.
For more information on Melges 24 sails, contact the North Melges 24 experts. |
Congratulations must go to Lorenzo Santini and his helmsman Lorenzo Bressani for creating a team of true champions. Of course they wouldn’t get anywhere without the other crew members and a big hand to Federico Michetti, Francesca Prina and tactician Francesco Bruni for a great job. The nice thing for us all here at North Sails was that these guys were powered by North Sails 100%. Using our standard designs these guys beat all comers into submission over the six days of intense competition. The reason they chose North Sails was the fact the sails are so versatile across the range and not just specialist heavy weather sails. Looking at the range of conditions they encountered it looks like a very wise choice.
Day two saw another North Customer rise to the top. Othmar Blumencron has been spending a lot of time in the Melges fleet and it has shown. He was in the hunt on this day with a 11, 2,2 in lighter conditions. He has a full inventory of North Sails and believe me, he had a lot of speed out there! Porter won 2 of the three races again on this day but spotted a 15th in the middle race. This gave him a 6 point lead going into day number 3. Scott Holmgren was not far behind the Full Throttle team.
The dead downwind mode:
North Sails won 4 of the 6 races with Brian Porter and his brother John Porter coming out from the midwest to claim the title. The Porters use a full range of North Sails. At this event they used the AP-3 mainsail, J7k jib which is very easy to tune and then the Max Runner and PowerZone Kites. "The North Downwind sails are the best by far",says PCC winner Porter. "They just are, they are easy to trim and they are the fastest in straight line sailing. If you want to speed up your game you have to consider North Sails for your Melges 24".
1st Brian Porter
One
Design Classes | Tuning Guides
| One Design News |
Order | Contact Us | Home
|
© 1995-2008 North Sails One
Design. All Rights Reserved.
|