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Melges 32 Sails
North Sails continue to set the pace in the Melges 32 class. North Sails were first overall with Mike Carroll and Marty Kullman winning the classes East Coast Championship in Annapolis, MD. 14 Melges 32's wee on the starting line racing for this championship. There were just 3 races in the event but all races were won with a boat with North Sails. The wind conditions were light in race number one but moderate (10-16) in race 2 and 3 - perfect Melges 32 conditions as the boats could jet downwind.
* partial inventory For more information on North's fastest M32 sails, please contact our M32 experts.
Melges 32 Sails
Report by Sam Rogers FINAL DAY: Heading into the final day of racing at the 2007 Miami Grand Prix, Claudio Recchi and his team DAY 2: With similar conditions as day one, the Melges 32 fleet completed 2 races with extremely tight racing. Melges 32 veterans Marty Kullman and Mike Carroll found their groove and clearly had a speed edge on the fleet. The posted a very intimidating 1,2 in very shifty, trying conditions. Jeff Ecklund also sailed well today finishing with a 2,1. Key West winner, Claudio Recchi is still in the hunt for the Miami title and Rick Orchard and his Grins team are hanging tough in 4th place. Tomorrow is forecasted for more breeze which will be a welcomed signed for the 32 fleet. For full information and results, go to: www.premiere-racing.com DAY 1: Three Races Completed in Ideal Conditions
For full information and results, go to: www.premiere-racing.com Melges 32 Sails
Report by Sam Rogers
As Gary Jobson stated in one of his daily reports, the weather in Key West for Race Week was “Stuck on gorgeous.” This was certainly true as the 20 Melges 32’s enjoyed 5 days of wind in the 9-12 range, 81 degree temperatures and sunny skies. Perfect Melges 32 conditions. Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four
The 2007 edition of Key West Race Week was the most spectacular week of racing in recent memory. Couple with the great conditions was the awesome, tight racing that took place in each of the nine races. Although there was a clear winner of this event, the Melges 32 class is gaining more experience and that talent level is rising. If the past 3 years have been any indication, 2008 will have 35 of these awesome racers competing for Key West glory. Here's the top 5: The next stop on the Melges 32 Winter Circuit is St. Pete Nood and Miami Race Week. With confirmed entries in the double digits for both events, the winter racing in Florida is going to be Hot! For more information on North's fastest M32 sails, please contact our M32 experts.
Melges 32 Sails
The Lauderdale Yacht Club proved to be excellent hosts for the first annual Melges 32 Training Regatta this past weekend in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 11 teams came from across the country and the Atlantic Ocean to get tuned up and practiced for the Melges 32 winter series. Eight races were completed in ideal ESE breezes ranging from 12-16 kts., perfect Melges 32 conditions. One great feature of the event was the fleet had coaches and nightly debriefs with video sessions by Anthony Kotoun, Buddy Melges and Andy Burdick. These sessions were very informative for the fleet and the results could be seen on the water as the racing became much tighter each day. Having great sailors like Anthony, Buddy and Andy as coaches was very beneficial to the group and should allow for much better racing in Key West where 20 32’s are expected to race. The Melges 32 has seen huge growth in the last year and a half, and if this regatta is any indication, this boat and class will be a huge world wide success in the coming years. All in all, it was a great weekend and North Sails did very well which was great to see. 1st, 2nd and 3rd places were powered by North! Our Spinnakers seem to be much faster downwind and our upwind sails look great.
See you all in Charleston! For more information on the fastest M32 sails, please contact our M32 experts.
MELGES 32 WINDQUEST RACES Report by Eric Hood
The latest stop on the Melges 32 tour this year was Harbor Springs , Michigan. The Little Traverse Yacht Club was host for this great event held annually just after the two Mac races. Dick DeVos and Team Windquest rolled into town to try out the new Melges 32. With an all amateur team except for one the team included Bill Hybels, Steve LeMay, Linda Lindquist-Bishop, Ryan DeVos, Jim Glas, Ken Devisser, Super Dave Wright and Eric Hood. All sailed with the team during the three days of sailing with Ryan DeVos joining us for the big windy day on Sunday. Always fun with the DeVos group as we had a full entrourage of support as seen in the photo. The sailing was exciting. We had light air and heavy air conditions on the long famous bay tour courses . Surprisingly we thought we would get waterlined in the light air race 1 on Saturday and that did not happen. We got a little behind on the first two beats because of our shorter waterline but when we turned the corner for the 4 mile 70 degree apparent reach we put our code Zero up and flew by everyone in our class C or 3rd start group, passed all but two boats from Class B or the 2nd start and caught half of the Class A or 1st start. We were able to maintain that position during later long beats. Boat for boat we finished 7th across the line inbetween the 1st and 2nd place Farr 40s who started in front of us. Check out the scores for all the classes and you will see how well we did. Sunday brought the big waves, big wind out of the southeast for the 25 mile race. Lots of beats, lots of runs and reaches. We started off with a four mile beat into 3-4 waves. Our goal was just to stay close and in touch with the longer boats on this first beat. We did that and rounded within a couple of hundred yards of our whole tough group from Class C. The A and B boats were gone as they started five and ten minutes ahead. The next two legs would be two broad reaches with a total distance of about 4 miles. In the first few minutes , going 16knots with our runner up we passed our entire group in C , caught most of the B class and got much closer to the three Farr 40s and A Boats. We made two big mistakes on the next four mile beat and the following 4 mile run that cost us the event. We should have gone upwind with our small number 4 (IOR 4 - 85% ) as we had our 105 MH up and it was just too windy about 25 mph at that time. We figure going into that beat we were ahead of our closest competion the 50s, the Evelyn 42 and a very well sailed ID35 by several hundred yards. Being a little overpowered we could not hold off the longer boats on this brutal beat (Next time though :o we will have that 4 up). Then on the 3 gybe long run when we should have easily passed everyone we stayed on the mathmatically correct course but stepped out of the big breeze . The starboard side of the course had 20-25 mph of wind at this time and we sailed for most of the four miles in 15-20mph of wind. This really cost us. We still sailed very well and were extremely happy with the results of our crew and skipper Dick DeVos. The whole object was to go fast and have fun. The boat is so easy to sail that is exactly what we did. One other cool thing that happened on Sunday was listening to all the radio chatter. Everyone wanted to know where the Melges 32 was in the 100 boat fleet and were they near the top mark and getting ready to go downwind. Many of the spectator boats had a hard time keeping up with us in the big waves and big wind conditions. It was blast. The results are all posted at the Little Traverse Yacht Club website which is www.ltyc.org
MELGES 32 MACKINAC REGATTA! Eric Hood interview with Chris Thomas who sailed the 2005 Chicago Mackinac Race in a Melges 32 chartered from Melges Performance Sailboats. USA 120 Notorius. Tell us a little about your sailing career and how you finally ended up selecting a Melges 32 as your latest race boat. Chris: I am originally from South West Wales in the UK and grew up doing anything I could related to the sea. I came to the US in 1991 and made Chicago my home. It was a little different to what I was used to back in Wales in so far that it was on a big lake with no tide and there were lots of fleets of big boats that went sailing every weekend which does not happen back where I come from in Wales due to the tides. I started crewing on some boats to get introduced to sailing on keelboats with crews of four or more. In 2000 I decided that I wanted to start my own race team, make the commitment and get on the fast track. I joined Chicago Yacht Club and then looked for a boat to but that we could start our racing campaign with. After a lot of deliberating I decided to buy a Tartan 10 due to the fact that it was the biggest one design fleet in Chicago by far. The first few seasons were spent getting to know the boat, learning how difficult it is to get 6 good people to commit to sailing with you every weekend and basically learning how to drive bigger boats in big fleets. In 2003 I decided to do a complete rebuild of the Tartan 10 and contracted Blair Ross to do the work. We competed in the Chicago Mackinac Race in 2003 on my Tartan Ten and after doing that I decided never to do that race on a boat that slow again! We formed the core of the crew that we currently have for the 2004 sailing season and finished the season 8th out of a fleet of 35 boats in round the marks events. 3 of the crew also started campaigning a Melges 24 seriously in 2004 so when I decided to buy another bigger, faster boat the Melges 32 was a natural choice. I did not mind that the boat was new and there was no one design fleet in Chicago, I believe that this will come with time. What was important in selecting the Melges 32 was the similarity in design to the Melges 24 and the fact that the performance potential of the boat is phenomenal. I am keeping the Tartan 10 for local Chicago fleet racing. I also have a Vanguard 15, a Laser and two A Skeeter iceboats that I keep up in Fontana, Wisconsin. We all know the Melges 32s primary mission is One Design racing but you elected to do a very long distance race that is not always a easy race. What were the driving forces behind that decision? Chris: I think that the primary reason that we decided to do the Chicago Mackinac race in the Melges 32 was the performance potential of the boat in the right wind conditions. The combination of the light weight of the boat and the large sail plan make the Melges 32 a great long distance race boat in my opinion. The Melges 32 can also surf waves very well and this race is known for having long periods of surfing most years. We were not concerned about getting wet or not being as comfortable as most of the other boats in our section, we just wanted to do the best that we could and get a fast, exciting ride up to the Island, and we got it in the second half of the race. With the different choices of sails that the Melges 32 has it is perfect for long distance races, especially when it’s downhill. Tell us a little about the different conditions you saw during the Mac race. Also, how the crew and boat responded to those different conditions. Chris: We had very light conditions at the start of the race and we had to settle down to what was going to be 9 to 10 hours of beating and fetching in light air. We had the crew weight to leeward and the boat performed ok, but we could not keep up with the larger J boats and others in our section who just had more waterline than we did, and what made it worse was we also owed them some time due to our rating. In the middle of Saturday night the wind moved aft enough for us to put the Code Zero up. At this point this changed for us a lot, we started to do 7 knots in 6.5 knots of breeze so now was our chance to catch up. I was kind of eery going along a little faster than the wind with the lake like glass. By sun up on Sunday morning we started to see some boats way in the distance. A few hours later we had gone through two spinnaker changes, from the Code Zero to the VMG and from the VMG to the runner. By the time had the runner up the wind had pick to about 12-14 knots and the boat was starting to really move fast, we started passing boats like they were standing still! When we got up to the Luddington area the wind was 18-20 knots and we were doing 14’s and surfing nicely. A fairly dense fog came out of nowhere just of Big Sable lighthouse and everybody suddenly disappeared. It did not last long luckily. At this point we decided to head inshore as we were still a few miles west of the rhumb line but we quickly saw the wind drop off to 10-12 knots so we decided to go back out into the lake and found the good breeze again. I understand you only sailed with a crew of 6. Normally we sail with a crew of 8. How did this work out? Chris: We really had to sail with 6 to keep the weight down as much as possible due to all the food and water that we had on board and the additional safety equipment that we were required to carry on the boat for the race. It worked out pretty well, we had 3 drivers and 3 trimmers who did everything else on the boat. We never really found ourselves shorthanded during sail changes, jibes etc., and boy did we do a lot of sail changes during the race! The hardest part was making sure that the drivers rotated every 2 hours and then slept when they were not driving. It is very difficult to sleep below when you are doing 12+ knots as it is loud down below with the combination of the keel humming and the water moving past the hull so quickly. Basically for the last 100 miles of the race everyone was on deck and working pretty hard as it was blowing around 20 knots and the boat was on fire! Next year we will make sure that everyone actually does rest and get more sleep when they are off shift. Tell us about the exciting last half of the race and how events started changing of you and your crew quickly. Chris: We crossed the 45th parallel at 23:42 on Sunday night and headed on a course straight for Gray’s Reef with the Runner up. About 25 miles from Grays Reef we saw a lot of lightning activity in the distance. We were a little concerned as we had not experienced the 32 in a storm of any type so we got all hands on deck. Luckily for us we had the XM Weather service on Board and a large Garmin screen down below so we could look at the radar images and see the storm going eastwards over Grays Reef. We figured that we would just miss the tail end of the storm by the time we reached Grays Reef so we decided to keep the pedal to the metal. We were doing consistent 13’s and 14’s all the way up to Grays Reef in 17-20 knots of breeze. Dawn broke as we hit Gray’s Reef and the storm was already way out in the Straights. As we made the final right turn to go into the Straights we had a Farr 39.5 slightly ahead of us and a Farr 40 and a J133 not far behind us. Now we had to take the Runner down and put up the heavy jib for some jib reaching on a course straight for the Mackinac bridge in 19-22 knots of breeze. Even though we were doing 10-11 knots jib reaching, soon the Farr 39.5 was pulling away from us and the Farr 40 was catching up with their jib top up. We decided that it was going to be tight but we could probably hold the Code Zero, so we put it up and the boat took off. Within a minute we were back to doing 14’s and the boats around us were suddenly quite a way behind us. However, holding the Code Zero was a constant battle as we were still going upwind. We had a few good wipeouts, one of which was fairly spectacular and we came very close to losing the brand new Code Zero for ever! Thanks to some very quick crew actions this never happened and fifteen minutes later we had the Code Zero back up and were blasting towards the Mackinac Bridge. I was expecting full wipeouts with the kite up to be more brutal than they actually were in the Melges 32, that was a nice surprise. As we passed under the Bridge and turned downwind to go into the finish we changed to the Runner and managed to hold off the Far 39.5, Farr 440 and J133. The last exciting part was the last jibe that we needed to complete to actually cross the finish line. It turned out that when we had our “issue” wit the Code Zero in the Straights that we lost our ability to jibe the Runner after we did the sail change from the Code Zero. We literally had to send one of the crew out on a halyard to attach a line to the clew of the Runner so that we could jibe the sail. If we didn’t complete this we would have to take the Runner down and lose to the boats behind us, which was not going to happen. We managed after two failed attempts to attach the line to the Runner and jibed into the finish ahead of the boats that we had raced all the way down the Straights. It was a very exciting way to finish the race. You chartered the Melges company boat for the Mac and your new boat arrives this month . Tell us about your plans for racing the boat. Chris: We are planning on doing the Verve Cup at Chicago Yacht Club in August, then the Tri-State distance races at the end of August. This winter we are planning on taking the Melges 32 to Florida to do Key West and Miami Race Week. For the 2006 sailing season we plan on doing some of the NOOD regattas and the local Area III races in Chicago. We will race the boat in PHRF until we get a One Design fleet in Chicago. Chris, again from all of us at Melges Performance Sailboats and North Sails congratulations on the great elapsed time performance at the Chicago-Mac this year. We look forward to seeing you and the "Notorius" crew out there soon in your new Melges 32. For complete lists of all Elapsed Times and Corrected Times for the 2005 Chicago Mac Race please visit www.chicagoyachtclub.org For more information about the new Melges 32 contact Eric Hood, Andy Burdick or Harry Melges.
MELGES 32 WINS LAKEFEST REGATTA! Story by Steve LeMay - Melges 32 "Sooner Magic"
The winds were marginal but the Melges 32 lived up to its reputation! The most recent owner, Garland Bell of Oklahoma City was gracious enough to invite a great team to the Texoma Lakefest regatta held in Dennison, Texas to race the new Melges 32. The team had never sailed together but felt right at home on the boat. Eric Hood, our factory rep met us at the marina on Thursday morning with the boat. Rigging and launching ws done in record time. The simplicity of the gin pole caught several eyes. We even beat a Hobie 33 ( deck stepped) to the water! For more information about the new Melges 32 contact Eric Hood, Andy Burdick or Harry Melges.
INTERVIEW JEFF ECKLUND Interview by Eric Hood
J Ecklund - As you know, Harry and I have been sailing together for a number of years on the Melges24, E-Scow, A-Scow and other North Sails and Melges Performance Sailboat customer projects. When Harry called and asked if I would consider keeping my brand new Melges24 USA-595 "STAR" on the trailer for KWRW and drive the new Melges32, I jumped at the opportunity! We know you grew up sailing scows . Looks like you had a bunch of scow sailors out there sailing with you this past week. Fill us in on your crew and give us a report card on how they did. J Ecklund - Yes, growing up sailing Scows on Lake Minnetonka, MN helped prepare me and my other Scow sailing crew for the speed and apparent wind adjustments needed to sail the Melges32 and the Melges24 for that matter at max-speed. Not only was Harry Melges on board but, Hans Melges, Judd Hirschberg and Sam Rogers...all with extensive fresh water Scow miles under their belts and did a great job keeping me on my game and the boat going fast at all times. Other dinghy sailors on board were Ernesto Rodriguez from Fort Lauderdale via Cuba and current Snipe National Champion. Morgan Commette from Fort Lauderdale and is a Senior in High School, finished 2nd at the Snipe Women's World Championships in Oslo, Norway last summer. Bill Wiggins from West Marine Rigging was our bowman and helped work behind the scenes rigging the new Melges keeping our running gear in ship shape. Tell us a little about your sailing career. You certainly have seen a lot of different and been a part of many successful projects. J Ecklund - I've been very fortunate to have a very rounded and successful sailing career in many classes of boats. As I mentioned earlier, sailing with Harry, Buddy and Hans for many years in the Scow Classes really gave me a jump start into sailing the bigger boats. My father Jay and I successfully campaigned the 1D48 "STARLIGHT" for a number of years with stops at the Kenwood Cup, Big Boat Series, KWRW, SORC and other very high profile events. From there, I signed with "Young America" the New York Yacht Club's Challenge for the 2000 America's Cup as a trimmer. Sailing, training and racing an IACC boat in both Newport, RI and Auckland, NZ with a great group of professionals was a tremendous experience. I took a year or so off from big boat sailing to regroup when the Illbruck Volvo 60 team who consisted of a number of Young America sailors asked if I could do some two boat testing with them for a summer in Charleston, SC before the start of the Volvo Round the World Race. WOW! is all I can say about the speed and power of those boats ripping through the ocean for days and days! ...it very much reminded me of how the new Melges32 felt in the big breeze! Next, I joined “Nela” which was Michael Illbruck's Farr40 and campaigned her for two summers in the Mediterranean which culminated with a 2nd place finish at the Farr40 World Championships in Sardinia, Italy. And by the way, I was still racing E-Scows in the Midwest with Harry and A-Scows with the Porter brothers on "Full Throttle" and won a Melges24 World Championship in Germany and finished 2nd in two other Melges Worlds with Harry in the meantime.Even though I’ve been apart of many World Class teams, I’ve also been very conscious to maintain my Amateur status throughout. Growing up in the Midwest has instilled a sense of Corinthian yachting for which I’m very proud of and plan to continue! Your father Jay and brother Sheldon have always been very active in racing. How are they doing and what are they doing?
How did you like your North 3DL sails that were hot off the presses? J Ecklund - The sails looked great! As you know, I've been a big fan of North's 3DL process especially after sailing with Young America, on the 1D48, Farr40 and with Illbruck's Volvo 60 team and working with some of the World's best designers in North's Performance Racing Group (PRG). The sails fit perfectly out of the box and the shape was race ready. We didn't make any adjustments before hitting the starting line for the first race! It looked like you guys and girls were going 20 plus on several different days what was that like. Tell about steering the Melges 32. It must have been a thrill! J Ecklund - Driving the Melges32 was a dream. It seems more powerful than the Melges24 and still very much under control at speed. The boat really seems slippery both up wind and down wind in all conditions. The taller rig and thus bigger mainsail and asymmetrical spinnaker gives you plenty of horse power in the light to medium conditions and with the adjustable jack, one can de-power the boat to make the boat very manageable in the big breeze. As with the Melges24 in planning conditions, most of the crew heads to the stern push pit to get the bow out of the water and hang on for the ride! The acceleration in the big breeze reminds me of the some of the A-Scow rides I've had over the years! Eric, I'd really like to take this moment to thank Harry Melges and all the gang at Melges Performance Sailboats and North Sails One Design for giving me the opportunity to drive the first Melges32. You guys (Harry, Charlie, Andy, and Eric) delivered a race ready boat so, it made my job very easy. I'd also like to thank my crew who did a tremendous job in Key West with very little practice time but, they adapted, learned and excelled in very short order. They too made my job very easy. Thanks again! Jeff, once again from everyone at North One Design Sails , the entire North family of businesses and Team Melges Congratulations!!! You really sailed well and put a great program together this past week. Thank you for your time on this interview.
For more information about the new Melges 32 contact Eric Hood, Andy Burdick or Harry Melges. Get your first look at the Melges 32 designed by Reichel/Pugh at Key West Race Week beginning January 15, 2005 and Strictly Sail Boat Show in Chicago's Navy Pier February 3-6. |
The 2007 edition of Key West Race Week marked the 3rd year of Melges 32 racing in this world class yacht racing destination. In three short years at Key West, the Melges 32 has gone from 1 boat in 2005, to 20 boats in 2007. The numbers this year made the Melges 32 the largest One-Design class above 30ft and the 3rd largest class in the entire regatta. The growth of the Melges 32 was the hot buzz of the week with rumors that even more world class owners, racers and sailors are ready to jump into this fast growing speed racer. The only thing more exciting than the hype built around the Melges 32, was the racing itself. 
Day 5 
Results (Top Five):
Chris congratulations on your recent race to Mackinac on the Melges 32. Considering the early light air conditions you sure had a good ET in the end.
We would like to hear your thoughts on the Melges 32 as a new owner, the class and for sure the distance race to Mac.
Jeff congratulations on the big victory this past week at Key West Race
Week. Fill us in on how the project all came together.
J Ecklund -
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