December 11, 2013

Skip Shapiro of Palo Alto reports from Key Largo, FL, where he's sailing his Melges 20 Makaira in the Audi Melges 20 World Championship, which started today at Ocean Reef Club.

I'm here in Key Largo with three of the other four NorCal Melges 20 owners: Daniel Thielman, Tom Kassberg and Elliott James. We're all looking forward to a fun and exciting regatta.

The 52-boat fleet is peppered with well-known pros sailing as tacticians (this is an owner/driver class), including John Kostecki, Terry Hutchinson, Chris Rast, Jonathan and Charlie McKee, Brad Butterworth, Morgan Reeser, Brad Boston, Anthony Kotoun, Bill Hardesty, Harry Melges, Andy Burdick, and Bora Gulari.

The Melges 20 class has also seen an influx of owners from larger boats in the last couple of years, John Kilroy, Jim Richardson, and Robert Hughes, for example.

Three races were sailed on the first day in winds ranging from 10 to 14 knots. Three different boats won races, and the leader is Travis Weisleder on Lucky Dog, the only boat to finish in the top 10 in all three races.

Racing was competitive and challenging, with the fleet and coach boats creating significant confused chop at the windward mark and leeward gates.

The top NorCal entry – no surprise – is John Kilroy on Samba Pa Ti in 11th place. Samba had a 9 and 2 in the first two races, but could only manage a 32 in race 3. Other local boat are: Tom Kassberg on Flygfsk in 27th place, Daniel Thielman on Kuai in 30th, Skip Shapiro on Makaira in 36th and Elliott James on Problem Child in 41st.

Thursday's forecast is for fading winds, but hopefully enough to complete two or three more races. Friday's forecast is for lots of wind, possibly exceeding the 23-knot limit for the regatta. Racing continues through Saturday, with up to 10 races scheduled.

– Skip Shapiro, Melges 20 Makaira

See www.melges20.com for details and complete standings. We hope to hear more from Skip as the event progresses.