Melges 32 World Championships Day 3 Highlights

Описание: Pressure Ramps Up For Final Two Days Of World Championship
MIAMI, FL (5 December 2014) - For those lucky enough to race the Melges 32 World Championship, and for the tens of thousands spectating at home via social media, there’s been no shortage of action anywhere this week on the 8-mile race course in front of Miami Beach. Florida’s supreme weather is partly responsible, with 4 foot waves and 15+ knots every day for the past week showing off the very best of the Melges 32 sportboat. The boats themselves stand out as much as the skill of their mixed professional/amateur crews and amateur owner/drivers; pushing the world’s fastest production 30 foot monohull around the course is no easy business.
Day 3 of the 2014 Melges 32 World Championship saw some of the most aggressive racing yet from the 17 teams sailing out of Miami Beach Marina. Both races saw 4-wide overlaps at the top marks and multiple boats finishing inches apart, and the incredible parity amongst the boats and crews means a single good or bad result could – and did - completely change a team’s position.
With a breeze coming from 30 degrees right of the previous two days, the fleet saw a different set of race conditions. Waves at a different angle, different course references, and the top left bailout window that helped so many boats score well over the past few days was nowhere to be found on day three.
Race 5 rewarded poor starts; those forced to bail out of the lineup and head to the right find increasingly nice right shifts to carry them across the bows of the boats that started on the line – and clean – but headed left.
Proving his second-spot at the top mark yesterday was no fluke, Chris Wientjes and his all-amateur team on Stormvogel came in hot on the port tack layline, sneaking in front of a hard-charging Argo. His upwind speed couldn’t help Wientjes on the run, and Carroll quickly surged past on a wave and put the hammer down. “It’s so great to have a group that drags my butt around the race course,” said Wientjes. “Getting to that top mark second yesterday and first today in this fleet is just the best feeling ever!”
In a bit of déjà vu from Race 2 of the Championship, Argo extended on every leg, seeming almost to sail in their own private breeze, a knot stronger than anyone else’s. Like Race 2, Argo crossed the finish line some 2 minutes ahead of the second-place boat, day 1 leader Nafumo Kamei’s Mamma Aiuto! Mike Kuschner says Argo’s success always comes from great teamwork. “If we don’t work all the time hiking the boat down, the guys at the back will have a very tough time of it, and if they don’t put us in good spots, no amount of hiking will make up for it.” said Kuschner. “This really is a complete team sport, and that means we’re all going to work as hard as we possibly can, all the time.”