With breeze on conditions forecasted, 15 Audi Melges 20s made their way out on to the race course for the first day at Bacardi’s Miami Sailing Week, hosted in part by Coconut Grove Sailing Club (CGSC), supported by Shake-A-Leg Miami and Melges Performance Sailboats. Leading the field of fierce competitors is 2010 Miami Winter Series leader Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) on STAR, followed closely by Peter Keck (Lake Geneva, Wisc.) on M & M Sailing. In third, is Michael Kiss (Macatawa Bay, Mich.) on Bacio.

Three great, short and sweet (1.0 nm), Course 4 races were held under mostly cloudy skies. Racing commenced on time with Marc Hollerbach (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.) on Fu and Kiss rounding dead even at the first mark challenging one another for the lead. Hollerbach won the offset with Kiss in tow, then Ecklund, Eric Wynsma (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) on Superfly and Joel Ronning (Excelsior, Mn.) on Catapult in fifth. Ecklund slowly but surely advanced to the front, overtaking the lead position for the win. Wynsma came on strong to take second with Hollerbach holding in to finish third.

Race two presented another pretty aggressive start with Keck and Ronning having great starts. Ronning surged to round the first mark in the lead with Ecklund and Wynsma looking to get in on the top spot action. Keck made great progress all race long, eventually working his way into the third position. It wasn’t until the last beat and run to the finish that Ecklund found a fast lane to beat Ronning to the finish, taking his second bullet of the day. Ronning, with Bill Hardesty calling tactics held on for second, and Keck took third.

The last and final race of the day witnessed peeks of sunshine and a lot lighter air than what the fleet originally started with. Race three was all Keck. It was a stellar performance as he placed himself, with Sam Rogers as tactician and Bill Ward aboard, miles ahead of the fleet to take an indisputable win. Hollerbach, who started along side of Keck at the pin end, also had a great race to finish in second. Despite a poor start, Ecklund fought back with great conviction to take the third spot, allowing him to capture the first place overall lead.

Post race, Melges Performance Sailboats’ Andy Burdick presented another informative tech-talk episode featuring Steve Hunt, tactician aboard Hollerbach’s Fu, Marc Hollerbach; Morgan Reeser and Scott Nixon, tactician aboard Chuck Holzman’s Flyer. Video uploads of all the discussions will be made available shortly via the Official Audi Melges 20 Class YouTube Channel.

More great racing continues on Friday, with three more races scheduled and anticipated big breeze conditions. Ecklund is the overall leader with Keck in second, only behind three slim points. Kiss is in third, with a total of 13 points.

TOP TEN RESULTS (After 3 Races)
1.) Jeff Ecklund, STAR; 1-1-3 = 5
2.) Peter Keck, M&M Sailing; 4-3-1 = 8
3.) Michael Kiss, Bacio; 5-4-4 = 13
4.) March Hollerbach, Fu; 3-9-2 = 14
5.) Eric Wynsma, Superfly; 2-5-7 = 14
6.) Chuck Holzman, Flyer; 6-6-5 = 17
7.) Joel Ronning, Catapult; 9-2-8 = 19
8.) Erwyn Naidoo, Bohica; 7-8-6 = 21
9.) Robert Wilber, Cinghaile; 10-7-10 = 27
10.) Chris Dold/Peter Kozicz, CAN-142; 8-10-11 = 29

Another glorious day of Melges 32 racing

For Porter, this was a return to the fleet after a two-year hiatus. “It’s a great fleet. The sailors that are here are all really good. There are 23 of the world’s best tacticians here. Out of 23 teams, there are about 15-18 that you can really count on to be in contention to win races,” says Porter. “There are great main trimmers and a lot of really great sailors all over this fleet. I mean they are really, really good. It’s unbelievable. Some of these pros out here would not be doing that well if it weren’t for all the other great sailors on the boats with them. That’s why this fleet is so much fun. This is the place to be right now.”

He was also quick to give credit where credit is due, “I really have to give it to our tactician Jonathan McKee, especially Andy Burdick and Federico Michetti as well as my whole crew as they were really the ones I think put us into great position for the mark roundings. Downwind, we were fast the entire regatta, so we felt pretty comfortable.”

Jeff Madrigali called tactics for Ecklund’s STAR. “These were tough conditions. If you got in the pack, it was really tough to find a fast lane,” commented Madrigali following Friday’s racing. “There’s only but so much space. So, a lot of times you know where to go, but then there’s someone in your way, so then you have to deal with the bad air or find another way.”

Going into today’s races, Cruette held the fleet leader position, extending his advantage by four points. Taselaar was seated in second place with Woods in third.

The first race of the day was a Course 4 with Bob Hesse (Elma, N.Y.) on Lake Effect getting in on the top dog action. A strong start ended with an incredible win for Hesse. However, his efforts did not go unchallenged. The likes Ecklund, Porter (Lake Geneva, Wisc.) and John Taylor (Jupiter Island, Fla.) onNinkasi all were looking aiming for the lead. Hesse ultimately took first, Ecklund was second and in third was Taylor.

Race two of the day and final in the series was a healthy five-legger rounding out an incredible event. Tough breaks were immediately felt as John Kilroy (Los Angeles, Calif.) on Samba Pa Ti, Joe Woods (Torquay, UK) on Red, Yukihiro Ishida (Tokyo, Japan) on Yasha Samurai and Dalton DeVos (Holland, Mich.) on Delta were all OCS. Porter led the pack around the track, followed by Don Jesberg (Mill Valley, Calif.) on Viva and Ecklund third. The fleet battled through the gate, back to the top with Porter taking the lead to the finish line. Ecklund challenged Jesberg for second place on a number of occasions, however Jesberg and tactician Zarko Draganic remained steadfast, Ecklund settled for third.

A very special thanks to all the competitors that traveled to Miami to make the Melges 32, not only the hottest supersonic sportboat on the planet, but also the largest fleet in attendance with the toughest, tightest competition to be found. As always, an extra special thanks to Peter Craig and his team with Premiere racing. Kudos to you for another great event!

Top Ten Results
1.) Teasing Machine, Jean-Francois Cruette; 5-1-1-10-9-1-1-10-[11]-6 = 44
2.) Full Throttle, John Porter; [12]-5-5-1-12-5-12-5-4-1 = 50
3.) STAR, Jeff Ecklund; 4-4-[19]-3-1-17-5-11-2-3 = 50
4.) Bliksem, Pieter Taselaar; 1-2-[14]-6-2-2-7-12-14-5 = 51
5.) Red, Joe Woods; 2-[10]-4-4-10-6-4-9-7-7 = 53
6.) Calvi Network, Carlo Alberini; 6-8-9-[13]-8-4-8-2-13-4 = 62
7.) Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy; 3-6-12-5-5-14-10-[17]-9-10 = 74
8.) Ninkasi, John Taylor; 7-11-8-7-3-16-16-8-3-[20] = 79
9.) Fantastica, Lanfranco Cirillo; 10-7-6-14-7-8-[22]-1-22-12 = 87
10.) Volpe, Ryan DeVos; 19-[23]-15-2-15-3-14-6-8-8 = 90