Olympic medallist takes Melges Nationals

Top talent descended on Guernsey for the UK Melges 24 Nationals

The Commodore Ferries Melges 24 UK National Championships, ran from June11-15 by the Guernsey Yacht Club, attracted 25 entries from the UK and France. Despite a relatively low turn out the quality of the fleet was extremely high and included reigning UK Champion Mike Budd, Paul Brotherton helming for Ed Leask, Olympic Silver Medallist Keith Musto, Jamie Lee helming for Richard Thompson, Rob Smith and Tom Freytag. Light and variable conditions in the early part of the week made for some interesting results with no one crew dominating at any point during the event.

Day one brought very light airs and saw Tom Freytag take the overall lead with a 1, 2 scoreline with Jamie Lee hard on his heals with 3, 2. Rob Smith finished the day in third with Mike Budd fourth overall. Day two was a flat calm and an early decision to abandon racing left the crews free to enjoy the delights of St Peter Port and in particular the local golf courses (apologies to those innocent passers by who found themselves caught in the cross fire as the teams demonstrated why their chosen sport is sailing not golf!).

By day three the weather was beginning to improve and it was just possible to get another two races completed. Tom Freytag had a very average day and only managed 11, 9 dropping him down to third overall. Most consistent performers were Neil Harrison with two seconds and Paul Brotherton with two thirds while Jamie Lee and Keith Musto each scored a first and sixth. Overall Lee was now leading by 16 points from Musto with Freytag third and Brotherton fourth.

Day four finally produced some decent sailing conditions and all three scheduled races were run. Tom Freytag saw his hopes of winning the event evaporate when he was black flagged in the first race of the day. Keith Musto was the day's top performer with 4, 1, 2 whilst Jamie Lee managed to maintain the overall lead by 4 points with 2, 5, 4. Paul Brotherton pulled up to third while Rob Smith had a good day bringing him up to fourth overall.

Going into the final day Lee, Musto and Brotherton were all still very much in the frame. Both of the scheduled races were completed and to put the icing on the cake the sun finally came out. Race 8 saw a good old fashioned dog fight between Brotherton and Musto with Brotherton eventually getting the upper hand. Jamie Lee had a disasterous race ending up 11th while Rob Smith slotted in another third. Going into the final race Musto led with 37 points, Lee was in second with 41.4 and Brotherton was third with 44. Battle was commenced and the spectating sponsors were treated to a superb demonstration of Melges sailing. Lee won the race by several lengths but Musto hung on to second to take the Championship overall. Brotherton's third secured his third overall while Rob Smith came 5th to take fourth overall.

Results:

Pos	Name	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Total	Final
1	Mustgo	Keith Musto	11.7	13	0	11.7	8	0	3	3	3	53.4	40.4
2	White Seal	Richard Thompson / Jamie Lee	5.7	3	11.7	0	3	10	8	17	0	58.4	41.4
3	Racketeer	Edward Leask / Paul Brotherton	10	22	5.7	5.7	20	3	0	0	5.7	72.1	50.1
4	The New Barbarians	Stuart Simpson / Rob Smith	0	14	14	26	0	13	10	5.7	14	96.7	70.7
5	Gul	Mike Budd	8	5.7	22	13	14	15	11.7	8	8	105.4	83.4
6	Fiver	Colin Bishop / Neil Harrison	22	19	3	3	5.7	18	16	16	10	112.7	90.7
7	Mad Cap	Tom Freytag	3	0	19	15	32	5.7	19	20	19	132.7	100.7
8	Xcellent	John Pollard	20	10	10	10	16	12	24	21	13	135.7	111.7
9	Gill	Quentin Strauss / Stuart Rix	13	21	25	20	13	8	13	15	11.7	139.7	114.7
10	Between the Sheets	Dave Sowry / Dave Hall	14	20	26	18	10	22	5.7	14	15	144.7	118.7
11	Clapped Out Toy Boy	Ian Cleaver	15	16	13	21	17	32	14	18	18	164	132
12	White Rabbit	Simon Henning	18	8	24	16	21	19	18	10	28	162	134
13	Happy Hour	Simon Hughes	19	11.7	8	27	18	20	25	28	17	173.7	145.7
14	The Dogs ...!	Allen Brown	24	24	17	29	15	24	15	13	16	177	148
15	Team Woolwich	Simon Coleridge	16	26	15	23	12	21	20	22	29	183.7	154.7
16	Melancolie 6	Patrick Constant	17	17	18	17	23	17	26	32	20	187	155
17	The Drill Squad	Roger Martel	29	18	23	8	29	23	29	19	23	201	172
18	Dignity	Rennie Miller / Richard Smith	28	15	21	25	32	29	23	11.7	21	205.7	173.7
19	Zig Zag 15	Henri Samuel	21	23	27	22	19	14	27	25	27	205	178
20	WKD Blue	Joe Woods	25	25	20	31	26	25	17	23	24	216	185
21	Envy	Dean Argent	23	27	16	30	22	29	22	27	30	226	196
22	Team Panasonic & UK Karaoke	Adrian Peach	27	29	29	19	28	30	30	24	22	238	208
23	L'Ark	Mike Toogood	26	28	28	24	24	27	28	30	25	240	210
24	The Black Pig	Frank Haines / Jo Wotton	30	30	31	28	27	26	21	26	26	245	214
25	Wild Thing	David Franks	31	31	30	14	30	32	31	29	31	259	227