Youngest ever world champion?

14 year old Shark Khan is the new Melges 24 World Championship

Fourteen year old Samuel "Shark" Kahn sailed into the record books today becoming the youngest person ever to win a Melges 24 World title and probably the youngest open international class world champion as well.

Today's final race proved to be a real nail biter. Firstly the sea breeze was late arriving putting John Craig's Race Committee under pressure to get a race in before the 2pm cut off. By 1.30pm there was just enough wind from 295 degrees and after two recalls they started on the third attempt with just minutes to spare.

On all three starts Kahn and second placed Harry Melges, helming for Jeff Ecklund, were match racing for position. Although he got the better of the deal in the first two Melges was bested by Kahn on the third. At the weather mark Kahn was fifth behind Sebastien Col, helming P&P for Phillipe Ligot, John Bertrand, Argyle Campbell and Dietrich Scheder. Melges eventually rounded fourteenth and took the only choice open by breaking away from the fleet. With the sea breeze building and backing like crazy it was a step that didn't pay and by the leeward mark he was in sixteenth. Despite a fair bit of place changing Kahn had held fifth behind Col, Olivier Ponthiu, Campbell and Brian Porter.

By now the wind had backed 65 degrees putting the second weather mark at 230. Again Melges broke away from the fleet hoping for a miracle but only gained a single place, meanwhile Campbell had a lousy beat and Kahn moved up into fourth. On the final run the leading four of Col, Ponthiu, Porter and Kahn began to open out from the pack and again Melges broke away, but ended up back in sixteenth as a result. At the leeward mark Ponthiu opted for the right whilst the rest went left giving Kahn his opportunity to pull up into third. Melges too went right but it was a desperate measure which dropped him right down to 21st, his worst result of the regatta.

Kahn seems a little bemused by his success and the enormity of his achivement, but is keen to pay tribute to his crew of Team Captain Mark "Crusty" Christensen, Tactician Richard Clarke, Spinnaker/Jib trimmer Brian Hutchinson and Bow Brian Lee, Shark's 20 year old cousin who is also his 29er crew. "I'm kind of overwhelmed and really don't know what to think at the moment. I really didn't expect this. My crew were fantastic and on the starts today it was Mark Christensen who really helped me get the better start." commented Kahn after racing. Asked about the future he confirmed "I've got some more 29er sailing coming up and I'm going to be doing the 505 Worlds and the Melges Nationals which are both in Santa Cruz and long term I'm aiming to do a 49er Olympic campaign."

Kahn had the advantage of sailing with three of the World's top professional sailors, but in a fleet of this calibre, which includes more Olympic, America's Cup, one-design, Volvo and big-boat champions than you can shake the proverbial stick at, this alone is not enough. Since making his Melges 24 helming debut at Key West Race Week 2003 Kahn has spent more than 60 days out on the water learning his craft in the Melges 24, many of them on San Francisco Bay. He's also campaigning a 29er with his 20 year old cousin Brian Lee, the fifth member of his Melges 24 crew, adding still further to the time he puts in on the water. Along side Shark's personal development he also has the full support of his father - a big advantage when your father is Philippe Kahn, the softwear mogul, and you get access to all the facilities of his mighty Pegasus yacht racing organisation.

A disappointed Harry Melges was graceful in defeat - "Shark and his boys did an awsome job and really deserved the title, but I'm beginning to feel a little old! It's been a great regatta and San Francisco and the St Francis Yacht Club have given us near perfect conditions and racing."

In the overall standings Kahn took the regatta by nine points from Melges with Brian Porter third, Luca Santella with Giovani Maspero's Joe Fly team fourth and Sebastian Col and Phillipe Ligot's P&P fifth. The winner of the Corinthian World Championship title, for the first amateur crew, and sixth overall was Egidio Babbi.

Final results

Pos	Yacht Name	Skipper Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Tot
1	PEGASUS 24-1	Samuel "Shark" Kahn	5	3	1	2	3	2	1	16.00*	3	20
2	STAR	Harry Melges	1	1	2	4	1	1	11	8	21.00*	29
3	FULL THROTTLE	Brian Porter	8	8	12.00*	3	7	10	4	2	2	44
4	JOE FLY	Luca Santella	3	6	14	1	14	9	13	1	16.00*	61
5	P&P SAILING TEA	Phillipe Ligot	22.00*	10	20	14	2	3	7	9	1	66
6	EBREX LOGISTIC	Babbi Egidio	10	13	3	22.00*	9	13	6	17	7	78
7		Dave Ullman	19	7	13	5	11	16	24.00*	3	6	80
8	BLACK SEAL	Jamie Lea	17	18	29.00*	9	4	5	12	19	11	95
9	UNPROTECTED	Robert Greenhalgh	2	9	28	7	18	4	25	7	38.00*	100
10		Ian Cleaver	18	69.00*	6	10	12	15	2	15	30	108
11	BLU MOON	Flavio Favini	14	2	23	23	29.00*	8	5	12	22	109
12	MONSOON	Bruce Ayres	13	30.00*	5	8	21	28	10	11	13	109
13	HOME SLICE	Seadon Wijsen	6	16	18	16	26.00*	14	9	6	24	109
14	TICKLER	Sheldon Ecklund	26	20	41.00*	20	6	18	17	5	8	120
15	WINDQUEST	John Bertrand	9	11	45.00*	18	13	17	26	20	9	123
16	GILL	Stuart Rix	12	4	22	28	8	12	44.00*	32	10	128
17	BARBARIANS	Rob Smith	16	24.00*	15	19	20	20	8	13	19	130
18	GROUPE LUNCIEN	Olivier Ponthieu	4	33	8	21	35.00*	26	30	10	4	136
19	PEGASUS 24-3	Philippe Kahn	7	5	17	13	22	11	29	35	36.00*	139
20	EGO	Don Jesberg	33	19	16	11	5	21	37	4	40.00*	146
21	WICKED FEET	Tom Freytag	34	22	35.00*	26	10	6	21	22	18	159
22	ROCK N ROLL	Argyle Campbell	23	23	27	33.00*	16	7	28	14	23	161
23	BACKBREAKER	Kenneth Kaan	31	15	4	15	30	31	39.00*	23	15	164
24	CAVALLINO	Lammens / Draganic	30	21	7	12	25	34.00*	31	21	17	164
25	AVERAGE WHITE B	Doug Weitz / Matt McQueen	11	27	38	6	24	69.00*	34	39	5	184
26	WICHARD	Le Moign Damien	29	17	9	24	23	22	40.00*	24	39	187
27	SOUTHERN SPARS	James Spithill	21	14	26	30	33.00*	27	18	26	25	187
28	SABOTAGE	Jeff Thorpe	24	28	21	29	31.00*	19	22	25	25	193
29	MASUI M	Dietrich Scheder	37.00*	37	25	27	26	23	19	18	20	195
30	HARD CORE	Charon Benoit	15	28	10	17	43.00*	32	42	31	37	212
31	GRINDER	Jeff Littfin	28	31	31	42.00*	19	35	15	30	35	224
32	SURFEIT	Peter Vessella	49	69.00*	11	35	17	44	32	25	27	240
33	STRYK	Kerry Poe	40	38	32	43.00*	34	37	3	33	33	250
34		Martin Wedge	32	12	42	39	45	24	20	69.00*	42	256
35	SMOKESHOW	Scott Dale	41	69.00*	43	40	28	41	16	34	14	257
36	MINOR THREAT	Peter Dalton	25	32	33	32	27	30	52.00*	29	50	258
37	SOFA KING FAST	Dennis Bassano	20	26	69.00*	44	15	25	45	47	41	263
38	RHINO	Sean Scarborough	38	39	52.00*	49	38	29	14	28	29	264
39		Jeffrey Brizes	27	43	19	54.00*	41	48	41	36	12	267
40	TEAM MOSELEY	Rick Moseley	46	29	24	47	69.00*	36	46	27	28	283
41	FLYER 02	Chuck Holtzman	43	25	30	31	69.00*	49	35	44	31	288
42	SMOKIN	Kevin Clark	36	35	65.00*	25	37	42	59	40	46	320
43	TAPE THAT	Coco & Carlos Vroon	45	40	62.00*	41	36	38	36	38	48	322
44	SILVER	Joe Woods	47	69.00*	34	36	39	40	51	53	26	326
45	BANDIT	Andy Mack	39	34	51	55	32	51	33	37	69.00*	332
46	JOLLY TAR	Bill Wright	69.00*	41	39	46	49	33	47	46	57	358
47	SITTING DUCK	Claes Rojining	42	36	53	48	40	52	48	41	59.00*	360
48	GO DOGS GO	Pepe Parsons	54	54	55.00*	53	47	39	23	50	55	375
49	ABRACADABRA III	Dennis Surtees	35	42	49	37	53	47	63	69.00*	51	377
50	ENIGMA	Hubert Guy	44	51	54	45	44	50	56.00*	42	52	382
51	LIGHT BRIGADE	Warren Davidson	48	46	61	34	51	69.00*	55	43	47	385
52	NIKITA	Krak Arntson	62	48	40	38	58	57	43	45	69.00*	391
53	TWISTED MISTER	Keith Grzelak	57	44	36	51	52	55	66.00*	52	52	399
54	SEA YA	Patricio Sly	69.00*	69.00D	57	59	48	46	38	57	32	406
55	PERSONAL PUFF	Dan Hauserman	55	55	37	50	56	54	53	51	69.00*	411
56	DANGEROUS WHEN	Chris Winnard	52	47	58	58	46	69.00*	54	55	44	414
57	BLINGBLING	Evan Jahn	53	69.00*	46	61	64	69	50	49	43	435
58	BONES	Robert Harff	69.00*	52	56	69.00D	54	45	62	48	49	435
59	GOOSE N'DUCK	Paul Bennett	63	56	64	64	69.00*	56	27	56	53	439
60	CARPE CERVISIAM	Dean Daniels	69.00*	53	50	56	61	43	61	54	61	439
61	PUTTANESCA	Marv Toland	64.00*	57	60	52	55	53	57	59	54	447
62	DONT BENO DREAD	Rob Arrand	65	69.00*	44	57	59	59	58	52	58	452
63	TIKANGA	Charles Guildner	59	58	48	69.00*	50	60	49	69	69	462
64	TROPHY WIFE	Glenn Klute	61	49	63.00*	63	62	61	60	63	45	464
65	VA VA VOOM	Nigel Donnelly	60	45	69.00*	62	57	62	64	60	62	472
66	ATOMIC DOG	Team Atomic Dog	51	59	66	69.00*	63	58	67	58	56	478
67	ROCKET WIDGET	Darrel Lager	58	50	59	69.00*	69	63	65	62	60	486
68	USA 183	Doug Du Bois	56	69.00*	47	60	60	69	69	61	69	491