Brit Melges in Miami

Justin Chisholm reports on the limey action

A select contingent of four UK teams made the now familiar journey to Florida for the latest leg of the Melges 24 international circuit – Acura Miami Race Week. The 27-boat Melges fleet shared their racecourse in Biscayne Bay with the Etchells, J24’s and PHRF fleets. Once again the Melges fleet was sprinkled with an exotic selection of yachting greats and included entries from Germany and Italy along with US teams from as far a field as Chicago. An eight race series was presided over by PRO Dave Brennan – familiar to the Melges fleet as their Key West race officer.

Day one started with a light breeze, which as forecast built during the day. This combined with clear blue skies and provide an idyllic yacht-racing day. At the end of day one two British boats had performed well. Start Simpson’s Team Barbarians opened with a second place and closed with a race win. Unfortunately they could not recover from a poor start in race two scoring a 20th. John Pollard’s team on Xcellent were more consistent clocking up an impressive 3,5,6 score line making them a clear contender overall.

The second day of racing saw the boys on Xcellent consolidate their challenge for the overall title. After a poor first race 13th they hit back with a 2nd and a 3rd to finish the day in 3rd place overall. Joe Woods on board Silver recovered from a disappointing first day with two top tem places to move themselves up the leader board.

As the fleet motored out in glassy conditions for the final two races on day three anyone of the top four boats could take the overall trophy. GBR hopes were focused on John Pollard but it was another UK boat Silver who had the best of the day. This well honed team were missing their usual female crewmember due to pregnancy and made the most of their weight advantage to lead race one from the start - only conceding to the Italian team on the final run. Proving this performance was no fluke they slotted in a 3rd place in the second race to move them up to a satisfying 8th place overall.

Meanwhile John Pollard saw hopes of overall victory dashed when he could not recover from a poor first beat in race one and only managed a 13th. He and his team managed to end the regatta on a high however by leading the final race from start to finish. Despite this flourish they actually dropped a place overall but finished a highly creditable 4th.

Next event for many of the UK Melges squad will be Marseille SNIM Regatta at Easter – an event which traditionally attracts a circa sixty boat fleet from across Europe.

Overall GBR results

4th John Pollard Xcellent 3,5,6,13,2,3,13,1 32
8th Joe Woods Silver 18,8,16,9,9,14,2,3 61
13th Stuart Simpson Team Barbarians 2,20,1,17,25,10,14,16 80
18th Simon Strauss Gill 14,15,10,20,11,22,19,13 102