In the bag for Luna Rossa

James Spithill and his team are the new champions at the Corum Melges 24 World Championship

2005 Corum Melges 24 World Championship leader James Spithill woke up to what looked to be a light air day. When you are leading a world championship going into the last day, the last thing you want to see is a light air fluky day where you can't predict where the shifts are going to come from and where the holes will develop on the race course.

In the event the Race Committee did a good job of being patient and decided to postpone the race for a couple of hours. Around noon, the breeze started to fill in from 20° with winds averaging 6-8 knots. It looked as though the breeze was going to be fairly stable after it filled in and the Race Committee decided to start the fleet.

The start was fairly clean with only a couple of boats over the line at the pin end of the line. Early on the left looked a little favoured but about a third of the way up the beat, the boats on the right started to get a lift. The lift kept getting bigger, and in the end the wind shifted about 30° to the right, turning the 99 boat fleet inside out.

Gabriele Benussi who started on the starboard end of the line saw the shift early on and tacked out to the right to catch the shift. Benussi led the entire pack out of the right and rounded the mark first. Regatta leader James Spithill and Dave Ullman who was in second going into the final day were working up the middle of the beat with Spithill keeping a loose cover on Ullman.

With the right shift paying, Spithill and Ullman rounded each in the low 40s around the first mark. Down the first run Spithill and Ullman worked hard to close the gap with Benussi in order to minimise the damage in case the race committee decided to start second race. At the finish however the Race Committee signed that there was not going to be a second race and that assured Spithill and his team the 2005 Corum Melges World Championship trophy as they were able to throw out the 27th place he scored in this final race.

Benussi 's impressive first place finish in the final race made a difference as he moved ahead of Ullman in the overall standings to secure second place. Dave Ullman who sailed a great regatta wound up third overall with Morgan Reeser taking fourth. Gabrio Zandona on Joe Fly sailed strong the last four races of the series and wound up passing Brian Porter today to finish fifth place.

“With one race today, all we had to do was stay close to Dave Ullman,” said the triumphant Spithill. Ullman, the sailmaker from Newport Beach, California, sailing Pegasus 505, had started the day in second place but dropped to third at the finish. “We had a 20-boat cushion,” Spithill continued, “but the conditions were extremely tough. We got off the start line in good shape but in these light conditions everyone does the same speed, so we stayed in close contact with Dave.”



Spithill, the 26-year-old Australian skipper of Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge for the America’s Cup, was sailing with three other members of his America’s Cup crew, with additional help from 11-year-old Mac Agnese from Ft. Lauderdale. There was only one Italian passport holder on the sleek white 24-foot sportboat and that belonged to Manuel Modena, a 49er sailor from Lake Garda. The other two crew members were American brothers Jonathan and Charlie McKee, both double Olympic sailing medalists

“My relationship with the McKees goes back to Seattle’s One World Challenge for the America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2000,” Spithill said. “They are a great couple of guys. You just have to look at their CVs. They’ve done it all.”

Agnese, Spithill’s smallest crew member was invited aboard the boat before Key West Race Week to bring the crew up to the maximum permitted weight of 793 pounds. An Optimist sailor from the Lauderdale Yacht Club, Agnese got a week and a half off school in sixth grade at the Sunrise Middle School near Fort Lauderdale, substituting the class room for on-the-water sailing lessons with some of the world’s best.

Italian Gabriele Benussi's Marrachech Express team put in a devastating performance to finish second overall. The team that took delivery of their brand new production boat just one month before the event and only sailed together in any Melges 24 for the first practice race just two days before the start of competition. Only two of Benussi’s crew had had prior experience in the class.

“We made a bad start with a 35th place but after that we had a very positive result,” Benussi said. “Before we started, I’d have said that getting in the top ten results would be a fantastic result for us. To be second in this company has made us very, very happy.”

Dave Ullman, a 59-year-old veteran with numerous world and national championships to his credit, dropped to third on points. “This was by far the best Melges Worlds ever sailed,” Ullman said. “We got entries like James Spithill who hadn’t been in the class before and who sail at the top, top level. They did a really nice job. The Luna Rossa guys were pretty much in control. They are good!” more . . .

Results:

Pos	Boat	Sail	Owner	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Tot
1	Luna Rossa	USA 515	Spithill,James	5	12	25	7	1	1	8	1	2	6	26*	68
2	MARRACHECH EXPRESS	ITA 636	Mrvcic,Vladimiro	35*	1	3	2	4	9	7	10	15	24	1	76
3	Pegasus 505	USA505	Ullman,David	6	41*	7	1	5	3	28	11	1	1	29	92
4	MFATIC	USA 566	Sullivan,Neil	2	8	1	17	20	8	11	16	12	7	33*	102
5	JOE FLY	ITA 633	Maspero,Giovanni	11	35*	22	5	3	5	32 ZFP	2	13	4	11	108
6	PARTNER & PARTNERS	FRA 571	Ligot,Philippe	22	14	18	3	11	11	39*	19	4	5	4	111
7	FULL THROTTLE	USA 600	Porter,Brian	26	2	11	4	7	18	47 ZFP	3	8	12	54*	138
8	BLU MOON	SUI 596	Rossini,Franco	24	37	2	21	10	28	82*ZFP	8	5	3	3	141
9	Fusion M	USA 542	Devos,Doug	9	15	46*	22	22	4	36 ZFP	5	3	2	27	145
10	ALE ALI	ITA 139	Amadori,Ezio	1	22	16	15	29	10	9	66*ZFP	21	32	6	161
11	Pegasus 492	USA 492	Kahn,SamuelShark	19	3	4	48	30	6	5	9	26	11	49*	161
12	ROSEBUD	USA 631	Brun,Vince	23	45*	30	30	8	26	6	6	22	18	5	174
13	TEAM GILL	GBR 592	Strauss,Simon	12	59*	14	8	9	33	23	20	17	28	19	183
14	XCELLENT	GBR 593	Pollard,John	17	7	5	12	15	32	63*ZFP	33	37	43	17	218
15	TEAM BARBARIANS	GBR 569	Simpson,Stuart	40	43	26	44*	13	14	2	31	7	15	32	223
16	LIZARD	ITA 594	Paolacci,Massimo	7	55 DPI	20	61	6	16	1	70*ZFP	11	13	38	228
17	NAUTICA/FRATELLI GIACOMEL AUDI	ITA 572	Simoneschi,Riccardo	39	48*	15	10	23	21	17	38	9	9	47	228
18	DREAM TEAM	ITA490	Giordo,Gianni	37	34	12	28	2	99*DSQ	33	32	6	33	15	232
19	COURAGE X	GER582	Eich,Eddy	47	5	44	11	21	7	10	42	58*	37	8	232
20	Derivative	USA 052	Surber,Mark	8	60*DPI	33	32	28	2	20	37	35	30	16	241
21	STAR	USA 595	Ecklund,Jeff	62*	17	13	46	27	27	46 ZFP	28	16	10	12	242
22	ALTEA	ITA 438	Racchelli,Andrea	25	57*	17	40	34	24	25	18	25	29	9	246
23	NEW WAVE	USA 544	Kullman,Martin	18	11	32	9	36	35	23 ZFP	22	45*	35	37	258
24	Grins	USA526	Burke,Shawn	27	18	6	34	35	23	46*	34	46	34	2	259
25	Monsoon	USA 540	Ayres,Bruce	13	55 DPI	34	25	12	39	37	15	24	8	71*	262
26	GILL	GBR 431	Strauss,Quentin	46	25	27	63*	24	19	14	12	10	42	56	275
27	Running With Scissors	USA 617	Baron,Peter	21	61*	40	27	14	46	13	21	23	20	59	284
28	Pegasus 575	USA 575	Kahn,Philippe	10	6	21	13	31	58	45	49	14	40	68*	287
29	Ego	USA555	Jesberg,Don	3	38	36	53	45 ZFP	13	44 ZFP	7	29	26	99*DNF	294
30	Ricochet	CAN 629	Sherlock,John	4	33	29	49	37	29	31	17	44	21	50*	294
31	Pareto Optimal	USA 525	Wijsen,Seadon	34	46	10	20	19	43	22	29	54	17	78*	294
32	FRUEN MAREN	NOR 249	Hauff,Nils	29	27	8	55*	26	25	41	44	39	22	45	306
33	RED	GBR616	Woods,Joe	38	39	48	29	63 ZFP	30	36	4	20	19	99*DSQ	326
34	Rock N Roll	USA 630	Campbell,Argyle	20	19	65	37	73*ZFP	20	15	67	32	41	10	326
35	Flying Toaster	USA613	Dow,Mike	51	10	9	33	48	36	66*	27	52	59	7	332
36	MJ2 BORGO SCOPETO	ITA 621	Angelini,Igino	30	24	43	68*	49	17	32	30	43	31	46	345
37	BAGHDAD	NOR 400	Nergaard,Kristian	14	74*	39	23	17	22	48	43	48	53	40	347
38	PANIC ATTACK	USA 522	DaMore,Justin	32	4	42	16	16	31	21	75*ZFP	55	70 ZFP	66	353
39	Barracuda	USA 549	Dockery,Bob	53	58	31	14	47	12	49 ZFP	24	41	27	99*DSQ	356
40	FLYER 02	USA 520	Holzman,Chuck	16	42	77	56	38	99*OCS	4	48	28	16	35	360
41	TEAM SBAB	SWE 532	Sundstedt,Ingemar	28	99*OCS	41	18	32	99 DSQ	44	14	49	23	13	361
42	BLING BLING	USA 513	Jahn,Evan	42	20	24	19	54	51	39 ZFP	77*ZFP	57	38	44	388
43	ZIG ZAG 17	FRA 625	Samuel,Henri	48	16	55	38	44	42	35	47	31	36	80*	392
44	Rhino	USA 541	Scarborough,Sean	78	23	37	6	18	38	99*ZFP	71	47	44	42	404
45	Carloan.com	USA 605	Weisleder,Travis	33	64	28	43	65	44	18	61	67*	47	14	417
46	ENGO GARD	NOR560	David-Andersen,Arne	52	56	56	54.7 RDGb	50	49	99*ZFP	45	18	25	36	441.7
47	BRILLIANT	USA 568	Blank,Bill	55	74 DPI	38	35	99*DNS	41	49	53	34	49	18	446
48	Team VC Performance Rigging	USA 623	Wehrheim,Phil	77	31	59	42	40	71	99*DNF	23	36	46	28	453
49	Eric	GBR620	Wedge,Martin	15	88*	35	36	46	37	52	79 SCP	61	39	58	458
50	No Decorum	USA047	Raby,JC	58	21	70	54	45	86*	53	26	66	52	20	465