Bissell Racing

The 2008 Melges 24 Nationals took place this past weekend, Sept. 19-21, in Charleston Harbor.  There were 44 boats that made up a highly competitive fleet.  This regatta was our first event in a campaign to win the ‘09 Worlds in Annapolis, MD.  Stu McNay purchased GBR 620 “Eric” and trailored it up to Charleston from Sarasota.  This was also his first time helming a Melges 24.  Charlie Enright, of Morning Light fame was our trimmer and helped with tactics.  Dave Hughes, 470 and Snipe crew extraordinaire, did the bow.  Dani Neri helped Dave in the front and controlled the pit.  I trimmed main downwind and did tactics.

The first day was breeze-on conditions with a steady 20kts gusting to 25.  Our event started out by being called over the line in the first race.  We were able to pick our way throught the fleet and ground back to a 16th.  We were looking to post a top 10 finish in our second race but hour-glassed the kite on our final jibe to the finish and lost about 5 boats.  We learned that it helps to keep the boat on a dead down wind angle a little longer before rounding up to a reach, thus giving more time to rotate the kite.  We ended the day on a high note, notching a 6th in the last race of the day.

The second day was super light with a lot of current.  We went 17, 11, 8.  Boat speed was our friend, but we failed to get good starts and lost our lane at critical moments on the first beat.  Even though we had similar scores to the first day, we dropped a place in the standings to 12th.

The last day, we came out of the gates hot and finished 4th in the first race.  Going into the last race of the regatta, there were 3 boats with a chance to win all within a few points of eachother.  We found ourself in the middle of their battles as we rounded the first mark in 3rd.  On the final beat we split tacks with the Full Throttle team to cross the course and get to the left.  Our thinking on the boat was that the current was ebbing and we could fight the current early in the shallow water and wait for a good shift to come across the deep water at the last possible moment.  Unfortunately a 25 degree right shift filled in and we lost the Full Throttle guys.  But all in all we were happy to post another 4th place finish and move up to 9th overall in the standings.