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Melges 24 Worlds: Team Kirby finishes 12th

November 2nd, 2009 in Regattas, Monday Morning Tactician.

After a long week of patience in the self-proclaimed sailing capital of America, we finally got some double digit breeze on Saturday for the last races of the 2009 Melges 24 World Championships. It was a long week of sailing in Annapolis. The wind was fickle at times, light mostly, and the conditions were on the chilly and raw side of the spectrum even by October standards. Eastport Yacht Club did put on a very nice regatta, with good race management, and a cool setting at the city dock right downtown in under the capital spire.

With Rome Kirby at the helm in his second regatta in the Melges 24 and a young but talented crew (I think our average age was 23), we managed to earn marked improvement during each race of the regatta. For instance, in the first race of the regatta, we were in the teens going up the second beat when the main halyard knot slipped and down came our mainsail. After sending Nick our bow guy up the mast to fix the issue, we managed to re-hoist and pass a couple boats to get a 44th. So we had our throw-out firmly established from the get-go. Every race was a battle from start to finish. Rome finally started to get more comfortable with the furled jib pre-start style that the 24s use and our starting culminated with a race on Friday where we started bow out on the group, and went tack for tack with the best in the world to round the windward mark in 1st place. After a wacky windshift (50 degree righty) put us on the ropes again, we made a mini-comeback for a regatta-best 3rd place in the race. Going into the last day we had the potential to pass a couple of boats, and break out of the teens. We managed two good races and finished 12th overall just behind Alan Field, Bill Hardesty and Terry Hutchinson. There’s some pretty good company for young Rome Kirby to be on the scoresheet with.

The week was a lesson in patience for all of us. To start the week in the high twenties, there were some dark personalities on board. I pressed on Rome to stay focused and all of our guys to stay upbeat, confident that we could chip our way up the scoresheet and into the top 20. We managed to do more than that, fighting for some good races and improving in leaps and bounds against sailors that have been racing 24s for a long time. I’m excited to continue in the class in the future. To have the opportunity to race with some young guys who managed to have fun even in the light air and brain-thumping conditions was a reminder of the reason we’re all out there doing it. Lots of sailors were about fed up with the long grinding motor out to and in from the race course, the cold and dreary weather, and shifty light air, but while other teams were imploding into screaming brawls at leeward marks, we calmly continued on our mission up the scoresheet. Mission accomplished: 12th.

http://www.melges24worlds2009.com/results/Sheehey_Lexus_of_Annapolis_Melges_24_World_Championship.html

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/1101/index2.asp

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