30 JULY 2010

DeVos Continues To Reign Supreme At Melges 32 U.S. Nationals

Harbor Springs, Mich. (July 30) - It was another beautiful day in Harbor Springs, Mich. with the Melges 32 squeezing in two more races for a total of five U.S. National Championship heats completed.

Ryan DeVos aboard Volpe remains firmly in the overall lead with a whopping 16 point margin. John Kilroy, Jr (Los Angeles, Calif.) on Samba Pa Ti is second, ahead by two over John Porter (Winnetka, Ill.) on Full Throttle in third.

Needless to say it was a very interesting day. Teams arrived on the course to sunshine, warm temps, flat water and light air conditions. Racing commenced on time, with the breeze barely making the class minimum of 5 knots. DeVos managed to sail his own race, holding off Kilroy, Porter, Jason Carroll (New York, N.Y) on Argo, and Jeff Ecklund (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) on STAR to win. The shifts were all over the place, making it extremely difficult to stay in the breeze. "Ryan QUOTE"

Race one began as a 1.0nm beat. As the race unfolded, what breeze was present slowly but surely disappeared. PRO Bruce Golison made a smart call to shorten the course to 0.8nm for the last run with the breeze practically going to nothing for the finish. Immediately the fleet went into postponement, and shortly thereafter Golison sent the fleet to shore, still under AP. Making regular announcements on every half-hour, everyone waited for the sea breeze to fill in. Golison was quick and optimistic and called the fleet back out onto the course around 3:00 o'clock.

An hour later, the final warning signal of the day gave way to yet another victory for DeVos. A nice 6-8 knots of breeze at the start enabled him to remain in the hunt behind new boat owner Steve Howe (San Deigo, Calif.) on Warpath. It was neck-and-neck competition the duration of the race with DeVos eventually getting the upper hand for the win. Howe was second and Ryan DeVos' cousin Dalton on Delta had a phenomenal race placing third. Rod Jabin (Annapolis, Md.) on Ramrod and Porter finished fourth and fifth to round out the top five.

MANY GRACIOUS THANKS
The International Melges 32 Class Association would like to extend a very sincere thank you to Dick and Doug DeVos who graciously hosted an owners dinner for the class on Thursday evening. "It's not often that an opportunity like this presents itself, so we thought it would be a great way for all the owners to get together, to properly welcome them to Harbor Springs, relax and enjoy this very beautiful place." said Dick DeVos. The dinner was held at the elegant Pier Restaurant. Prior to a lavish dinner, everyone enjoyed cocktails. Owners were also treated to two surprise guests, the great Buddy Melges along with his lovely wife Gloria and Gary Jobson also joined them for conversation and dinner.

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