Early lead for Lovell

Three races held at the Melges 32 Gold Cup in Fort Lauderdale

The first day of the 2009 Melges 32 Gold Cup Regatta, supported by Henri Lloyd and hosted by the Lauderdale Yacht Club, has revealed reigning U.S. Melges 32 National Champion Andy Lovell on Rougarou as the overall event leader after three races, a slim four points ahead of second place finisher John Taylor on Ninkasi.

"I think we did a good job today, made a lot of adjustments constantly all day and I think it paid off. Our tactician did a great job today too." said Lovell after racing. "This is a lot more challenging than anything we've ever raced before."

In third is Rod Jabin on Ramrod.

Race one of the day began almost two hours after the original start time due to the lack of breeze. Under mostly cloudy skies, increasing lumpy seas and light breezes the 23 teams lined up for the first start around 1 o’clock with an initial general recall. The light air conditions toyed with the fleet as they sailed tightly into the windward mark with Jabin assuming the early lead. Once out front, he managed to hold off the likes of Bob Hesse on Lake Effect, the youthful Ryan Devos on Volpe and Jason Carroll on Argo. As the race progressed, Lovell looked to get in on the action challenging Hesse, Devos and Carroll but Jabin came out on top to take the win in first, Hesse was second and Lovell settled for third.

For the start of race two, Jabin punched off the pin end of the starting line with Kip Meadows on roXanne and Alex Jackson on Leenabarca alongside. Again, Jabin took full advantage of the right shifts to take the lead at the top mark, followed by Lovell and Stuart Simpson on Team Barbarians in third. It was a three way battle into the gate with Simpson just barely reaching the right-hand gate first. He struggled with the douse leaving Jabin and Lovell to round the left gate neck-and-neck, Lovell eventually got the upper hand assuming the lead. Lovell went on to cross the finish line first, Jabin took second and Taylor moved up to third.

The last and final race of the day featured John Kilroy on Samba Pa Ti with an aggressive lead right from the beginning, a charge he continuously extended throughout the race. The sun decided to make an appearance with the breeze building to a nice 8-10 knots. Making the move of the day was Lanfranco Cirillo on Fantasticaa, just sliding into the second position at the top mark gaining big on Kilroy downwind to almost overtake the lead at the gate. Kilroy showed his strength never giving Cirillo the chance to advance. Cirillo finished in second to Joe Woods on Red in third.

The regatta is young and two more days of high-powered racing are scheduled. Surely this event is far from over. Saturday beholds the Gold Cup’s famed Take A Junior Sailing Day.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Sail no	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	Rougarou	Andy Lovell	USA 136	3	1	9	13
2	Ninkasi	John Taylor	USA 1315	6	3	8	17
3	Ramrod	Rod Jabin	USA 206	1	2	16	19
4	Roxanne	Kip Meadows	USA 77	10	6	4	20
5	Fantasticaaa	Lanfranco Cirillo	ITA 212	16	4	2	22
6	Lake Effect	Bob Hesse	USA 153	2	15	5	22
7	Argo	Jason Carroll	USA 128	4	8	12	24
8	Team Barbarians	Stuart Simpson	USA 84845	17	5	6	28
9	Star	Jeff Ecklund	USA 32	8	7	15	30
10	Red	Joe Woods	GBR 700	9	19	3	31
11	Bronco	Michael Dominguez	USA 184	7	14	11	32
12	VIVA	Don Jesberg	USA 162	5	11	20	36
13	Shakedown	Geoffrey Pierini	USA 178	12	12	13	37
14	New Wave	Mike Carroll	USA 131	15	9	14	38
15	Volpe	Ryan Devos	USA 180	11	20	10	41
16	Samba Pa Ti	John Kilroy Jr.	USA 13131	23	18	1	42
17	Heartbreaker	Robert Hughes	USA 201	20	16	7	43
18	Delta	Dalton Devos	USA 1215	18	10	19	47
19	Taboo	Stephen Pugh	USA 158	14	22	17	53
20	Arethusa	Philip Lotz	USA 211	13	23	18	54
21	Leenabarca	Alex Jackson	ITA 174	21	13	22	56
22	Celeritas	Malcolm Gefter	USA 208	19	17	21	57
23	Dark N' Stormy	Edward Tillinghast	USA 151	22	21	23	66