Quinton Diaries - 2nd Corinthian at the 20th Melges24 Worlds in Helsinki
Posted by gill_admin on 15th Aug 2017
The Melges24 Gill Race team led by Gill sailors Miles Quinton and Geoff Carveth, with their final result in the World Championships in Helsinki hosted by Helsingfors Segelklubb (HSK) which will be the 20th World Championship.
In the Corinthian division we are competing against two former Corinthian World Champions: the Toniste brothers on Lenny from Estonia who won the Corinthian division in Middlefart, Denmark in 2015 and Taki 4, who won in Miami in 2015.
The Worlds so far has not gone to plan with Gill Race Team entering the third day of racing lying in 13th position overall without a discard out of a total of 59 boats.
Wednesday started with a rainstorm that reduced visibility to a minimum and meant that the fleet was kept ashore for two hours until the conditions improved. When we finally made the one hour trip to the race course the breeze had settled into a South Westerly of about 14-16kts. We were set for 3 good races to take us to 7 races overall.
The first race was solid recording a 14th which although a ‘counter’ would not take us forward in the rankings overall. The second race was much better and we rounded the top mark in 5th position after an excellent upwind leg and set our trademark flo yellow P1 spinnaker. Three minutes later still on starboard tack the P1 suddenly ripped across the head and down the taped rendering it completely destroyed. We gybed and recovered the sail which had fallen into the water and frantically rigged the VMG back-up as the boats behind us flew by. Once rigged we fought all the way down that leg, the following upwind and final downwind leg but could only hold onto 21st position. We were beginning to feel this was just not going to be our regatta and entered the final race determined to make it a good one. This one we got a 10th place so the day was average and it turned out to be as we dropped to 15th overall.
The next and 4th racing day going into the final 5 Google Sheetsraces was going to be very crucial and the forecast for 17-20kts and sun meant that it was also going to be a fantastic day’s sailing with boats recording speeds of up to 15kts downwind in big 4 metre waves.
The first race we placed 16th again, not as good as we wanted but we were getting off the line well. The boat was quick upwind in the stronger breeze and we were working the boat well downwind riding the big waves and maximising speed. The next race went better and with our superior boat speed we recorded a 10th place so we were beginning to string together a solid set of results. Overnight we were 11th place overall and 3rd Corinthian team so we knew that we had more to do on the final day.
The final day again greeted us with rain and a postponement was made so no race would be started before 1pm. When we headed to the racecourse we knew that the heavy wind conditions up to 20kts would suit the boat and the team; we were quick if we could get off the line cleanly. The start we had after a general recall was perfect and we had a strong first beat, but the downwind leg was challenging as we did not seem to have the same boat speed as we would want in the confused wave conditions. However, a strong second beat held us in position and a better second run meant that we got a 9th overall.
This meant that we jumped up to 8th place overall and 2nd Corinthian – a fantastic result as we were one of only two Corinthian teams that made it into the top 10 with the pro teams along with Taki who won the Corinthian World Championship for a second time.
The added bonus was that we got to stand on the very podium used for the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki – what an honour!
Overall Maidollis won the Melges24 Worlds exactly 5 years after the first time in Lake Garda, with Bruce Ayres Monsoon in second place and Kevin Welch’s Mikey in 3rd position. Andrea Rachelli’s Altea (former World Champion) in 4th place and Taki 4 in 5th place.
We now turn our attention to the final two events in the Melges24 European Sailing Series in Medemblik in September and Luino in October. We are lying 2nd in the series to Taki 4 and with her strong performance in Helsinki the points gap will have widened but there is still everything to play for as Gill Race Team has won Medemeblik in the past so watch this blog!
