Photos by Joy - Megles Class
John Kilroy's 'Samba Pa Ti' Wins Key West Race Week Melges 32 Division, Named 'Boat Of The Week'
After completing the full ten race series at Premiere Racing's Key West Race Week, John Kilroy wins by a substantial margin over, Joe Woods in second and third place finisher Lanfranco Cirillo.
Key West, Fla. - Congratulations to John Kilroy (Malibu, Calif.) on USA-13131 Samba Pa Ti is 2010 Key West Race Week Melges 32 Champion. Along for the sweet ride was Stu Bannatyne calling tactics, Morgan Reeser, Sam Rogers (back-to-back winner), Shana Rosenfeld Phelan, Eric Dorman, Alan Nakanishi and Justin Smart. The energy was pure electricity as Samba accepted honors at tonight's Premiere Racing Yachting awards.
Adding feathers to Kilroy's cap, true icing on the cake, Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti was also named Boat of the Week, a prestigious award at Key West Race Week.
Kilroy simply crushed the competition with an unprecedented 18-point advantage over second place finisher Joe Woods (Torquay, UK) on GBR-700 Red. For Woods, second place is bittersweet. This is the second year in a row that Woods has found his Red team, comprised of Paul Goodison on tactics, Dave Lenz, Shane Hughes, Simon Hughes, Jamie Binmore, Chris Cooper and Conner Myant, in second overall at the end of the day. Woods is an extraordinary competitor and a definite class favorite. Without a doubt, sooner or later it is certain he’ll find the winner’s circle in Key West.
In third overall is none other than Italy’s Lanfranco Cirillo (Torri del Benac, Italy) on ITA-212 Fantastica. Cirillo had a tough start to the week, but worked his way steadily up the leaderboard for a great finish. Sailing with Cirillo is tactician Michele Paoletti, Daniele De Luca, Claudio Celon, Riamondo Tonelli, Manuel Giubellini, Eros Paghera and Enrico Verdinelli.
On the final day of racing the fleet was more than content with the warm temperatures and sunshine, however longed for the Thursday’s breezy conditions. Instead, they were forced to deal with light and fickle air that progressively got lighter and trickier. The first start dealt only 5-8 knots with Kilroy looking to have a nice lane upwind. Kilroy’s next closest challengers Rod Jabin (Annapolis, Md.) on USA-201 Ramrod took the pin end, and Marty Kullman (Tampa, Fla.) on USA-131 New Wave looked to get a jump up the middle. Jabin assumed the early lead, with a full court press from Woods. On the final upwind leg, Woods overtook Jabin’s lead and won. Jabin was second and Alex Jackson (Riverside, Conn.) on USA-174 Leenabarca was third. Cirillo finished fourth, Kilroy held fast in fifth.
The second race of the day only provided further unsettled breeze as the race committee was continually squaring up the course. In addition, as the wind diminished the course was shortened. Race two, the final race in the ten Key West Race Week Series, started out at 210 with a length of 1.6 nm. Yukihiro Ishida (Toyko, Japan) on JPN-203 Yasha Samarai rebounded from their dissappointing 20th in race one of the day to lead the fleet around the first mark. Kilroy rounded in a solid second position, confirming that his team was the one to beat. Carlo Alberini (Pesaro, Italy) on ITA-186 Calvi Network pulled up into second. Stuart Simpson (London, UK) on GBR-84845 Team Barbarians had an impressive day trying to secure the third place position. Ishida held on for the win with Alberini in second and Simpson holding in for third.
Special thanks to all the teams who were able to travel to Key West this year! If you weren’t here — you missed out on one of the best Key West’s ever!
A very special thank you to Premiere Racing, in particular Peter Craig, Jeanne Kleene and Alison Snipes who go above and beyond the call of duty to accommodate the fleet while in Key West, most especially to PRO Ken Legler.
The International Melges 32 Class Association is grateful for the keen support and ongoing generosity of Melges Performance Sailboats and Melges Europe. MELGES ROCKS!
Last, certainly not least, the IM32CA is extremely grateful to owner John Taylor on Ninkasi for the allowing the class onboard his support rib Hops, and the very careful and courtious hand of driver Jim Condon. Access to the racing all week has delivered not only the details of each day's racing but also provided the class the ability to bring everyone back home daily images of all the fun and fast racing in Key West! Thank you John and the entire Ninkasi Racing Team!
Top Ten Results
1.) Samba Pa Ti, John Kilroy; [14]-1-4-1-11-1-3-6-5-4 = 36
2.) Red, Joe Woods; 9-6-[19]-6-5-10-1-5-1-11 = 54
3.) Fantastica, Lanfranco Cirillo; [18]-8-12-9-4-4-4-2-4-10 = 57
4.) New Wave, Marty Kullman; 2-13-13-3-14-3-2-1-14-[21] = 65
5.) Leenabarca, Alex Jackson; [20]-2-7-11-3-15-10-10-3-5 = 66
6.) STAR, Jeff Ecklund; 1-9-[15]-10-7.4RDG-2-15-8-7-9 = 68.4
7.) Calvi Network, Carlo Alberini; 12-5-1-8-10-7-16-[19]-9-2 = 70
8.) Ramrod, Rod Jabin; 3-3-11-4-[18]-9-8-17-2-18 = 75
9.) Heartbreaker, Robert Hughes; 5-12-6-2-12-[14]-14-3-15-7 = 75
10.) Yasha Samarai, Ishida Yukihiro; 11-16-8-7-1-5-17-18-[20]-1 = 84
