Harry Melges, IV is the winner of the 2020 NCESA National Championship Regatta at Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club
Harry Melges, IV, and his crew of Kyle Navin, Finn Rowe and Ripley Shelly captured the 2020 championship beating Minnetonka Yacht Club’s Sam Rogers and his crew of Chrisy Hughes, Tony Jewett, and Finn Burdick by a single point. Harry showed his preference for a spring National Championship Regatta by making this his second championship win, having won in the 2017 Nationals held in the spring of 2018 in Charleston SC. Harry and his I-1 team quickly set the tone for the regatta by winning race one on Friday sailed under unseasonably cool gray skies with a blustery northeast wind in the 17-20 mph range. The first day of racing was shortened for the winning team when they received a black flag disqualification in the second and final race of the day. On Saturday, Harry and crew reaffirmed the dominance they showed in race one by finishing 1, 3 and 1, in races 3, 4 and 5 sailing in conditions similar to, but a bit less breezy than, day one. On Sunday morning, competitors were towed to the racecourse to await the arrival of the sea breeze which eventually filled in to allow for 2 races. The winning I-1 team’s finishes of 15 and 8 in races 6 and 7 on Sunday were enough to seal the victory. Harry also took home the Youth Trophy, awarded to the highest finishing boat skippered by a youth, as well as the National Ranking trophy for 2020.
3rd place was captured by Jack Brown of Seaside Park Yacht Club, who also impressively won the Rookie Skipper award as the highest placing skipper sailing in the NCESA championship for the first time. The incumbent 2019 National champion, Brian Porter, I-49, finished 4th and was awarded the top master trophy. John Brown and his “Blind Squirrel” crew on SS-37 finished 5th.
The remaining top 10 boats were rounded out by Jeff Bonanni, the winner of the last National Championship Regatta held at LEHYC in 2015, finishing in 6th place, Vincent Porter, I-2, in 7th place with a win in race 2, followed by Toms River Yacht Club’s Clay Johnson in 8th. Kevin Jewett of South Carolina finished 9th and took home the Tarporley Hunt Trophy as the winner of race 6, assuring that not all of the silver would be headed to Lake Geneva. Eddie Cox sailing I-66 completed the top ten and became the third Lake Geneva boat to win a race crossing the line first in race 7.
Kelly McGlynn of the host club was awarded the trophy as Top Female Skipper.
With 4 boats in the top 15, Lake Geneva Yacht Club took home the Torch Lake Team Championship trophy.
Ed Vienckowski, who participated on race committee, was awarded the Colie Service Award for his service to the E-Scow class.
The 2020 regatta was originally scheduled for the first week of September 2020 but was postponed due the pandemic. With boats coming from as far as Colorado and Georgia to compete, 56 crews raced and celebrated the return to “normal” at the first national E-Scow event since September of 2019. Little Egg Harbor Yacht is honored to have been selected the host of the 2020 regatta - the 13th E-Scow Nationals hosted by LEHYC since hosting its first in 1961.
Congratulations to all of the sailors, the NCESA and the volunteers who made this year’s event a success
Rich Wagner
Ellen Boyle
LEHYC
2020 Nationals Regatta Co-Chairs
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