Article by Liz Zimmerman — Twenty-one boats faced challenging competition, but beautiful weather on West Grand Traverse Bay, for the 20th Annual Grand Traverse Yacht Club Melges 24 Invitational, held back on August 19-20, 2017. 

The high skill among the fleet became quickly evident when the leaders were continually changing. Rarely was a single boat out in front from start to finish, or even for two legs of a race. The strength of the fleet was accurately shown in the results where even the top boat had only two bullets for the weekend.

Augie Hernandez’s USA 533 High Voltage took the eight-race series with no throw outs, winning the tiebreaker of a 45-point tie with Fred Rozelle’s USA 530 Rustler. Local favorite and race chairman, Mike Dow took third just four points back. 

GTYC was very pleased to welcome boats from as far away as Idaho (Edward Detar's USA 352 Banshee placed fifth), Toronto, Chicago, Goderich ONT and Muskegon.

Several of these competitors will next meet in Toronto for the Canadian Melges 24 Nationals.

TOP FIVE RESULTS (FINAL After Eight Races)
1.) Augie Hernandez, High Voltage; 4-13-5-1-1-15-3-3 = 45
2.) Fred Rozelle, Rustler; 5-6-7-2-2-10-2-11 = 45
3.) Mike Dow, Flying Toaster; 18-1-6-7-4-8-1-4 = 49
4.) Marty Jensen, ZigZag; 3-12-16-12-6-5-5-1 = 60
5.) Edward Detar, Banshee III; 2-2-10-4-7-11-20-6 = 62
View Full Results: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=4289