Richard Reid's Zingara Claims 2022 Melges 24 Canadian Title
Zingara CAN853 of Richard Reid Reid and his team of Cole Brauer, Ian Sloan, Brian Kamilar and Chris Watters - Melges 24 Canadian Champion 2022. Photo by Alina Heinrich.
September 20, 2022 - Toronto, Canada - Toronto's National Yacht Club hosted the 2022 Melges 24 Canadians. The regatta saw a total of 10 boats, with 7 coming from Ontario and 3 boats from the United States.
Day one started with light winds shifting counterclockwise throwout the day. Just before the start of race 4 the wind increased for 20 plus knots that provided some exciting planning and spectacular wipeouts. Zingara CAN853 helmed by Richard Reid of the hosting club took an early lead and never looked back, posted 1,1,4,1 on day one. Dan Berezin's Surprise CAN629, also from the National Yacht Club, had consistent 3,3,2,3 finishes and completed the day at second place followed by Scot Zimmerman and team Bad Idea USA717 from Traverse City, Michigan (2,9,6,2).
The day completed by a great BBQ sponsored by team Zingara.
Bad Idea USA717 of Scot Zimmerman with Liz Zimmerman, Reed Cleckler and Kevin Fisher - Melges 24 Canadian Nationals 2022, Toronto. Photo by Alina Heinrich.
Surprise CAN629 of Dan Berezin with Denys Kalchenko, Alex Kapustin and Aliaksandr Praskurnin - Melges 24 Canadian Nationals 2022, Toronto. Photo by Alina Heinrich.
Day two started with a bad surprise for Bad Idea, who discovered a failure of the spinnaker sheave at the mast top and unfortunately had to retire for the rest of the event. Four more races were sailed in light to medium winds. Again, Zingaracontinued the winning spree with 1,1 and 2, following by a close encounter with Surprise at the finish of race 8 that led to Zingara's decision to retire from this race. Surprise continued sailing consistently, posting 3,2,3,2 and sitting comfortably at the second position by the end of the day. Jim Pearson's CAN-737 Slippery from South Port Sailing Club in Windsor, Ontario, posted 2,8,4 and 1, and completed the day in third place.
The day followed by a nice dinner at the National Yacht Club's restaurant, accompanied by a DJ.
The final day of the regatta saw again light to medium South-West wind. Zingara never stopped and won the remaining two races, followed by Surprise with two second place finishes. Robert Wigny's CAN-523 Notorious helmed by Kevin Brown had their best day of the event finishing in third twice. It was Mike Gozzard's CAN-31 Rush however, with 5 and 4 finishes, who climbed to the bronze medal position by the end of the day.
Rush CAN031 of Mike Gozzard with Robin Gozzard, Geoffrey Mcmurray and Geoff Morre - Melges 24 Canadian Nationals 2022, Toronto. Photo by Alina Heinrich.
Mike Gozzard, Rush CAN-31: "It seemed everyone was still pretty amped up for a post covid event. It was really good to see the travel teams from Traverse City and Buffalo as it is still not that easy to travel into Canada these days. The event was very well run and National Yacht Club did a great job as host. They are going to be great for the NA’s next year. It was a great event with more than the usual drama. For us however it was the after racing activities that were the most fun… with downtown Toronto as the back drop most of us partied away our frustrations!"
Thank you to the race committee, led by PRO Dave Sprague, for a fantastic job done. The club staff, and volunteers did an excellent job in ensuring the success of the regatta.
The top 3 overall winners:
Richard Reid, CAN-853 Zingara
Dan Berezin, CAN-629 Surprise
Mike Gozzard, CAN-31 Rush
Corinthian division:
Dan Berezin, CAN-629 Surprise
Robert Wigny, CAN-523 Notorious
Jim Pearson, CAN-737 Slippery
Melges 24 (One Design - 10 Boats)
1. Zingara CAN853, Richard Reid - 1 -1 -4 -1 -1 -1 -2 -[11/RET] -1 -1 ; 13
2. Surprise CAN629, Dan Berezin - [3] -3 -2 -3 -3 -2 -3 -2 -2 -2 ; 22
3. Rush CAN 031, Mike Gozzard - [11/UFD] -7 -5 -6 -4 -3 -1 -3 -5 -4 ; 38
4. Notorious CAN523, Robert Wigny - 7 -5 -1 -[8] -6 -7 -7 -4 -3 -3 ; 43
5. Slippery CAN737, Jim Pearson - 8 -4 -3 -4 -2 -8 -4 -1 -[11/DNC] -11/DNC ; 45
6. Spitfire CAN99, John Marentette - 6 -[8] -8 -5 -7 -5 -5 -6 -4 -5 ; 51
7. CAN723, Uri Saks - 5 -6 -[10] -7 -8 -6 -8 -5 -6 -6 ; 57
8. Slippery USA416, Jerry Miller - 4 -2 -9 -9 -5 -9 -9 -8 -8 -[11/DNC] ; 63
9. ate USA344, David Krystaf - [11/UFD] -10 -7 -10 -9 -4 -6 -7 -7 -7 ; 67
10. Bad Idea USA717, Scot Zimmerman - 2 -9 -6 -2 -[11/DNC] -11/DNC -11/DNC -11/DNC -11/DNC -11/DNC ; 74
Full results
Photos
The regatta was a final event of the Quantum Great Lakes Cup.
Mike Gozzard and team Rush are the winners of the cup in 2022!
Congratulation to all the winners!
The National Yacht Club will host the Melges 24 North American Championship on September 14 - 17, 2023.