Blue Water Series Melges 32, Volpe wins in Ft Lauderdale

Ft Lauderdale – Congratulations to Dick DeVos on Volpe as he is the 2016 Melges 32 Lauderdale Cup Champion, simultaneously snapping up the first ever Blue Water Series Ranking Champion title. Alongside Dick for most of the ride has been a steady crew that included tactician Mark Mendelblatt, Scott Nixon, Sam Rogers, Drew Weirda, Peter Kinney, Erika Reineke and Mike Hill.
“We have such great group on the boat. This is the best sailing I have ever done,” said a very humble and happy Dick DeVos post-awards. “We had a great weekend and things went well. There are some really great teams out here, so we have to give credit to everyone here – Argo, Delta, and the kids (Team Hydra). I feel very fortunate, and look forward to more great sailing. Really looking forward to sailing more this year in Newport, because there is no better place to sail than Newport in the summer (Nationals – August 19-21, and Worlds – September 29 – October 2).”

On the flip side of the coin is the amazing performance of Morgan Kiss and Team Hydra, they are 2016 Lauderdale Cup Corinthian Champion, which awards them the overall Corinthian Blue Water Series title as well. Team Hydra included their coach Marty Kullman, Ty Baird, Noah Blacker, Alex Brown, Henry Fernberger, Jensen McTighe, Lexi Petter and Alex Post, and finished third overall

“I am so proud of these kids. They just keep getting better, better and better. I mean, we won another race today,” said Kullman. “We got a bullet everyday in this regatta and one on the last day, of the Gold Cup. So, they have done such a great job. The goal of this entire program was to get these kids some experience, that they can take to other teams and say ‘hey, let me come and help you.’ And now, with a few bullets under their belts (5 this weekend alone), we look forward to all the challenges ahead for us at Nationals in August and of course, there is the Worlds to get ready for too.”

So many teams exceled this weekend. From Jason Carroll’s Argo (finished second overall) that battled so hard against Dick DeVos in the final moments of the Race Eight, to the acceleration of Chris Wientjes’ Stormvogel getting up much more frequently into those top three positions and, of course Andrea LaCorte on Vitamina Amerikana and Grant Hood’s Quest (second Corinthian overall) teams improving with every race.

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