There were only 15 Melges 17's at the race. You might have confused the herd of M16's as part of the 17 fleet. The 16's had white sails. The 17's had gold mylar, kevlar, unobtanium.

You rolled 'em? Congratuations! How much handicap did you give your boat that weighs 165 lbs and one skipper to one that weighs almost twice as much with a skipper and one crew? If you wanted to compare speed it would have been better to have found experienced Eric Hood (factory), Mary Ann Ward (Melbourne, FL), or Art Brereton (Michigan?) alone on the 17.

The Melges 17's hit the market this time last year when the first demo 17 was shown at Lake Eustis. Seventy Melges 17's have been sold in it's first year. My new Melges 17 weighs 300 lbs. The mast is around 16 lbs. A crew is helpful but several at the regatta decided it could be single handed; not with the fastest spin sets, but singlehanding would not be difficult.

To be fair, the owners at the regatta this past weekend, with the exception of only a few boats, were BRAND SPANKING NEW to the boat and the others had not sailed the boat much, if any, at all since they purchased it in it's first year (in the frigid climate of the boat's home ground in the midwest). I talked to four owners who had not been out for the first time until last Friday. I would have been one of the brand new skippers with a clueless crew had my recovering fractured left foot not kept our new 17 in the garage at home in Orlando. My total time on the boat since it's purchase this past December has been a total of two twenty minute naps taken on the fordeck in the garage.

It takes a lot of courage to rig any boat for the first time on Friday, 900 miles from home, and to race on Saturday with an inexperienced crew of any age handling most of the 480 sq. ft. (total) of sail at the pointy end. So, what you had were mostly brand new owners fleeing the frozen north for a weekend who were happy to be on the water with their new-smelling boat with as green a crew, too. I wouldn't gloat too much about running on an A-Cat past that crowd.

A couple of the 17's were crewed with a very young son on each; eight and thirteen yrs. old. My wife and I talked to a couple of the little guys. (She figured if they could do it, then she could, too.) It was funny seeing her walk up to a boy half her height asking, "Do you handle the chute?". His Dad answered, "It's his first time." There were some spunky female crew out there, as well.

One young crew who said he would rather have been wakeboarding referred to the catamarans as, "That 70's Show. My dad had one." I'd call that a verbal wind shadow that reeled you in.

Melges has been coming out with some very new product: witness the 17 and the 32. "Time on the boat" seems to be missing from the discussion when Melges enters conversation. The Melges 32 owners took a bad rap at Key West Race Week for not going out when everyone's stick was breaking. (Were they smart or sober...or both?) They should have been given credit for admitting that they were new to v. expensive boat and would rather keep it in one piece until they had some time on the boat and until the new crews had jelled. When rich sailors drag pieces of boat back to the dock, a smart new owner takes notice. Knowing when NOT to go out is just plain smart.

Melges is one boat builder that has introduced new product for sailors that don't have a ton of money in the bank. Melges are a little pricey for their size but I can attest that you definitely get what you pay for.

Give the new owners at least a couple of seasons to get to know the boat before passing judgement on the performance of either the crew or the boat. And what are you doing out there in 5-10 hunting scows to pass? That's pathetic.