Buddy Melges Obituary, Death – Harry C. “Buddy” Melges Jr. was a well-known competition sailor from the United States. He was born on January 26, 1930, and died on May 18, 2023. His birthday is January 26. He competed in conventional sailing as well as ice boating, and he was victorious in a number of national and international championships over a broad range of classifications.
Melges spent his boyhood on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he learned to sail on boats that had been designed and built by his father, Harry Melges Sr. Melges was born in the Wisconsin town of Elkhorn. Melges Performance Sailboats is still in operation, and Buddy Melges’s son, Harry Melges III, is in charge of managing the company at the moment. Zenda, in the state of Wisconsin, is home to the company’s headquarters.
Melges is an Olympic gold (Soling, 1972) and bronze (Flying Dutchman, 1964) medalist, a two-time Star world champion (1978 and 1979), a three-time 5.5 Meter world champion (1967, 1973, and 1983), a five-time E-Scow national champion (1965, 1969, 1978, 1979 and 1983), a seven-time skeeter ice boat world champion (1955, 1957, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1980 and 1981 and a three-time Yachtsman of the Year (1961, 1972 and 1978). During the 1992 race for the America’s Cup, he worked as a navigator on Bill Koch’s boat America3, and helped the team win the competition.
