| 2002
5th District Championship |
Cayard
WIns Star 5th District Championship on Tiebreaker Over Shiebler
MARINA
DEL REY, Calif.---Now that West Coast sailors have laid the foundation
for next month's Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship, Paul Cayard
has a word of caution for those who will be coming from five other continents
to compete on the same confounding seas Aug. 18-23.
"This was just
an eye opener of how it's going to be here for the Worlds," Cayard
said after he and crew Hal Haenel (1-10-1-4-7) won the 74th 5th District
Championship on a tiebreaker over Howie Shiebler and crew Rick Peters
(2-2-15-1-3) this past weekend. "The wind is fluky, and the water
is so sloppy that you can't read [the wind on] the water. We have some
improving to
do."
Welcome to Marina
del Rey. The wind can blow, but when it doesn't it's a maze of shifts
and what Shiebler called "shafts of breeze," which is what challenged
competitors in five races Saturday and Sunday. "You can't see it
but you have
to find it."
Those who did it best
qualified for the Worlds---eight on their positions in the final standings
among 44 entries and others who will be seeded forward off their fleet
championships. Cayard and San Diego's Eric Doyle, who was third, had already
qualified as former Star world champions. The district encompasses the
West Coast from Oregon to Mexico.
One familiar figure
who made it the hard way was Coronado's Robbie Haines, 48, who won this
event in 1974 and '81, owns an Olympic gold medal in the Soling class
and a roomful of other prizes. None of that qualified him to compete in
the Worlds before he placed fourth overall with second- and first-place
finishes Sunday.
Also qualifying, in
order, were Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett, San Diego; Peter Vessella/Brian
Fatih, San Francisco; defending district champion George Szabo/Austin
Sperry, San Diego; Melges 24 star Argyle Campbell/Kevin Bowles, Newport
Beach; Doug Smith/Marty Dalton, Piedmont; Susie Pegel/Tom George, San
Diego; Jim Buckingham/Joel Kew, Newport Beach; Mike Dorgan/Eric Weintraub,
San Diego; Steve Brown/Steve Steinberg, Newport Beach, and John Virtue/Myles
Connolly, Newport Beach, along with various fleet representatives.
"It's going to
be a lot of fun," said Haines, whose recent years have been devoted
to helping Roy Disney and George Andreadis win ocean races on their big
boats.
For Haines, who placed
seventh in the 1973 Star Worlds at San Diego, it was like slipping back
into an old pair of sailing gloves he'd found in the back of a drawer.
His crew was young Bill Hardesty, but he'll be sailing the Worlds with
his son Brian, a recent high school graduate who is recovering from a
broken ankle.
Shiebler, the North
American distributor for Protector hard-bottom inflatables, had won the
5th Districts three of the previous five years and stood to do it again
until a couple hours after the racing ended Sunday. He had filed a third-party
protest against Cayard and Doyle over an incident at the last windward
mark when neither protested although Shiebler thought their boats had
touched.
Cayard said, "We
were the leeward boat and I asked Eric to give us some room to luff up
[at the mark]. For sure, the boats didn't touch. I didn't look up to see
if the sails or anything else did."
Cayard had flown down
from San Francisco with Shiebler on the latter's private plane, so for
a while it seemed the skies going home might not be real friendly.
But Shiebler had second
thoughts and withdrew his protest.
"I didn't want
the championship to be decided by that," he said. "I'm convinced
Paul didn't believe there was contact or he would have
protested."
Haines also had to
survive a protest by Jay LaPlante of Manhattan Beach, who finished 29th
but protested Haines following a collision that holed LaPlante's boat.
Cayard, sidelined
but still under contract to Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW Racing team, flew
home with Shiebler while Doyle flew back to Auckland to rejoin that same
America's Cup crew. Cayard will be competing in his first Worlds
since '96 when he was fourth at Rio de Janeiro.
Another tune-up event
for the Nautica Star Worlds is Cal Yacht Club's annual King of Spain Regatta
Aug. 10-11, the week before the Worlds. The King of Spain normally involves
mostly regional competitors but will draw many of the national and international
sailors trying to get a feel for local sailing conditions.
From past and recent
experience, Cayard already has dubbed it the "King of Pain"
Regatta.
Results:
|
Place |
|
Bow |
Sail# |
Skipper/Crew |
Club |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
Total
Points |
|
1 |
|
45 |
8088 |
Paul Cayard/Hal
Haenel |
StFYC |
1 |
|
10 |
|
1 |
|
4 |
|
7 |
|
23 |
|
2 |
|
46 |
8077 |
Howie Shiebler/Rick
Peters |
NYYC |
2 |
|
2 |
|
15 |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
23.1 |
|
3 |
|
32 |
7737 |
Eric Doyle/Rodrigo
Meireles |
SDYC |
5 |
|
11 |
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
6 |
|
27 |
|
4 |
|
42 |
7997 |
Robbie Haines/Bill
Hardesty |
CorYC |
13 |
|
3 |
|
13 |
|
2 |
|
1 |
|
32 |
|
5 |
|
47 |
8082 |
Rick Merriman/Bill
Bennett |
SDYC |
19 |
|
1 |
|
8 |
|
5 |
|
5 |
|
38 |
|
6 |
|
54 |
8059 |
Peter Vessella/Brian
Fatih |
St.FYC |
17 |
|
6 |
|
4 |
|
7 |
|
4 |
|
38.1 |
|
7 |
|
49 |
7631 |
George Szabo/Austin
Sperry |
SDYC |
6 |
|
9 |
|
5 |
|
11 |
|
13 |
|
44 |
|
8 |
|
53 |
7673 |
Argyle Campbell/Kevin
Bowles |
NHYC |
4 |
|
7 |
|
7 |
|
23 |
|
11 |
|
52 |
|
9 |
|
44 |
8072 |
Doug Smith/Marty
Dalton |
MYC |
16 |
|
16 |
|
12 |
|
8 |
|
10 |
|
62 |
|
10 |
|
40 |
7982A |
Susie Pegel/Tom
George |
SWYC |
20 |
|
5 |
|
20 |
|
9 |
|
9 |
|
63 |
|
11 |
|
56 |
8041 |
Jim Buckingham/Joel
Kew |
NHYC |
12 |
|
17 |
|
6 |
|
16 |
|
16 |
|
67 |
|
12 |
|
48 |
7942 |
Mike Dorgan/Eric
Weintraub |
SDYC |
8 |
|
14 |
|
16 |
|
30 |
|
2 |
|
70 |
|
13 |
|
59 |
7042 |
Steve Brown/Steve
Steinberg |
BCYC |
14 |
|
19 |
|
11 |
|
22 |
|
14 |
|
80 |
|
14 |
|
37 |
7862 |
John Virtue/Myles
Connolly |
BYC |
21 |
|
12 |
|
3 |
|
28 |
|
17 |
|
81 |
|
15 |
|
43 |
8037 |
Skip Elliott/John
Peschelt |
NHYC |
3 |
|
13 |
|
23 |
|
20 |
|
22 |
|
81.1 |
|
16 |
|
55 |
7294 |
Charles Beek/Kent
Karlsson |
NHYC |
7 |
|
18 |
|
17 |
|
18 |
|
21 |
|
81.2 |
|
17 |
|
70 |
7931 |
Jeremy Davidson/Jessica
Costa |
ABYC |
11 |
|
24 |
|
25 |
|
10 |
|
12 |
|
82 |
|
18 |
|
51 |
7825 |
Steve Gould/Jon
Rogers |
St.FYC |
23 |
|
8 |
|
21 |
|
12 |
|
19 |
|
83 |
|
19 |
|
57 |
7525 |
Gregg Morton/Gary
Mitchell |
SDYC |
15 |
|
15 |
|
9 |
|
37 |
|
8 |
|
84 |
|
20 |
|
33 |
8023 |
Lee Kellerhouse/Isao
Toyama |
SDYC |
9 |
|
20 |
|
29 |
|
13 |
|
15 |
|
86 |
|
21 |
|
34 |
7310 |
Rod Hagebols/William
Finlay |
RGYC |
25 |
|
4 |
|
10 |
|
6 |
|
45 |
|
90 |
|
