2003 World Championship - Cadiz, Spain
September 15-20, 2003
Results
Gold Fleet Pos. Sail # Skipper/Crew Points #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 1 FRA 8107 Xavier Rohart / Pascal Rambeau 21 1 2 5 2 3 1 4 1 2 DNC 2 SWE 8141 Fredrik Lööf / Anders Ekström 28 3 6 2 3 2 3 1 DNF 1 7 3 GBR 8025 Iain Percy/Steven Mitchell 42 13 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 19 23 4 FRA 7879 Philippe Presti/J-P. Saliou 65 7 8 3 14 1 10 7 4 11 16 5 IRL 8110 Mark Mansfield / K. Collins 68 10 10 1 6 7 4 9 30 15 6 6 BER 7988 Peter Bromby / Martin Siese 73 4 7 7 13 2 5 6 8 OCS 21 7 NED 8028 Mark Neeleman / P.van Niekerk 75 2 9 5 1 4 2 3 35 20 29 8 USA 8159 Paul Cayard / Phil Trinter 77 14 5 3 19 3 7 OCS 13 3 10 9 AUT 8123 Hans Spitzauer / A. Hanakamp 95 6 4 18 4 18 19 18 3 10 14 10 NED 8119 Serge Kats / J.P. Martens 97,6 9 4 6 8 6 RDG 20 20 22 18 11 IRL 8158 Maxwell Treacy / R. A. Shanks 99 6 3 4 6 11 5 23 9 32 39 12 ITA 8040 Francesco Bruni / Guido Vigna 102 1 2 4 3 OCS 18 8 25 8 33 13 AUS 8140 Iain Murray / Andrew Palfrey 107 16 13 8 15 22 11 OCS 11 6 5 14 ITA 7488 Roberto Benamati / F.Domenicali 113 15 DSQ 8 20 8 8 10 17 23 4 15 SUI 8085 Flavio Marazzi / E. De Maria 116 8 1 10 20 18 15 15 16 13 20 16 AUS 8157 Colin Beashel / David Giles 118 9 DNC DNC 1 4 4 21 6 18 12 17 GER 8150 Michael Koch/Markus Koy 121 5 8 16 7 9 27 26 14 OCS 9 18 USA 8129 Mark Reynolds / M. Liljedahl 132 25 3 2 24 21 2 OCS 18 29 8 19 GER 8130 Marc Pickel/Tony Kolb 132 16 7 25 12 10 9 5 12 37 36 20 DEN 8101 Nicklas Holm/Claus Olesen 133 24 12 OCS 14 8 11 12 22 17 13 21 CAN 8168 Ross Macdonald / Kai Bjorn 138 2 11 OCS 4 6 29 17 26 28 15 22 AUS 8067 Ian Walker/Nick Williams 142 OCS 10 16 16 26 16 11 5 7 35 23 DEN 8147 Benny Andersen / Mogens Just 144 7 17 12 DNF 14 9 13 15 31 26 24 ESP 8121 Gonzalo Araujo/Gabriel de Llano 145 5 26 17 19 23 17 31 OCS 4 3 25 USA 8162 Rick Merriman / Bill Bennett 146 25 15 9 15 10 19 28 23 5 25 26 GRE 8079 L. Pelekanakis/G. Kontogouris 148 OCS 11 17 16 7 6 16 31 25 19 27 CAN 8111 Paul Sustronk / Mike Wolfs 149 23 12 9 11 12 7 24 34 36 17 28 DEN 7872 Stig Westergaard / K. Harsberg 150 19 16 21 11 11 13 19 28 12 40 29 USA 8132 Vincent Brun / Austin Sperry 152 4 6 23 12 9 6 29 OCS 33 30 30 USA 7995 George Szabo / Mark Strube 156 10 5 11 8 19 10 32 DNC 30 31 31 ESP 7581 Roberto B.deC.Muñoz / P. Elorza 158 12 20 11 32 14 15 OCS DNF 9 2 32 BRA 8109 Torben S.Grael / M. Ferreira 158 8 9 OCS 17 5 8 33 29 27 22 33 POR 81 Afonso Domingos/B. Plantier 160 OCS 25 14 10 19 12 14 7 16 DNF 34 USA 8061 Andy Lovell / Eric Oetgen 162 12 17 19 18 13 22 25 10 26 28 35 RUS 7908 Georgy Shaiduko / Juri Firsov 166 14 16 15 27 16 14 30 33 35 1 36 ITA 8155 Paolo Semeraro/Eduardo Natucci 166 20 14 20 5 15 20 27 21 24 32 37 USA 8163 Eric Doyle / Rodrigo Meireles 176 13 13 19 30 12 13 22 27 34 27 38 FIN 7758 Marko Dahlberg / Ville Kurki 178 24 18 6 13 33 27 35 19 14 24 39 IND 7901 Mahesh Ramchandran / N. Mongia 205 3 24 22 35 16 12 DNC DNC 39 11 40 ITA 8031 Pietro D'Ali / Piero Romeo 205 DSQ 18 10 9 20 26 OCS 24 21 34 41 SUI 7990 Daniel Stegmeier / B.Stegmeier 214 17 21 21 10 22 20 34 32 40 37 42 POR 8145 Henrique Anjos / P.M. de Barros 252 18 30 18 7 17 DSQ DNC DNC 38 38 Silver Fleet Pos. Sail # Skipper/Crew Points #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 43 GBR 7953 Jez Fanstone / Luke Chapman 108 19 20 12 24 21 24 1 2 3 6 44 NZL 8020 Rohan Lord/Andrew Taylor 134 20 DNC 23 35 13 22 2 4 6 9 45 CAN 7940 Mike Milner / Steve Cutting 136 17 23 27 23 17 17 10 8 17 4 46 ARG 7213 Julio Labandeira / V.Thompson 139 29 19 26 29 27 14 4 3 7 10 47 FRA 7714 P-A. Sevestre / V. Berenguier 140 18 26 14 31 25 21 12 11 5 8 48 BRA 8117 Alessandro Pascolato/R. Seifert 142 11 21 15 21 28 26 14 27 4 3 49 SWE 7338 Martin Wigforss / A. Ohlsson 154 15 27 OCS 31 23 30 11 5 11 1 50 NED 8004 Roy Heiner / Han Bergsma 156 DNC DNC DNC 5 15 3 3 1 1 DNC 51 SWE 7489 Per Åhlby / Mattias Heiding 163 35 23 OCS 22 36 25 7 6 2 7 52 NED 7969 Roeland Wentholt/J. Hooweling 173 22 14 22 9 25 24 6 9 DNC DNC 53 CAN 7626 James Beatty/Rob Emery 175 26 28 27 26 OCS 23 8 20 15 2 54 HUN 8166 Tibor Tenke / Jozsef Bendicsek 179 28 DNC 13 22 24 34 9 14 19 16 55 BAH 7950 Jimmie Lowe / Andrew Higgs 185 11 35 25 23 30 33 15 18 13 17 56 UKR 8047 Vasyl Gureyev/V. Korotkov 192 31 30 26 34 34 28 20 10 8 5 57 RSA 7845 Charles Nankin / Marc Lagesse 197 33 32 29 33 28 16 16 13 18 12 58 UKR 7084 Sergiy Pichigin / S. Timokhov 199 23 32 30 28 29 18 24 24 9 14 59 NED 7584 Alwin van Daelen / J. Behrend 202 32 29 29 34 30 21 5 12 10 DNC 60 SUI 8009 Christoph Gautschi / A. Gouda 202 30 22 28 17 29 28 26 16 23 13 61 AUS 8093 Michael Jones / Bill Sykes 230 34 25 31 37 38 33 21 17 14 18 62 RUS 8134 Alexei Lavrov / V. Krutskikh 235 37 34 30 38 34 31 19 19 20 11 63 RUS 8054 Vladimir Ikonnikov/A. Shalagin 237 28 28 36 28 27 30 23 15 22 DNC 64 BLR 7575 Sergei Horetski/Hubert Rauch 238 27 33 31 29 OCS 35 13 7 21 DNC 65 RUS 7805 Vitaly Tarakanov/Alexey Bushvev 246 32 31 33 38 32 29 22 22 26 19 66 CRO 7955 Marin Lovrovic, Jr. / N. Akrap 248 21 24 20 27 5 25 DNF DNC DNC DNC 67 RUS 7353 Maxim Rarelskiy/A. Mikhailin 249 27 33 35 39 24 37 17 21 16 DNC 68 ARG 8070 J. Kouyoumdjian / J. Engelhardt 264 21 27 7 18 DNC 23 DNC DNC DNC DNC 69 ITA 8143 R. Simoneschi/F. Colaninno 271 26 19 24 25 20 31 DNC DNC DNC DNC 70 ITA 8090 Giampiero Poggi / G. Stilo 284 29 22 13 21 31 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 71 FIN 7421 Johannes Leeve/Timo Lamberg 284 33 31 24 37 37 32 OCS 23 25 DNC 72 GER 7959 Alexander Hagen/Jochen Wolfram 285 22 15 28 26 26 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 73 HUN 8115 Peter Katai / Antal Perczel 287 38 35 34 36 36 DNC 27 DNC 24 15 74 ESP 7227 Fernando Seghers / A. Seghers 290 35 36 37 41 37 DNF 25 25 12 DNC 75 LAT 7759 E. Cepurnieks / A. Muzicenko 304 34 DNF DNC 30 33 36 18 26 DNC DNC 76 AUT 8021 Harald Wirth / Thomas Müller 328 39 38 38 39 38 38 28 28 DNC DNC 77 USA 7957 Kent Heitzinger/Darrel Hiatt 337 30 DNC DNC 32 32 32 OCS DNC DNC DNC 78 MON 7949 Marco Marchesi/Eric Barrabino 340 OCS 34 32 41 31 34 DNC DNC DNC DNC 79 GEO 7373 Guram Biganishvili/G. Gregolia 344 36 29 OCS 33 35 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 80 GER 8016 Hubert Merkelbach/Dirk Meissner 347 31 DSQ DNC 25 RDG DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 81 SLO 7287 Bostjan Antoncic / G. Strakh 353 RDG RDG RDG 36 35 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 82 UKR 804 Y. Avksentiev / M. Shapovalov 360 40 37 32 40 DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 83 USA 7833 Claude Bonanni / G. Korolkov 361 36 DNF DNC 40 39 35 DNC DNC DNC DNC
Regatta Report
By Paul Cayard
Day 1 -
Too much wind! We had the "Levante" wind today blowing 25-30 knots so no racing for Stars. The girls in the Yngling raced though, so the big macho guys from the Star class did not look too flash. The "Levante" is akin to the Meltemi of Athens. It is a gradient wind created by high pressure to the north and a low over Morocco. This creates an easterly gradient that can be as strong as 50 knots, or light enough to get overpowered by the "sea breeze" which is what happened yesterday.
Day 2 -
We got three races in today. The first in 12 knots, the second in 18, and the last in 22 knots. Then after the last race it was a five-mile beat back to the harbor. I think everyone is pretty tired. We had our heavy air rig and sails on as the forecast was for a moderately strong "Levante" today and it looked pretty good for that this morning. Sailing out to the start it was about 16 knots so that was perfect. Then just at the start the wind dropped to 11-12 knots and stayed that way for the whole race. We weren't setting the world on fire and we didn't sail particularly smart either. We were14th in that one. We are divided into two groups so there at twice as many people getting first, second and third, etc., in each race. Also, you don't race everyone so it is kind of strange.
For the second race the wind was back up to 16 and we had a great start at the windward end. After about eight minutes, Colin Beashel, (AUS) was coming out of the left and was going to cross us by about two lengths. Then he dropped his rig right in front of us. We tacked out of that mess but that was a close call. On the first run, surfing conditions now, the running backstay came out of the cleat. It was only in one, and it came out. The rig was about six feet over the bow, bent in a very ugly way. It should have come down. I headed up quickly into the wind and Phil reset the backstay. WE saved the rig and the worlds right there. We had a few problems with the rig after that but managed to get a fifth out of that mess.
Third race, 22 knots, big waves because the current had now shifted and was going against the wind. We had a bad start because the only guy who was over early was right in front of us. We had to tack out, duck a few people and get a clear lane out to the right. The left had been paying all day and we never seemed to get that through our heads. The course was an old "Gold Cup" course which is a "Triangle-windward-Leward. We got to the first mark about 10th but took the "low road" on the first reach and blew through about five guys to round the reach mark fifth. Same at the bottom mark. Then we passed two guys up the second beat and held third on the run.
All in all we survived more than we raced which is a bad thing for today but the good side is that our speed is pretty good so if we can get our act together we should be in good shape tomorrow.
Day 3 –
Two races were scheduled today. We got down to the boat early and changed masts. The one from yesterday is not bent badly, we can straighten it, but I did not want to screw around with that this morning. We also put our light air main on, which is quickly becoming our all-purpose main.
As we had been getting smacked out on the right all day yesterday, we decided to go left in the first race today. It was 8 knots off the line and we were going well with Mark Reynolds who had done well yesterday in the left. About half way up the beat, a big shift with pressure filled in from the right. We rounded the first mark about 40th. Scrambled to find clear air the rest of the race and finished 19th. Bruni (ITA) was third, and Ian Percy (GBR), the current world champion was second.
In the second race we had a good start, went very fast and went left. The breeze was in and this was the condition when the left paid yesterday. We were leading the left, in fact we won the left side but got the windward mark fourth. The leaders came out of the right with more pressure and a 10-degree shift. We passed Percy and another guy on the first run. We had very good speed and round the leeward mark second behind Bromby (BER). Up the second beat, now in 16 knots of wind, we all stayed pretty close but Percy got inside us just at the windward mark. The wind had gone far enough right that it was a gybe set and lay the finish. So we finished third and Percy got by Bromby. All in all, not terrible, but not world championship caliber sailing by us. We are making too many small mistakes and you can’t afford that in this fleet.
Day 4 -
One race today that started at 1600. The Tornados were sharing our course today so they got to start at 12:00 and we had to wait until they were done. The wind was 16-18 knots from 125 nice big waves for surfing downwind.
We had a good start near the leeward end and going left. We were close with Percy and Bromby coming out of that but up toward the windward mark, we fell in a bit of a hole and they got lifted and rounded quite a bit ahead. In fact, we lost about seven boats within two minutes of the top mark. Down the first run, those who gybe set had a lot more pressure. We lost 10 boats on that run to round the leeward mark about 20th. Up the second beat we had good speed and the left was good to us. We rounded the top mark 12th and had a fast run to pass five more boats and finish seventh. That moved us up to 10th overall. We are just not consistent enough in both our speed and our tactics. It won't take much improving to make a significant difference. But we have to do it.
Now the fleet will be divided into two groups. We will stay in those groups until the end of the regatta, which is scheduled to be five more races. Percy (GBR) is putting on a clinic, winning again to day. He is very fast in this breeze. In the other fleet Xavier Rohart (FRA) is doing quite well and is just three points behind Percy. Percy won the worlds last year in Marina Del Rey and Rohart was second. Freddy Loof (SWE), the 2001 world champion, is moving up nicely into third overall. Torben Grael who was second at last years worlds and first in Athens this summer, is 15th currently.
Day 5 -
Sailing is a beautifully sport some days. Today was one for us. We got out to the course first and sailed quite a bit, got the rig readjusted for light air and at 1630 we had a start in seven knots of wind from 215. We had a nice start and immediately started gaining on those around us. The boat was perfectly set up and in the grove. We wanted to go left as in the tune up, we had seen more pressure on the left, but so had everyone else. So it was a foot race to the left and we were going fast.
Sure enough the left was good and we rounded the top mark sixth. From there we battled the whole day with Bromby. He was ahead of us and kept tacking on us trying to push us back. The wind did not change much and it was a bit of a one-way track with the left side being favored up and down wind.
The wind remained light, 7-8 knots the whole race and on the third beat, Bromby and us both passed the Spanish. Across the line, Bromby was third but we later found out he was OCS so we finished third which moves us into eighth overall. While eighth isn't setting the world on fire, it is a move up and if we are in the top-eight at the world championship we qualify for Operation Gold money from USOC. This can be a big boost to our budget and my sponsor (my wife) would be happy.
In the rest of the fleet, Percy had a bad race, finishing 19th, which put him third over all. Rohart finished second and locked up the series as there can only be one race tomorrow. Loof (SWE) won the race and moved into second. All in all, we have been sailing at the top of the fleet the last two days, which is good in the big picture. Our speed has been good in the variety of conditions and I am very pleased with our new boat.
Day 7 -
One race today and we treaded water. Actually we did close in quite a bit on the guys in front of us, finishing four points out of sixth but not enough to pass them. The race got started in seven knots of wind from 290 at 1430. We had a bad start in that a couple of boats just to windward of us were over the top of us. They must have had a better line sight than we did because I was afraid to go with them and be OCS. We battled to get a clear lane out to the left and survived to round the first mark about 18th.
The whole rest of the race we slowly chewed people up and finished 10th. Interestingly, Percy, who was on fire in the 18 knots breeze had trouble again today. He was ahead of us at the first mark but finished 23rd. Both guys who were within a point of us in the standings -- Bruni (ITA) and Tracy (IRL) -- were deep. Bromby (BER) and Neeleman (NED) were also deep and for a while we had the points on them to pass them in the standings. But they were able to pick off some people too and we missed them by two and four points respectively.
In hindsight, where we lost a lot of points was two days ago with an OCS when we finished fifth and a 13th when we had been second all race long. We ate about 17 points that day. This was my second worst finish in nine Star World Championships. My worst was a 10th in 1989. Yet, we are the top Americans again this year. Second American was Mark Reynolds in 18th. Last year we were top Americans, finishing fourth and qualifying the country for the Olympics.
So looking at the big picture, which is getting prepared for the US Olympic Trials next year and then onto a medal in Athens, we have built a good foundation. We have some long-term projects well underway; like me gaining 20 pounds for the weight rule and being happy that we have our new boat sorted out and on its way to Miami. We have to work hard between now and March 18th to keep making gains.
We have already mapped out our training sessions in Miami this winter…about 2 weeks every month. Now I have to plan what to test during the sessions all making sure we don't do too much but that we do try to find some more speed. We can't stand still between now and then. We start in November in Miami.
Our next event is the Star North American Championship in San Francisco from October 17-22. We will charter a boat for that as our boat can't get to SF in time. Finally, but very importantly, I want to wish my crew Phil Trinter and his bride to be, Chrissy, the very best for their upcoming wedding, October 11. Phil and Chrissy will be taking their honeymoon in Napa the week before the Star North American's.
