Start of Race 4 of the Star Worlds 2010. Image copyright Fried Elliott/www.friedbits.com
by Lynn Fitzpatrick
Iain Percy and Andrew “Bart” Simpson continued to dominate the 2010 Star World Championship.With today’s first place finish the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists stretched their lead to 19 points over 1989 Star World Champion, Alan Adler and Guilherme Alemeida (BRA) by winning Race 4. The 2008 North American Champions Rick Merriman Phil Trinter (USA) had a solid command of second place throughout the race and Andre Mirsky and Marcelo Jordao (BRA), bettered their 6th place finish in Race 2 by finishing third today.
Percy/Simpson came off the water today in great spirits and reported.“We had lovely conditions.It was the first real day of sailing with 6-8 knots in the beginning and 12-14 for the last part of the race.” Careful not to jinx their run away lead and knowing that another stellar performance in Race 5 could give them a Gold Star to pair with their Olympic Gold, Percy said, “It’s about avoiding disasters in an 80-boat fleet.”
Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Petterson (NOR) continue to hang tough and are now in third place overall. Two points behind are Flavio Marazzi and Enrico DeMaria (SUI). Race 5 is scheduled for tomorrow. Following the completion of five races, teams can discard their worst race score. Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs (GER) recovered from yesterday’s 39 and lowered their average with their eight place finish today.
The breeze outside of Guanabara Bay and miles off of Copacabana circulated a bit more today than it did during Race 3 and according to 1993 Star World Champion crew, Phil Trinter, “It’s nice that the Race Committee favored the boat. It made it fair across the line.”Merriman/Trinter started on the upper end of the line, yet according to Trinter, “Within 10 minutes, we were in different current and they (Percy/Simpson) shot up next to us. ”Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) continued their outstanding performance and were clear leaders around the first windward mark and extended as the wind picked up, the conditions grew more to their liking and those immediately behind them focused on gaining an advantage over one another rather than the low odds possibility of catching the Brits.
Percy/Simpson were in good company around the first weather mark with Rick Merriman, 2008 North American Champion, and 1993 World Champion crew, Phil Trinter, Mirsky/Jordao, Dan Lovrovic and Sinsia Mikulicic (CRO), Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks (IRL), Alejo Rigoni and Juan Pablo Percossi (ARG) Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), Alan Adler and Guilherme Alemeida (BRA), Torben Grael and Marcel Ferreira (BRA) and Alessandro Pascolato and Henry Boening (BRA). Merriman/Trinter and Mirsky/Jordao had enough of a jump to round the rest of the marks in second and third place.
To prepare for this event, Mirsky/Jordao sailed major international regattas such as the 2009 Star World Championship, the North Americans and the November regattas in Rio. Said Mirsky after the race, “I am very happy. It is the third time that we were in the top five at the first mark. The first and second time we were there we lost some positions. We had a little more speed upwind today. We were not happy with the way we had the boat tuned yesterday and made changes.”
The Brazilians fared very well today with Mirsky/Jordao finishing third, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) fifth, Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) seventh, and Lars Grael and Ronald Siefert (BRA) rounding out the top ten.
There are many teams who have one finish in their scoreline that they would like to discard and tomorrow’s race is likely to reshuffle the deck. Among those teams that had a top-10 race today and have a history of coming out on top by the end of a regatta are: Marazzi/DeMaria (SUI), who finished 4th today; 2007 World Champions and Silver Medalists at the Qingdao Olympics, Scheidt/ Prada; Italian Olympian Diego Negri and Nando Colaninno, who finished 6th; Grael/Ferreira (BRA), with a team record of one win, five seconds and two third-place finishes in Star World Championships; and Lars Grael and Ronald Seifert, who were third at the 2009 Star World Championship.
Stay tuned. The 2010 Star World Championship title could be determined Thursday.
What they said:
Iain Percy (GBR), 2002 Star World Champion and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, who is leading the 73-boat regatta with 16 points, or a 4-point average.
About having four keeper races going into Race 5
“It’s about avoiding disasters in an 80-boat fleet.”
About today’s wind conditions and their confidence in their speed
“Today was great. We had lovely conditions. It was the first real day of sailing with 6-8 knots in the beginning and 12-14 for the last part of the race.”
About their start
“The leaders came from the middle today.” (They were among them).
About their Rio practice sessions and what they have learned during the first four days of racing in the 2010 Star World Championship
“It’s different than sailing in Europe. There is an underground swell and the power goes on and off on the upwind legs.”
Andrew “Bart” Simpson about the compliments that Iain Percy keeps giving him
“He could win with a sack of spuds.”
Rick Merriman (USA) – 2008 Star Western Hemisphere Champion about his second place finish. The team started sailing together for the Olympic Trials in October of 2007 and won a Silver Star in Geneva, NY and did well at the Miami OCR together.
About their steady improvement throughout the regatta
“We came down here for the South Americans and the Royal Thames and were a little frustrated with our performance. It feels better, today.”
Phil Trinter about Race 4
“It’s nice that the Race Committee favored the boat. It made it fair across the line.
“The second through eighth place boats reached a third of the way down the run, so it gave Percy the chance to extend his lead.”
About today’s conditions
“We started on the upper end of the line. Within 10 minutes, we were in different current and they (Percy/Simpson) shot up next to us.”
Andre Mirsky and Marcelo Jordao (BRA), who started sailing together at the 2009 Star World Championship and have had two sensational races and are sitting in 10th place after Race 4
Andre Mirsky about having another good race
“I am very happy. It is the third time that we were in the top five at the first mark. The first and second time we were there we lost some positions. We had a little more speed upwind today. We were not happy with the way we had the boat tuned yesterday and made changes.”
About their starts
“We have had less speed than everybody, but good starts and half of the race is about the start.”
About the key to their good race today
“We worked on the right side of the course at the top of the leg and that put us in a good position.”
Provisional Results after Race 4
Place Boat Skipper Crew Sail #: Fleet 1 2 3 4 Total
1 GBR 8371 Percy Iain Simpson Andrew 8371 Sol 2.0 11.0 2.0 1.0 16
2 BRA 8210 Adler Alan Almeida Guilherme 8210 RdJ 6.0 5.0 11.0 13.0 35
3 NOR 8317 Melleby Eivind Morland Pedersen Petter 8317 Nor 9.0 10.0 4.0 16.0 39
4 SUI 8364 Marazzi Flavio De Maria Enrico 8364 TB 30.0 1.0 6.0 4.0 41
5 ITA 8266 Negri Diego Colaninno Fernando 8266 VE 23.0 18.0 5.0 6.0 52
6 CAN 8398 Macdonald Ross Lekszycki Andre 8398 EB 10.0 13.0 14.0 15.0 52.0001
7 SWE 8387 Loof Fredrik Tillander Johan 8387 Bk 8.0 9.0 18.0 19.0 54
8 GER 8378 Babendererde Johannes Jacobs Timo 8378 Moh 1.0 8.0 39.0 8.0 56
9 BRA 8397 Grael Torben Ferreira Marcelo 8397 GuB 5.0 25.0 21.0 7.0 58
10 BRA 6475 Mirsky Andre JORDÁO MARCELO 6475 RdJ 33.0 6.0 22.0 3.0 64
11 ARG 8381 Kouyoumdjian Juan Colla Alejandro 8381 Lar 4.0 30.0 8.0 22.0 64.0001
12 USA 8361 Campbell Andrew Nichol Brad 8361 SDB 12.0 3.0 24.0 26.0 65
13 BRA 8392 GRAEL LARS SEIFERT RONALD 8392 Par 35.0 15.0 12.0 10.0 72
14 GER 8340 Stanjek Robert Stanjek Philipp 8340 BF 14.0 12.0 27.0 23.0 76
15 BRA 8255 SCHEIDT ROBERT PRADA BRUNO 8255 Gua 3.0 19.0 50.0 5.0 77
16 CRO 8339 Lovrovic Marin Mikulicic Sinisa 8339 Kv 17.0 34.0 13.0 14.0 78
17 ARG 8211 Rigoni Alejo Percossi Juan Pablo 8211 BA 29.0 31.0 7.0 12.0 79
18 IRL 8385 Treacy Max Shanks Anthony 8385 Isol 13.0 32.0 33.0 9.0 87
19 POR 8309 Domingos Afonso Melo Frederico 8309 CP 25.0 29.0 16.0 17.0 87.0001
20 BRA 8283 Brun Gastao Kunze Gustavo 8283 RdJ 21.0 7.0 15.0 48.0 91
21 GER 8109 Polgar Johannes Koy Markus 8109 Ess 26.0 4.0 42.0 24.0 96
22 BRA 8337 Cunha Renato Mascarenhas Marcos 8337 RdJ 34.0 27.0 3.0 33.0 97
23 FRA 8237 Rohart Xavier Ponsot Pierre Alexis 8237 NI 66.0 14.0 1.0 18.0 99
24 ITA 8155 Poggi Giampiero Corsi Manlio 8155 Rom 22.0 23.0 20.0 38.0 103
25 USA 8362 Merriman Rick Trinter Phil 8362 LH 49.0 36.0 17.0 2.0 104
26 GRE 8138 Papathanasiou Emilios Papastefanou Pachos 8138 GR 16.0 49.0 30.0 11.0 106
27 ARG 7966 Labandeira Julio Thompson Valentin 7966 OL 15.0 26.0 23.0 43.0 107
28 BRA 8145 Bodra Fabio Barbosa Lopes Arthur 8145 SP 20.0 24.0 19.0 45.0 108
29 USA 8267 Mendelblatt Mark Von Schwarz JOhn 8267 TaB 44.0 17.0 25.0 31.0 117
30 GER 8140 Schlonski Alexander Kleen Frithjof 8140 Lub 24.0 2.0 74.0 [BFD] 20.0 120
31 ITA 8384 Celon Nicola Natucci Edoardo 8384 SG 41.0 21.0 43.0 21.0 126
32 BRA 8282 PASCOLATO ALESSANDRO Boening Henry 8282 Gua 28.0 22.0 51.0 30.0 131
33 POR 8276 Lima Gustavo Nankin Charles 8276 Por 7.0 74.0 [BFD] 9.0 46.0 136
34 BRA 8300 FICKER PETER Oliveira Ubiratan 8300 San 19.0 33.0 56.0 28.0 136
35 GER 8299 Miller Matthias Wenk Benedikt 8299 UB 62.0 20.0 31.0 25.0 138
36 BRA 7590 King John A Spear Macpherson Norman 7590 Cop 11.0 56.0 45.0 27.0 139
37 USA 8273 Szabo George Peters Rick 8273 SDB 53.0 39.0 10.0 42.0 144
38 GBR 8025 Gimson John Greig Ed 8025 Sol 37.0 41.0 37.0 36.0 151
39 BRA 8049 Raulino Guilherme LAGOA MARCO 8049 Par 51.0 16.0 48.0 39.0 154
40 CRO 8280 Lovrovic Dan ARAPOVIC Antonio 8280 Kv 27.0 37.0 44.0 50.0 158
41 CAN 8143 Cramer Brian Johnston Matt 8143 WLOC 31.0 52.0 41.0 37.0 161
42 USA 8067 HORNOS Tomas HORNOS Luis 8067 BH 39.0 48.0 32.0 44.0 163
43 GBR 8396 Razmilovic Ante Hammersley Brian 8396 NB 40.0 40.0 38.0 58.0 176
44 ITA 8242 Boggi Lucio Lambertenghi Sergio 8242 Gar 43.0 74.0 [BFD] 28.0 32.0 177
45 SUI 8085 Zimmermann Lorenz Hollweg Nils 8085 LUV 56.0 60.0 26.0 41.0 183
46 BRA 8393 Carabelli Horacio Ilha Fernando 8393 RdJ 57.0 46.0 40.0 40.0 183
47 ITA 8400 Santoni Silvio Toccoli Fabio 8400 NG 32.0 43.0 74.0 [BFD] 35.0 184
48 ESP 8297 Echavarri Erasum Fernando Rodriguez Rivero Fernando 8297 Lar 18.0 74.0 [BFD] 29.0 65.0 186
49 ITA 8383 Augelli Marco Rocca Leone 8383 FdiT 74.0 [DSQ] 42.0 49.0 29.0 194
50 ARG 7700 Della Torre Daniel Barroso Julian Gazari 7700 BA 60.0 28.0 54.0 53.0 195
51 BRA 8284 Raulino Gabriel Camargo Rosas Juliano 8284 Par 59.0 54.0 35.0 49.0 197
52 BRA 8391 Gonzaga Neto Admar Figueiredo De Freita Alexandre 8391 Par 46.0 47.0 52.0 54.0 199
53 ITA 8370 Simeone Luca La Porta Manuele 8370 Rom 42.0 62.0 36.0 60.0 200
54 AUT 8368 Tomasini Grinover Roberto Bahr Gunnar 8368 AU 55.0 44.0 55.0 51.0 205
55 ITA 7556 Fornaro Andrea Tarabella Andrea 7556 LdB 48.0 35.0 63.0 63.0 209
56 BRA 8287 Almeida Reis Luiz Andre Moura Renato 8287 Par 64.0 58.0 34.0 57.0 213
57 BRA 8251 Conrad Reinaldo Pomerantzeff Paulo Andre 8251 San 45.0 50.0 46.0 74.0 [DNF] 215
58 ARG 7777 Della Torre Gerardo Latour Guillermo 7777 BA 67.0 38.0 59.0 52.0 216
59 BRA 7441 Bueno Mauricio Zarif Jorge Joao 7441 Gua 69.0 45.0 58.0 55.0 227
60 POR 8048 De Barros Patrick M Plantier Santos Bernardo 8048 FdeL 63.0 57.0 60.0 47.0 227
61 GER 8016 Rauch Hubert Schappeler Ingo 8016 And 52.0 51.0 64.0 61.0 228
62 SUI 8009 Gautschi Christoph Koenig Juerg 8009 Bod 70.0 61.0 65.0 34.0 230
63 ARG 7909 Perez Jorge Oscar Tufarolo Marcelo 7909 OL 54.0 55.0 53.0 70.0 232
64 USA 8279 Bonanni Claude Burgess Richard 8279 TaB 36.0 74.0 [BFD] 61.0 64.0 235
65 BRA 7284 Castro Cezar Montezuma Afonso 7284 Par 68.0 53.0 47.0 67.0 235
66 SRB 7888 Erac Branislav Tosic Ozren 7888 Isol 47.0 66.0 57.0 71.0 241
67 CHI 7972 Gimeno Pablo Calegari Frederico 7972 Val 38.0 65.0 74.0 [DSQ] 66.0 243
68 ITA 8382 Irrera Renato Cristaldini Corrado 8382 Pal 58.0 67.0 62.0 62.0 249
69 BRA 8117 Caruso Bruno Manzoli Bremer Rolf 8117 Gua 71.0 59.0 67.0 59.0 256
70 ITA 7551 Graciotti Vincenzo Cisbani Paolo 7551 Con 74.0 [DNS] 64.0 66.0 56.0 260
71 BRA 7823 De Almeida Joao Marcos Bunge Manuel 7823 Cop 61.0 63.0 74.0 [BFD] 68.0 266
72 BRA 8212 Goretkin Sergio Cruz Renato 8212 RdJ 50.0 74.0 [DSQ] 74.0 [DNS] 74.0 [DNS] 272
73 BRA 7772 Siemsen Francisco Floricke Manfredo 7772 Cop 65.0 74.0 [BFD] 74.0 [BFD] 69.0 282
Star Class
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