Star World Championship at Coral Reef Yacht Club - Day 1
by Star Worlds 2016 11 Apr 2016 08:13 BST
7-17 April 2016
George Szabo & Steve Mitchell win race 1 of the Star Worlds © starworlds2016.com
79 teams from 13 nations, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine and United States, faced tough conditions and stiff competition on the first day of the Star Worlds 2016.
The race course offered spectacular conditions on Biscayne Bay with winds of 15knots and gusts of up to 18 knots at the top of the course from 80 degrees and very choppy. The Race Committee set the Course "0" with 2.2 miles long legs and fired the first signal on time at 11.30 hrs with 3 attempts.
The third start was began under the threat of a Black Flag.
Apparently the third time was the charm and with that start the racing finally continued. However, that black flag start penalized several teams for being over early at the pin including: Paul Cayard / Brian Fatih, James Babel / Scott Benson, Torben Schmidt Grael / Guilherme de Almeida, Allan Cullen / Dave Martin and Robert Stanjek / Frithjof Kleen.
Competitors had to battle for a good position on the first upwind leg. At the first part, the majority of the fleet sailed to the left side of the course to the windward and then a majority of the fleet moved to the right.
At first glance, it appeared as if the right side of the course was the favored side but at the top of the windward, the tricky and typical lefty of Biscayne Bay gave an advantage to the fleet that was approaching from the left, insuring the sailors reached the first mark without much separation.
The disqualified sailors abandoned the race and the fleet saw several position changes as Paul Cayard was coming first as many of others BFD Sailors that were at the top. Through the reach, last year's Star World Champion, Lars Grael, made a great recovery next to the Team Croatia and Team Argentina.
The wind shifted on the last second upwind Requiring the Race Committee to reset the marks.
This time the wind shift right at the top of the mark and some sailors got over the lay line resulting in big changes on the positions of the sailors:
The second upwind was rounded by John MacCausland / Dave Caesar, followed by Brian Ledbetter / Joshua Revkin.
The fleet completed the downwind and by the third upwind the standings of this first race were finally established:
George Szabo / Steve Mitchell led the fleet, second place was secured by Luke Lawrence / Ian Coleman who had a tight finish against Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada who ultimately finished in third place.
Tomorrow the regatta schedule continues with the second race of the Star World Championship 2016.
Tomorrow anything can happen as the three Top Star Sailors of the Class got BFD on this first day of racing:Paul Cayard, Torben Grael and the team Robert Stanjek & Frithjof Kleen giving the fleet a little advantage.
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