Laser World Championships in Cadiz - Day 5
by Jeff Martin 24 Sep 2003 08:18 BST
Jim Taylor in the Laser fleet at the ISAF World Sailing Championships © Laurence Polli
With only one race to go the lead in the World Championship has changed for the first time since the championship started.
At the scheduled start of noon the race committee postponed the start on the shore, finally at around 14.30 a light sea breeze started to fill in. However the start was further delayed for when a large oil rig was leaving port and the harbour master shut the port. Sailors eventually left shore to commence racing at 15:30.
The Gold fleet's race, which comprised of 25 nations, began in a light 8 knot sea breeze. After two general recalls the fleet had a clean start and yet again the fleet split distinctly between the left and right hand side of the first windward leg. Overnight leader Gustavo Lima POR, who was favouring the left, had a port starboard incident half way up the beat which resulted in him exonerating himself with a 720 degree turn. As the fleet closed on the top mark the group of ten boats rounded the first mark led by Anders Nyholm DEN, this group included second place overall, Robert Scheidt BRA, who rounded in seventh. Lima eventually rounded the top mark with only nine boats behind him.
After the downwind leg a small group of boats took advantage of a shift to the left to make a large gain and local sailor Luis Martinez ESP led to the top mark. Lima was also in this group. Martinez held his lead for victory ahead of DiegoRomero ARG with Scheidt third. Lima continued to work his way through the fleet to eventually finish sixth to maintain a small lead in the overall points.
The second race commenced in a slightly softer breeze than the first race. Again Nyholm led to the top mark which he rounded just ahead of Mate Arapov CRO. Scheidt rounded in seventh place with Lima further back on the fleet. Scheidt said "After a disastrous start I had no option but to bang the right hand corner and fortunately there seemed to be a bit more pressure on that side and I managed to come in from way out on the lay line to round in a good position"
Positions remained fairly static on the downwind legs other than Daniel Birgmark SWE moving from third to first with Lima eventually rounding six positions behind Scheidt's third place. On the next beat Scheidt maintained a loose cover on Lima protecting the left hand side of the course, although he lost several positions himself he maintained a buffer of boats between himself and Lima.
On the second beat Birgmark SWE extended his lead and Phillippe Bergmans BEL moved through to second. These positions remained the same to the finish with Scheidt finishing third, 6 places ahead of Lima. Scheidt now holds a slender 2 points lead over Lima.
Tomorrow is the last day of racing with only one race to be sailed to decide the championship. Scheidt and Lima cannot be caught so an exciting finale is in store. Scheidt will no doubt be thinking about the last race in the Sydney Olympics when he missed out on his second gold medal after being sailed out of the last race. This time the boot is on the other foot as all Scheidt has to do is stay in front of Lima in the final race to gain an unprecedented 7th World title.
Overall Results after 10 Races: (1 discard)
1.Robert Scheidt BRA 22 pts
2.Gustavo Lima POR 24 pts
3.Michael Blackburn AUS 49 pts
4.Daniel Birgmark SWE 51 pts
5.Luis Martinez ESP 56 pts
6.Gareth Blanckenberg RSA 58 pts
7.Mark Mendelblatt USA 65 pts
8.Vasilij Zbogar SLO 68 pts
9.Andrew Murdock NZL 69 pts
10.Brenden Casey AUS 71 pts