It was a day of outrageous fortunes in the Star Class World championships as the breeze shut down to virtually nothing. The hapless and embattled race committee once again postponed the start, seemingly needlessly, for two hours before commencing racing late in the afternoon. It was a decision that meant for many exhausted sailors the prospects of getting ashore before sundown were bleak with the racing being best described as “somewhat of a lottery.” Finally when the start gun did fire after what seemed like an interminable age, the wind filled to just under 10 knots with flat water beneath baking Italian sunshine. (Just like it had been as the race officer sat around under postponement…crazy!)
Anyhow, the 118 boat fleet got away first time but the first beat was a game of snakes and ladders as some pretty big egos were humbled by the local sailors and those that had just got plain lucky. The fleet split into two packs, left and right and initially it looked like left was going to be the winner, however in the final quarter of the 2.8 mile beat, the right side benefited from a fraction of increased pressure and the righty’s piled in on the windward mark. It was an Italian benefit at mark one with ex-World Champion Enrico Chieffi squeaking ahead of local favourite Paolo Semeraro with Andrea Racchelli in third. For the first time in the tournament Xavier Rohart showed in the top ten just ahead of the consistent Stig Westergaard and the USA’s George Szabo.
However the top ten was a jumble all afternoon and with the fleet splitting down the run in search of an inkling of pressure, it was anyone’s game. With the windometer on Thomas Saliba’s beautiful Nautor 56 ‘Pakilar’ reading just under five knots, it was looking like being a very long day. Up front though, Chieffi and Semeraro had split away and opened up a 25 second gap on the chasing pack. As the two boats opted for opposing roundings of the leeward mark buoys, the second beat was always going to be a tactical challenge. Behind them came another ex-world champion Alex Hagen from Germany who came from mid-twenties to round fourth whilst Paul Cayard began his charge in ninth place.
Then came a series of windshifts that threw the race on its head, dumping the leaders and reshuffling the deck. With the pressure all coming off the right side of the course along the shoreline a pack quickly emerged to steal the leaders thunder. At the second windward mark, it was the speedy Dutch duo of Mark Neeleman and Peter Van Niekerk ahead of the Greek entry skippered by Theodore Tsouflas with Semeraro knocking on the door in third. Paul Cayard had aced the beat to land in fifth whilst the hard charging championship leader Freddy Loof exited in 10th place. Another long run ensued with the breeze fading to just under four knots and now the question of time limits arose with the deadline of 7.35pm looking virtually impossible to achieve.
At the final leeward mark it was Tsouflas rounding in first place with a handy three boatlength lead over Semeraro whilst Freddy Loof claimed third and Cayard dropped to 9th. With the seas going glassy and the breeze dropping off further, the crews were seated to leeward as the race turned into a race against the clock. At the appointed hour, the race committee hoisted the abandonment flags and the race was over with Olympic Team Managers scurrying on to the course in RIBS to collect their weary charges. Race three will now have to be re-sailed and the jury will make a decision on the schedule overnight. One can’t help but wonder why on earth the race committee didn’t just get the race off on time rather than sitting on their hands having lunch… Nobody seems willing to take responsibility of the race and event management to shake some kind of order into the event. Great shame…
However the biggest winner of the day was the Skandia sponsored duo of Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell who had what can only realistically be described as a ‘nightmare’ race. Having been buried up the first beat, the GBR Olympic representatives rounded in the mid 50’s and struggled all day to get back in contention. Desperate for any kind of get out of jail free card the sound of the abandonment gun firing leaves them still in contention with everything to play for in the championship. Fingers crossed!
Pos | Sail No | Helm & Crew | R1 | R2 | Pts |
---|
1 | SWE8141 | Frederik Lööf & Anders Ekström | 3 | 2 | 5 |
2 | NED8028 | Mark Neeleman & Peter Van Niekerk | 10 | 1 | 11 |
3 | BRA8109 | Torben Grael & Marcel Bastos Ferreira | 7 | 4 | 11 |
4 | IRL8158 | Maxwell Treacy & Anthony Shanks | 5 | 6 | 11 |
5 | IRL8110 | Mark Mansfield & Killian Collins | 2 | 16 | 18 |
6 | BER7988 | Peter Bromby & Lee White | 16 | 3 | 19 |
7 | NZL8169 | Rohan Lord & Andrew Taylor | 11 | 9 | 20 |
8 | ESP7581 | Roberto Bermudez de Castro & Pablo Arrarte Elorza | 6 | 15 | 21 |
9 | DEN8179 | Stig Westergaard & Dann Neergaard | 9 | 12 | 21 |
10 | GBR8025 | Iain Percy & Steve Mitchell | 1 | 22 | 23 |
11 | GRE8079 | Leonidas Pelekanakis & George Kodogouris | 15 | 10 | 25 |
12 | GER8140 | Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkovski | 14 | 13 | 27 |
13 | NED8170 | Roy Heiner & Alex Breuseker | 20 | 11 | 31 |
14 | SUI7990 | Daniel Stegmeier & Beat Stegmeier | 31 | 5 | 36 |
15 | ITA8029 | Giampiero Poggi & Giovanni Stilo | 22 | 14 | 36 |
16 | CAN8168 | Ross Macdonald & Mike Wolfs | 21 | 17 | 38 |
17 | CRO7955 | Marin Lovrovic Jr & Marin Lovrovic Sr | 36 | 7 | 43 |
18 | FIN8094 | Jali Makila & Erkki Heinonen | 26 | 19 | 45 |
19 | GER7959 | Alexander Hagen & Jochen Wolfram | 19 | 27 | 46 |
20 | POR8145 | Alfonso Domingos & Bernardo Santos | 12 | 36 | 48 |
21 | GER8150 | Michael Koch & Markus Koy | 28 | 20 | 48 |
22 | AUS8157 | Colin Beashel & David Giles | 8 | 43 | 51 |
23 | ITA8014 | Ferdinando Colaninno & Giuseppe Brizzi | 18 | 34 | 52 |
24 | UKR8096 | Vasyl Gureyev & Volodymyr Korotkov | 24 | 33 | 57 |
25 | SUI8085 | Flavio Marazzi & Enrico De Maria | 4 | 56 | 60 |
26 | ARG7213 | Julio Labandeira & Valentin Thomsom | 29 | 32 | 61 |
27 | ITA8142 | Enrico Chieffi & Giancarlo del Col | 43 | 21 | 64 |
28 | GER8033 | Philipp Rotermund & Markus Mehles | 39 | 25 | 64 |
29 | AUT8204 | Hans Spitzauer & Andreas Hanakamp | 25 | 39 | 64 |
30 | IND7901 | Mahesh Ramchandran & Nitin Mongia | 35 | 29 | 64 |
31 | ITA8040 | Giulio Gatti & Corrado Cristallini | 42 | 24 | 66 |
32 | ITA8180 | Francesco Bruni & Guido Antar Vigna | 13 | 59 | 72 |
33 | ITA8076 | Luca Simeone & Leone Rocca | 44 | 30 | 74 |
34 | UKR8153 | Sergey Pichugin & Sergey Timokhov | 40 | 35 | 75 |
35 | GRE7980 | Stayros Aleyras & George Stylianos | 30 | 50 | 80 |
36 | ITA8197 | Albino Fravezzi & Mario Salani | 37 | 44 | 81 |
37 | NED7969 | Roeland Wentholt & Gert Van Der Heidjen | 54 | 28 | 82 |
38 | ITA8182 | Pietro D'Alì & Piero Romeo | 65 | 18 | 83 |
39 | GRE7973 | Theodore Tsoulfas & Jakovos Loudaros | 60 | 23 | 83 |
40 | GER8016 | Hubert Merkelbach & Oliver Vitzthum | 17 | 67 | 84 |
41 | FIN8073 | Marko Dahlberg & Ville Kurki | 47 | 37 | 84 |
42 | ITA8155 | Paolo Semeraro & Vittorio Landolfi | 32 | 53 | 85 |
43 | AUS7836 | Iain Murray & Andrew Palfrey | 23 | 63 | 86 |
44 | AUS8093 | Michael Jones & Peter Merrington | 34 | 55 | 89 |
45 | SUI8009 | Christoph Gautschi & Uli Seeberger | 46 | 46 | 92 |
46 | ARG7316 | Alejandro Chometowski & Manuel Bunge | 49 | 47 | 96 |
47 | GBR7943 | Ante Razmilovic & Edmund Peel | 48 | 48 | 96 |
48 | ITA8030 | Pierpaolo Cristofori & Carlo Fogliazza | 45 | 52 | 97 |
49 | ARG8070 | Juan Kouyoumajian & Austin Sperry | 38 | 65 | 103 |
50 | RUS8119 | Vitaly Tarakanov & Alexey Bushvev | 58 | 45 | 103 |
51 | HUN8166 | Tibor Tenke & Jozsef Bendicsek | 33 | 73 | 106 |
52 | ITA7881 | Andrea Racchelli & Massimiliano Ferrari | 53 | 57 | 110 |
53 | USA8159 | Paul Cayard & Phil Trinter | 103*1 | 8 | 111 |
54 | UKR8047 | Eugen Avksentiev & Mykola Shapovalov | 51 | 60 | 111 |
55 | SLO7888 | Bostjan Antoncic & Gennadi Strahk | 63 | 49 | 112 |
56 | ITA8090 | Luca Filippi & Paolo Cisbani | 52 | 66 | 118 |
57 | LAT8135 | Eizens Cepurnieks & Alexander Muzicenko | 50 | 69 | 119 |
58 | RUS8134 | Alexey Lavrov & Alexander Kuleshov | 79 | 42 | 121 |
59 | ITA7237 | Lucio Boggi & Andrea Tarabella | 59 | 68 | 127 |
60 | FRA8107 | Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau | 103OCS | 26 | 129 |
61 | AUT7846 | Ronald Palleschitz & Gerhard Weinreich | 68 | 61 | 129 |
62 | ITA7827 | Nicola Celon & Sergio Lambertenghi | 27 | 103DNF | 130 |
63 | ITA7958 | Stefano Fusco & Alessandro Meloni | 72 | 58 | 130 |
64 | SWE3342 | Sune Carlsson & Benny Nilsson | 61 | 71 | 132 |
65 | USA8129 | Mark Reynolds & Steve Erickson | 103OCS | 31 | 134 |
66 | FIN8004 | Joni Leeve & Timo Lamberg | 71 | 64 | 135 |
67 | ITA8202 | Paolo Nazzaro & Riccardo Marullo | 64 | 74 | 138 |
68 | SWE7978 | Ingvar Krook & Erik Gamner | 57 | 82 | 139 |
69 | ITA7685 | Nello Oliviero & Daniele Pisa | 103*2 | 38 | 141 |
70 | DEN8101 | Niklas David Holm & Claus Olesen | 103DNF | 40 | 143 |
71 | RUS8171 | Georgy Shayduko & Nikolai Smirnow | 103OCS | 41 | 144 |
72 | ITA8190 | Riccardo Simoneschi & Mario Marenco | 41 | 103DNF | 144 |
73 | AUT8001 | Andreas Öehlwein & Gert Matushek | 69 | 76 | 145 |
74 | HUN8115 | Peter Katay & Nazer Csaba | 74 | 72 | 146 |
75 | SUI7582 | Roman Timm & Kaspar Huber | 73 | 75 | 148 |
76 | SUI7319 | Henrik Dannesboe & Antoine Lombard | 103DNF | 51 | 154 |
77 | ITA8081 | Renato Irrera & Federico Medolago | 75 | 80 | 155 |
78 | ITA7488 | Roberto Benamati & Filippo Domenicali | 103OCS | 54 | 157 |
79 | GER7575 | Hubert Rauch & Christian Conrads | 80 | 77 | 157 |
80 | SUI8133 | Hans Stöckli & Axel Erbe | 78 | 79 | 157 |
81 | NED7900 | Pieter Jongerius & Freark Zandstra | 55 | 103DNC | 158 |
82 | GER7577 | Christian Paucksch & Peter Andrä | 77 | 81 | 158 |
83 | AUT7481 | Albert Sturm & Bernhard Rottner | 56 | 103DNC | 159 |
84 | FRA7714 | Regis Berenguier & Vincent Berenguier | 103DNF | 62 | 165 |
85 | ITA7941 | Davide Degennaro & Stefano Pisciottu | 62 | 103DNC | 165 |
86 | ITA7528 | Antonio Balderi & Amerigo Anguillesi | 81 | 84 | 165 |
87 | SUI7645 | Daniel Wyss & Brian Fatih | 66 | 103DNC | 169 |
88 | ITA7906 | Marco Testa & Livio Giacummo | 67 | 103DNC | 170 |
89 | ARG7909 | Alberto Zanetti & Mariano Lucca | 103DNF | 70 | 173 |
90 | AUT8123 | Walter Passenger & Martin Kropfitsch | 70 | 103DNC | 173 |
91 | ITA8165 | Salvatore Pisanelli & Massimo Fullone | 76 | 103DNC | 179 |
92 | USA7885 | Claude Bonanni & Steve Cutting | 103DNF | 78 | 181 |
93 | RUS7798 | Yuri Firsov & Sergei Kramskoi | 103OCS | 83 | 186 |
94 | USA7995 | George Szabo & Christian Finnsgard | 103DNF | 103DNC | 206T |
95 | GER7552 | Klaus Kapper & Steffen Rutz | 103DNF | 103DNC | 206T |
96 | ITA7339 | Valerio Chinca & Massimo Ciano | 103DNF | 103DNC | 206T |
97 | AUT7572 | Andreas Denk & Wolfang Brenner | 103DNF | 103DNC | 206T |
98 | ITA7099 | Pierpaolo Di Russo & Pierluigi Lucciola | 103DNF | 103DNF | 206T |
99 | SUI7578 | Marc Friederich & Paul de Wit | 103DNF | 103DNF | 206T |
100 | ITA8060 | Antonio Tamburrini & Renzo Ricci | 103OCS | 103DNC | 206T |
101 | ITA7687 | Riccardo Improta & Andrea Lupoli | 103DNF | 103DNC | 206T |
102 | ITA8160 | Marco Minghetti & Nicolas Moget | 103*3 | 103DNF | 206T |