49er World Championships on Lake Garda, Italy Overall
by Royal Yachting Association 22 Sep 2001 23:53 BST
McKee brothers take 49er World Championships
Securing the regatta on the final day with a 1st and a 2nd place, Jonathan and Charlie McKee from the United States won the 49er World Championships from Irer Martinez and Xabier Fernandez of Spain. Racing has been very close with the top 25 49er sailors in the World fighting it out over the last three days.
Two races were sailed this morning in the light, shifty breeze that Lake
Garda has been known for this week. Racing was then postponed to wait for
the wind to fill in and when it looked like it would not materialize racing
was cancelled for the day, concluding the World Championships and announcing
the McKee brothers as the World Champions.
Paul Brotherton and Simon Hiscocks were the highest placed British sailors,
sailing consistently in the challenging fleet and finishing up in 7th place
overall. A slightly disappointing result for fellow RYA Team GBR sailors
Alister Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh, who started off the regatta so
promising and qualified in second place, then went on to finish 16th
overall. Olympic Silver Medallist Ian Barker sailing with Harvey Hilary
finished in 19th position after scoring a number of results in the late
teens.
"This Gold fleet has been more competitive than ever before, with any of the
25 sailors capable of winning the Championships. It has been a difficult
regatta and the RYA Team GBR sailors have not performed as well as they
would have liked. On the positive side the sailors have learnt a lot, it has
been a regatta where there has been a huge tactical element and also a
little bit of luck has been needed in the light, shifty conditions"
commented Olympic Development SquadManager Stephen Park.
One interesting area for discussion that has come out of the Championships
is that of sails. From the results the old sails which are made by North,
will be out of date by 2002, have proved to be quicker in the lighter
conditions, but after this date they will be replaced by Neil Pryde sails.
Paul Brotherton and Simon Hiscocks were the top boat with this new
generation of sail and it will be interesting to see in the future how the
developments proceed.
Gold Series Final Results: (9 races, 2 discards)
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Nat | Q | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | JONATHAN MC KEE | CHARLIE MC KEE | USA | (9) | 3 | 1 | 14 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 28 |
| 2 | IRER MARTINEZ | XABIER FERNANDEZ | ESP | (4) | 5 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 31 |
| 3 | LUKA RODION | GEORGE LEONCHUK | UKR | (5) | 12 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | OCS | 14 | 3 | 8 | 41 |
| Team GBR |
| 7 | PAUL BROTHERTON | SIMON HISCOCKS | GBR | (6) | 13 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 60 |
| 16 | ALISTER RICHARDSON | PETER GREENHALGH | GBR | (2) | 4 | BDF | 10 | 17 | 20 | 14 | 16 | 18 | BFD | 101 |
| 19 | IAN BARKER | HARVEY HILARY | GBR | (14) | 21 | 13 | 19 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 122 |
| 20 | CHRIS DRAPER | MARK ASQUITH | GBR | (20) | 10 | 20 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 17 | 19 | 123 |
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