Nautica Star Class Worlds, California Overall
by Rich Roberts 24 Aug 2002 05:32 BST
BRITS RULE THE WAVES IN BREAKTHROUGH STAR VICTORY
Friday's weather: Wind 8-14-12 knots, southwest.
Photo © Rich Roberts
Skipper Iain Percy (left) and crew Steve Mitchell are the first Englishmen to win the Star Worlds in 81 years
Percy and Mitchell lead France's Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde at the first windward mark
Percy and Mitchell romp away from the fleet in 14 knots of breeze
TV helicopter hovers over leaders Percy/Mitchell (left) and
Grael/Ferreira
Percy and Mitchell keep a close cover on their nearest rivals, France's Rohart and Adde (left) and Grael and Ferreira (center) |
Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, mere rookies among many of the world's best sailors, won the final race of the 81st Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship Friday to give Britain its first title
in the venerable class.
"That's the way to take the pressure off, isn't it?" Mitchell said as they
sailed into the California Yacht Club dock with the Union Jack flying from
their mast.
"He put that in the cool box this morning and didn't tell me," Percy said.
"I would have thought it was bad luck."
The way they sailed, luck didn't matter. Neither Percy, 26, the 2000
Olympic Finn class gold medallist from Winchester, nor Mitchell, 32, of
London, had sailed a Star until 10 months ago, although they had already
worked their way up to the No. 17 ranking in the class.
With finishes of 4-1-3-2 in the 103-boat fleet in the previous four races,
they entered the sixth and final race with a four-point lead over 1990
champions Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira of Brazil and nine points over
France's Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde. Although Grael finished fourth and
Rohart 10th, neither ever threatened seriously Percy and Mitchell, who led
at every mark.
Boosted by breezes as strong as 14 knots, which they prefer, they finished
41 seconds ahead of 1998 winner Colin Beashel of Australia, who had David
Giles as crew. Three-time winner Bill Buchan, 67, of Seattle, with Mark
Brink, was third---by far the best performance of the week by one of the
class's enduring icons.
Counting Grael, Beashel and Buchan, Percy/Mitchell put away 11 former
champions. Paul Cayard, the '88 champion sailing with Hal Haenel---also a
world and Olympic champion as crew---placed fifth Friday to score fourth
overall.
Percy and Mitchell tried to hide near the left end of the 1,000-meter
starting line to avoid being drawn into a confrontation with their nearest
rivals---Grael and Ferreira---that could suck them out of contention.
"They never really got to us," Percy said. "We were keeping our heads down
before the start, so we couldn't set up early because he'd come at us. But
we had really good speed on the first beat---really good speed."
Both boats went left while most of the fleet went right. The Brits broke
back toward the middle first as the Brazilians stayed on starboard tack for
the first 15 minutes. Rohart/Adde fared better on the 2.1-mile upwind leg
to round the first mark a few lengths behind Percy/Mitchell, with
Grael/Ferreira eighth. The French dropped away downwind as the Brazilians
climbed to fifth, then third, but that's as close as they got.
Percy said, "Steve was giving me a running commentary on where Xavier and
Torben were. We stayed on top of it. He's one of the best crews around. We
complement each other's strengths."
Percy had always been a solo sailor until joining up with Mitchell last
autumn. They came to California knowing little of the class history, let
alone the UK's lack of a champion in it.
"We didn't know that until this week," Mitchell said.
"It certainly adds something to it," Percy said.
They will continue to campaign with a goal of representing Britain in the
2004 Olympics at Athens. Their chief competition could be Ian Walker, the
head of the UK's GBR Challenge for the America's Cup and a silver medallist
at Sydney in 2000, when San Diego's Mark Reynolds, sailing with Magnus
Liljedahl, won the second of his two Olympic golds.
Reynolds, also a double Star class champion, finished 22nd Friday to wind
up ninth overall.
It was a tough second place for Grael and Ferreira, the only entry with all
single-digit finishes (3-1-5-9-5-4). Percy and Mitchell, the only team to
win two races, were able to discard their opening 19th place.
Nautica International, the Gold Star Title Sponsor, is a leading global
fashion and lifestyle company with products ranging from men's, women's and
children's sportswear and accessories to a complete home collection.
Nautica is a subsidiary of Nautica Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAUT) which,
through its subsidiaries, designs, sources, markets and distributes apparel
under the following brands: Nautica, Nautica Competition, Nautica Jeans
Company, John Varvatos, Earl Jean, E. Magrath and Byron Nelson.
Other sponsors of the Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship at various
levels are: Silver Star---RB Zack and Associates and California Yacht Club;
Blue Star---Bang and Olufsen; Green Star---Samuel Adams Beer, Sea Wynde Pot
Still Rum, Quantum One-Design Sails, North One-Design Sails, Domaine Danica
Winery, Brophy Clark Cellars.
Team GBR Report from the Royal Yachting Association:
Percy and Mitchell strike gold at Star world champions
Team GBR sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell won the final race of the 81st Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship to secure the world title and make a name for themselves in sailing history as the first Brits to win this prestigious event.
They sailed into the California Yacht Club dock victorious with a Union Jack
flying from their mast, although Percy did not realise that they had it on
board.
"He put that in the cool box this morning and didn't tell me. I would have
thought it was bad luck." Percy said.
The way they sailed, luck didn't matter. Neither Percy (26, Winchester), the
2000 Olympic Finn class gold medallist, nor Mitchell (32, London), past
Etchells world and European champion, had sailed a Star until 10 months ago.
They have put in a lot of hard work training both in America and at home and
have gradually moved up the world rankings to 17.
With finishes of 4-1-3-2 in the 103-boat fleet in the previous four races,
they entered the sixth and final race with a four-point lead over 1990
champions Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira of Brazil and nine points over
France's Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde. Although Grael finished fourth and
Rohart tenth, neither really threatened Percy and Mitchell on the final day,
who led at every mark.
Boosted by breezes as strong as 14 knots they finished 41 seconds ahead of
1998 winner Colin Beashel of Australia, who had David Giles as crew.
Three-time winner Bill Buchan of Seattle, with Mark Brink, crossed the line
in third place.
Counting Grael, Beashel and Buchan, Percy/Mitchell put away 11 former
champions. Paul Cayard, the 1988 champion sailing with Hal Haenel, also a
world and Olympic champion as crew, finished fifth on the final day to end
up fourth overall.
Percy and Mitchell tried to hide near the left end of the 1,000-metre
starting line to avoid being drawn into a confrontation with their nearest
rivals, Grael/Ferreira who were the only people that could oppose
Percy/Mitchell on their quest for gold.
"They never really got to us," Percy said. "We were keeping our heads down
before the start, so we couldn't set up early because he'd come at us. But
we had really good speed on the first beat - really good speed!"
Both boats went left while most of the fleet went right. The Brits broke
back toward the middle first as the Brazilians stayed on starboard tack for
the first 15 minutes. Rohart/Adde fared better on the 2.1-mile upwind leg
to round the first mark a few lengths behind Percy/Mitchell, with
Grael/Ferreira eighth. The French dropped away downwind as the Brazilians
climbed to fifth, then third, but that's as close as they got.
Percy said, "Steve was giving me a running commentary on where Xavier and
Torben were. We stayed on top of it. He's one of the best crews around. We
complement each other's strengths."
Percy had always been a solo sailor until joining up with Mitchell last
autumn. They came to California knowing little of the class history, let
alone the UK's lack of a champion in it.
"We didn't know that until this week," Mitchell said. Percy added, "it
certainly adds something to it."
It was a tough second place for Grael and Ferreira, the only entry with all
single-digit finishes. Percy and Mitchell, the only team to win two races,
were able to discard their opening 19th place.
RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented, “With the calibre of the sailors
at the Star worlds and the depth of experience that those sailors have in
the class, it was always going to be a tough regatta. Iain and Steve have
excelled themselves, nobody could have expected that after a relatively
short amount of time in the boat that they would have mastered the Star so
successfully and I am delighted for them.”
Overall Results: (6 races, 1 discard)
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Nat | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Iain Percy | Steven Mitchell | UK | (19) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| 2 | Torben Grael | Marcelo Ferreira | Brazil | 3 | 1 | 5 | (9) | 5 | 4 | 18 |
| 3 | Xavier Rohart | Yannick Adde | France | 6 | 8 | 2 | (33) | 3 | 10 | 29 |
| 4 | Paul Cayard | Hal Haenel | San Francisco | 7 | 9 | 4 | 8 | (40) | 5 | 33 |
| 5 | Rick Merriman | Bill Bennett | San Diego | (53) | 7 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 46 |
| 6 | Peter Bromby | Martin Siese | Bermuda | (33) | 2 | 32 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 49 |
| 7 | Colin Beashel | David Giles | Australia | (41) | 19 | 11 | 2 | 18 | 2 | 52 |
| 8 | Mark Mansfield | Killean Collins | Ireland | 2 | 13 | 17 | 25 | 7 | (104) | 65 |
| 9 | Mark Reynolds | Magnus Liljedahl | San Diego | (78) | 5 | 29 | 1 | 10 | 22 | 67 |
| 10 | Howie Shiebler | Rick Peters | San Francisco | (70) | 21 | 30 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 67 |