Greenhalgh & co world champions

RMW Marine team nail International 14 Worlds with a day to spare, reports Peter Danby from Japan

Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson from Great Britain have won the International 14 World Championship with a day to spare. Their combination of excellent tactics, boat speed and top class handling have made them almost unbeatable in a variety of challenging conditions, and, with five races sailed and the discard now operative, their placings of four firsts and one third already make them unbeatable.

Two races were scheduled to take place today, but a feeble breeze this morning (Saturday) made prospects look bad. However, after a brief onshore postponement, the fleet went afloat and Race 5 started in an 8 knot breeze.

As usual, Greenhalgh and Johnson arrived at the first windward mark with a lead that they were destined to hold throughout the race. The breeze was gradually decreasing, and it was barely holding up to 5 knots as the leading boat approached the windward mark for the second time. Worse was to come, and the race officer took the decision to shorten the race after the two reaching legs.



Colin Smith and Peter Helm finished in second place, having sailed out of their skins to achieve their best result ever in a championship race. Jamie Kidd and Jason Lemieux from Canada sailed well in the light conditions to finish third, ahead of Zach Berkowitz and Mike Martin, who had recovered well after being in the twenties earlier in the race.

Fred Eaton and John Vincze made it and especially good day for Canada by finishing fifth, ahead of Roger Douglas and Jeremy Reed who had by far their best race of the championship to date.

The boats were sent ashore as they finished the race, with the back markers half a lap behind, struggling to make headway in the fading breeze. Unfortunately, as signs of an improvement began to appear, the cut-off time for starting the Race 6 was reached just before the best breeze of the day came along.

As we move towards the final race tomorrow, Archie Massey and George Nurton still hold second place as they have since Race 1, but Berkowitz and Martin have now moved up to equal their points score, so these teams will be battling for second place tomorrow. Hoping that they pay too much attention to each other and leave the door open will be Andy Partington and Ben Vernieres, Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry, and James Fawcett and Bruce Grant, who are all within striking distance.

With Greenhalgh and Johnson now assured of victory, there is still plenty to sail for tomorrow from second place onwards.

Race 5 results:

1. GBR 1482, Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson.
2. GBR 1431, Colin Smith and Peter Helm.
3. CAN 583, Jamie Kidd and Jason Lemieux.
4. USA 1137, Zack Berkowitz and Mike Martin.
5. CAN 584, Fred Eaton and John Vincze.
6. GBR 1448, Roger Douglas and Jeremy Reed.
7. GBR 1476, Archie Massey and George Nurton.
8. AUS 617, Alan Vickery and Andrew Wilson.
9. AUS 616, Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry.
10. AUS 623, Mark Krstic and Rob Oshlack.

Results table

Pos	Sail	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Tot	Pnts
1	GBR1482	Rob Greenhalgh	Dan Johnson	1	1	1	3	1	7	4
2	GBR1476	Archie Massey	George Nurton	2	3	2	12	7	26	14
3	USA1137	Zach Berkowitz	Mike Martin	13	2	3	5	4	27	14
4	GBR1481	Andy Partington	Ben Vervieres	6	8	9	2	18	43	25
5	AUS616	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Perry	36	12	4	1	9	62	26
6	GBR1484	James Fawcett	Bruce Grant	10	4	6	8	11	39	28
7	USA1127	Kris Bundy	Jamie Hanseler	14	7	8	6	21	56	35
8	GBR1495	Chris Turner	Peter Bagwell	7	13	10	7	39	76	37
9	GBR1483	Victor Brellisford	Damian Ash	5	10	19	4	37	75	38
10	AUS617	Alan Vickery	Andrew Wilson	8	18	25	9	8	68	43
11	GBR1479	Andrew Penman	Tim Bastow	4	6	7	28	40	85	45
12	AUS623	Mark Krstic	Rob Oshlack	9	14	22	13	10	68	46
13	GBR1431	Colin Smith	Peter Helm	18	16	13	29	2	78	49
14	GBR1489	Jarrod Simpson	Harvey Hillary	3	5	27	33	16	84	51
15	CAN583	Jamie Kidd	Jason Lemieux	22	11	21	24	3	81	57
16	GBR1444	Paul Vine	Dave Dobrijevic	16	21	16	14	13	80	59
17	GBR1461	Ian Pinnell	Sam Gardiner	DNF	22	18	10	12	119	62
18	AUS602	Anthony Anderson	David Hughes	12	23	11	16	43	105	62
19	CAN584	Fred Eaton	John Vincze	15	28	31	20	5	99	68
20	AUS624	David Alexander	Don Hart	20	19	20	11	DNF	127	70
21	USA1150	Ron Boehm	Pete Mohler	19	17	14	23	OCS	130	73
22	USA1117	Brad Ruetenik	Todd Czarnecki	23	20	DNF	21	15	136	79
23	GBR1448	Roger Douglas	Jeremy Reed	21	42	23	31	6	123	81
24	GBR1487	Ian Teasdale	Matt Chapman	11	9	5	DNF	OCS	139	82
25	AUS622	James McDonald	Jason King	25	15	29	17	DNS	143	86
26	USA1152	John Hele	Stuart Saffer	34	24	17	22	27	124	90
27	GBR1477	Paul Ravenhill	Neil Trickett	17	35	35	19	20	126	91
28	USA1129	Steve Goodson	Alan Direcks	31	32	12	25	31	131	99
29	USA1114	Gvillaume Vernieres	Reiko Tani	37	29	24	32	14	136	99
30	AUS609	Stewart Vickery	Matt Balmar	39	30	32	18	22	141	102
31	AUS400	Mat Lon	Derek Layfield	30	27	28	27	35	147	112
32	AUS577	Mark Elsworth	James Lanati	38	25	15	DNF	38	173	116
33	GBR1486	Dominic Bowns	Gretel Van Raemdonck	27	34	39	DNS	17	174	117
34	JPN107	Toru Kojima	Kei Matsumoto	35	33	46	26	23	163	117
35	GBR1442	Charls Duchesne	Martin Pascal	32	46	DNF	15	28	178	121
36	GBR1472	Rollo Pyper	Anthony Haines	24	26	38	DNF	36	181	124
37	JPN112	Kensuke Kita	Takao Washino	42	36	37	30	24	169	127
38	JPN108	Yoshihisa Fujii	Naoki Shigeyama	28	38	34	35	30	165	127
39	JPN106	Ryo Nishima	Yasunobu Yanagisawa	43	44	26	DNF	19	189	132
40	GBR1464	Doug Walker	Louise Hickey	29	31	40	DNF	33	190	133
41	JPN101	Yoichi Hirane	Kenji Hirade	41	39	36	DNC	26	199	142
42	GBR1462	Kimball Morrison	Chris Kinghts	33	37	43	DNF	29	199	142
43	JPN110	Takashi Shimozato	Tomonari Tanaka	40	41	30	34	42	187	145
44	USA1140	Ted Rogers	Kirk Price	26	OCS	42	DNC	25	207	150
45	JPN99	Yusuke Sugahara	Satoshi Ishida	44	43	33	DNF	32	209	152
46	JPN109	Yasutaka Uto	Takehide Takase	46	48	51	36	45	226	175
47	JPN111	Eiji Kato	Susumu Shima	48	45	41	DNS	41	232	175
48	USA1145	Kirk Twardowski	Tim Burks	47	47	48	DNF	34	233	176
49	USA1144	Andrew Bates	Eric Arens	45	40	45	DNF	DNF	244	187
50	USA1128	John F Hyde	Peter Shumar	DNF	49	44	DNS	44	251	194
51	JPN113	Daijiro Takahara	Yoichi Mori	50	50	47	DNF	47	251	194
52	JPN89	Toshinari Harada	Takao Kawamura	DNC	52	49	DNF	46	261	204
53	JPN90	Kenichi Hagiwara	Hiroshi Aoki	49	51	54	DNF	50	261	204
54	USA1138	Alan Laflin	Tatsuo Okada	DNC	53	52	DNS	48	267	210
55	JPN97	Naoki Yamaguchi	Masayuki Nagashima	51	DNC	53	DNF	49	267	210
56	JPN84	Tsunenori Chiba	Masahiro Ii	DNF	54	50	DNC	51	269	212