Pepper ahead

After first day of racing at Laser Worlds in Bitez, Turkey

Seven hours spent on the water was worth it for both the 143 competitors and race committee in the Harken Laser World Championship. The championship finally got underway with two races completed after a delayed start and one race having to be abandoned and resailed for one of the two fleets.

In 8 to 9 knots the yellow fleet were recalled on their first start and then started under a black flag. Michail Aristeidis from Greece led at the first mark from Pole Maciej Grabowski and New Zealander Michael Bullot. Aristeidis extended his lead throughout most of the race. Bullot passed Grabowski on the loop and closed on Aristedis for a short period on the last reach of the trapezoid course but this was not enough to threaten the Greek. The blue fleet race was abandoned after the wind shifted 40 degrees on one side of the first downwind causing chaos at the downwind gate.

Hamish Pepper from New Zealand was first to show at mark one on a re-set course in winds of 13 to 15 knots. By the end of the first downwind, defending champion Gustavo Lima from Portugal had caught Pepper and they both rounded opposite marks of the gate at the same time with Michael Blackburn just behind. At the reach mark Pepper looked comfortable and Blackburn had edged ahead of Lima. Lima had a powerful downwind leg to overtake Blackburn and close on Pepper but it was not enough to dislodge Pepper.

The second yellow fleet race, in similar winds, saw Matias del Solar from Chile leading at the first mark from Mathieu Murati from France. Murati found a shift on the left halfway up the second windward leg to pass the Chilean and then lead for to the finish after a 39th in his first race.

Mathias Rieck from Germany led the second race from start to finish which together with his ninth in the first race places him 3rd overall, a good start to his chances of achieving his national Olympic committee's tough qualification criteria.

In a day of mixed fortunes several top sailors scored a bad result. Lima was one of these who scored a bad race, getting trapped on the left hand side of the course in his second race and finding himself well back in the fleet which even a defending champion could not recover from. However, in this highly competitive fleet with 9 nations from 5 continents in the top ten, there is a long way to go. A mixed forecast for the remainder of the championship will most likely see a few more stars have at least one bad race.

One of the first victims of the regatta was RYA Team GBR sailor and Athens 2004 team member Paul Goodison who jumped the gun in the first start of the day and was scored as OCS. A better result in the second race saw him finish 15th just before the wind died for the day.

The qualifying series continues through until Sunday 16 May with the final series taking place from the 17-19 May.

Results

Pos	Name	Sailno	R1	R2	Tot
1	PEPPER Hamish	NZL 179883	1	8	9,0
2	BLACKBURN Michael	AUS 179773	3	6	9,0
3	RIECK Mathias	GER 179843	9	1	10,0
4	SCHEIDT Robert	BRA 179787	6	5	11,0
5	BLANCKENBERG Gareth	RSA 179891	7	5	12,0
6	LE BRETON Thomas	FRA 179827	9	6	15,0
7	GERITZER Andreas	AUT 179777	13	3	16,0
8	HOWARD Mark James	GBR 179837	4	13	17,0
9	BULLOT Michael	NZL 179881	2	16	18,0
10	VUJASINOVIC Milan	CRO 179809	18	3	21,0
11	SUNESON Karl	SWE 179905	6	16	22,0
12	KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan	CRO 179805	14	9	23,0
13	RADELIC Luka	CRO 179807	13	12	25,0
14	RUDAWSKI Marcin	POL 179887	23	4	27,0
15	MICHAIL Aristeidis	GRE 179848	1	27	28,0
16	MARTINEZ Luis	ESP 179820	21	7	28,0
17	WESTMAN Fredrik	FIN 179826	14	14	28,0
18	MENDELBLATT Mark	USA 179914	4	25	29,0
19	ZBOGAR Vasilij	SLO 179897	5	24	29,0
20	SLINGSBY Tom	AUS 179776	11	18	29,0
21	CHILDS Andrew	CAN 179792	12	17	29,0
22	COMMANDER Andrew	GBR 179834	17	13	30,0
23	LIM Kevin	MAS 179871	7	26	33,0
24	MUSLUBAS Kemal	TUR 179908	22	11	33,0
25	ROMERO Diego	ARG 179772	15	19	34,0
26	TABERNERO Angelo	ESP 179822	18	17	35,0
27	LIMA Gustavo	POR 179888	2	35	37,0
28	CHIMONAS Evangelos	GRE 179846	27	10	37,0
29	BLAKEY Matthew	NZL 179880	29	9	38,0
30	MOBERG Peer	NOR 179878	12	26	38,0
31	MURATI Mathieu	FRA 179828	39	1	40,0
32	CASEY Brendan	AUS 179774	15	25	40,0
33	LOBATO Francisco	POR 179889	34	7	41,0
34	HERNANDEZ Javier	ESP 179819	20	21	41,0
35	TUFEKCI Ali Kemal	TUR 179909	32	11	43,0
36	POSTMA Pieter-Jan	NED 179877	25	20	45,0
37	DEL SOLAR Matias	CHI 179800	44	2	46,0
38	ARAPOV Mate	CRO 179804	10	38	48,0
39	CHI Qiang	CHN 179803	36	12	48,0
40	LEWIS Andrew	USA 179913	33	15	48,0
41	ALPAGUT Alp	TUR 179907	8	41	49,0
42	STIPANOVIC Tonci	CRO 179808	39	10	49,0
43	HOLMAN Daniel	GBR 179836	5	46	51,0
44	BON Sander	NED 179873	28	23	51,0
45	SCHLONSKI Alexander	GER 179844	10	42	52,0
46	NEGRI Diego	ITA 179860	46	8	54,0
47	BROOKS Andy	GBR 179832	26	28	54,0
48	SEMERKHANOV Maxim	RUS 179893	19	36	55,0
49	NILSSON Magnus	SWE 179903	21	34	55,0
50	JULIE Allan	SEY 179895	37	20	57,0