Closing down the Brazilian

Michael Blackburn now four points adrift of Robert Scheidt after first day of Laser Worlds finals

After a 1 hour delay waiting for two conflicting breezes to sort themselves out the first day of finals in the Harken Laser World Championship provided some excellent racing. For the first time all the top sailors sailed two races together in the gold fleet and, as expected, the racing was close and tough with mistakes costly. Good starts were essential as was a good first windward leg.

In an 8-10 knot wind the gold fleet got away at the second attempt under a black flag. Peer Moberg from Norway was leading at the first mark with series leader, Robert Scheidt buried in 15th position.

The leaders went high on the reach while Scheidt went low and took 13 boats to get to second before starting the downwind leg. This included his closest rival in the overall points, Australian Michael Blackburn who started the downwind leg in fifth position.

By the end of the downwind and next windward leg Blackburn had pulled up to first ahead of Moberg and Scheidt. Moberg dropped to third on the second downwind behind Scheidt with Blackburn still in the lead. There was a twist in the end when Blackburn received a yellow flag penalty from the on water judges and had to do a 720 degree turn. As he did his turns Scheidt passed him but not for long as Blackburn responded to pass Scheidt again before the last short windward leg to the finish. Behind, Hamish Pepper also passed Moberg on the last reach to finish third.

The wind increased to 13 knots average for the second race. Austrian Andreas Geritzer started at the pin end and went hard left with Brazilian Andre Streppel. These two rounded second and first respectively with Geritzer passing Streppel on the reach.

Blackburn and Scheidt were playing catch up in tenth and 15th position. Geritzer extended his lead throughout the race to finish first. Behind him the battle was on for the runner up positions amongst Streppel, Hugh Styles and Belgium Patrick Bergmanns. On the second downwind this group had been joined by Scheidt and Blackburn who both had good second windward legs and the group traded places in close racing on the downwind.

At the mark Blackburn caught a wave and surfed through Streppel, Scheidt, Bergmanns and Mark Mendalblatt USA, into second. On the reach Scheidt passed Streppel as did Mendelblatt. With no further changes on the short windward to the finish the race ended with Blackburn second, Scheidt third and Mendelblatt fourth as each protected their hard earned positons.

Team GBR sailor Paul Goodison had a mixed day, finishing sixth in the first race of the day which he followed up with a 32nd, leaving him in ninth place overall.

With four races to go Blackburn, the Sydney bronze medalist, has reduced the overall lead of Scheidt, the silver medallist, by two points and narrowed the margin to 4 points to set the stage for an exciting final two days.

Overall results with 1 discard;

Pos	Name	Sail no	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot
1	SCHEIDT Robert	BRA 179787	-6	5	1	1	1	1	2	3	14,0
2	BLACKBURN Michael	AUS 179773	3	-6	2	4	5	1	1	2	18,0
3	MENDELBLATT Mark	USA 179914	4	-25	3	1	3	4	8	4	27,0
4	PEPPER Hamish	NZL 179883	1	8	-29	7	2	5	3	11	37,0
5	GERITZER Andreas	AUT 179777	13	3	7	3	9	2	-16	1	38,0
6	SUNESON Karl	SWE 179905	6	16	1	2	9	2	-17	16	52,0
7	SLINGSBY Tom	AUS 179776	11	18	8	(dsq)	7	7	5	6	62,0
8	MOBERG Peer	NOR 179878	12	-26	14	6	4	6	4	20	66,0
9	GOODISON Paul	GBR 179835	(bfd)	14	2	2	12	3	6	32	71,0
10	BLANCKENBERG Gareth	RSA 179891	7	5	5	9	4	15	-36	29	74,0
11	LE BRETON Thomas	FRA 179827	9	6	18	15	7	14	-58	14	83,0
12	VUJASINOVIC Milan	CRO 179809	18	3	11	7	-32	18	14	15	86,0
13	POSTMA Pieter-Jan	NED 179877	25	20	4	4	21	8	-33	8	90,0
14	ZBOGAR Vasilij	SLO 179897	5	24	6	18	24	10	-57	7	94,0
15	CASEY Brendan	AUS 179774	15	25	3	6	6	3	44	-52	102,0
16	ARAPOV Mate	CRO 179804	10	38	4	5	13	11	22	-61	103,0
17	ROMERO Diego	ARG 179772	15	19	23	16	11	5	(dnf)	17	106,0
18	KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan	CRO 179805	14	9	13	5	11	20	(dnf)	37	109,0
19	STEYAERT Jeremie	FRA 179829	23	-42	10	14	3	22	25	13	110,0
20	RIECK Mathias	GER 179843	9	1	(dnf)	8	17	10	34	33	112,0
21	WESTMAN Fredrik	FIN 179826	14	14	11	30	5	12	-60	27	113,0
22	NYHOLM Anders	DEN 179816	32	31	6	10	2	7	30	-53	118,0
23	MUSLUBAS Kemal	TUR 179908	22	11	18	26	16	11	-28	19	123,0
24	CHIMONAS Evangelos	GRE 179846	27	10	14	11	17	9	-49	42	130,0
25	MURATI Mathieu	FRA 179828	39	1	15	19	1	17	(dnf)	43	135,0
26	MURDOCH Andrew	NZL 179882	24	43	9	8	8	4	-55	40	136,0
27	LIMA Gustavo	POR 179888	2	-35	20	16	16	12	45	26	137,0
28	SCHLONSKI Alexander	GER 179844	10	42	5	10	10	14	-54	48	139,0
29	BERGMANS Philippe	BEL 179778	27	40	(ocs)	28	14	15	7	9	140,0
30	NEGRI Diego	ITA 179860	46	8	(ocs)	11	12	16	23	25	141,0
31	STYLES Hugh	GBR 179840	20	36	19	14	38	8	(dnf)	10	145,0
32	BULLOT Michael	NZL 179881	2	16	22	-35	34	26	11	35	146,0
33	BLAKEY Matthew	NZL 179880	29	9	17	13	36	21	21	-47	146,0
34	BON Sander	NED 179873	28	23	30	12	8	-32	27	23	151,0
35	STREPPEL Andre	BRA 179788	(dnf)	2	8	22	23	34	59	5	153,0
36	MARTINEZ Luis	ESP 179820	21	7	16	24	21	25	40	-46	154,0
37	JULIE Allan	SEY 179895	37	20	12	17	19	-40	12	38	155,0
38	LUTTMER Bernard	CAN 179798	30	33	12	17	13	16	35	-36	156,0
39	HOWARD Mark James	GBR 179837	4	13	(ocs)	22	15	13	31	60	158,0
40	ULRIKKEHOLM Morten	DEN 179814	29	-39	37	13	19	6	20	34	158,0
41	KIM Ho Kon	KOR 179866	-57	32	17	9	15	21	42	22	158,0
42	MICHAIL Aristeidis	GRE 179848	1	27	28	31	29	24	19	-45	159,0
43	COMMANDER Andrew	GBR 179834	17	13	25	27	36	30	18	-55	166,0
44	CHILDS Andrew	CAN 179792	12	17	33	32	-33	23	29	31	171,0
45	HOLMAN Daniel	GBR 179836	5	46	(ocs)	3	6	28	bfd	12	174,0
46	SUOMALAINEN Roope	FIN 179825	54	22	(ocs)	19	20	17	24	18	174,0
47	TABERNERO Angelo	ESP 179822	18	17	16	21	22	35	46	-64	175,0
48	BAILLIE STRONG Charles	GBR 179831	34	50	7	20	27	32	13	-65	183,0
49	STIPANOVIC Tonci	CRO 179808	39	10	24	-54	50	31	10	21	185,0
50	RADELIC Luka	CRO 179807	13	12	(ocs)	21	31	9	37	69	192,0