Abbotts lead

At the Soling Masters on Lake Michigan

It was an overcast day, with choppy seas, and 10 to 12 knots from the Northeast for the first race, and a dying wind from the same direction for the second race as skippers from three continents (North America, South America and Central America) competed for the 2004 Soling Masters Trophy on Lake Michigan.    
   
Bill Abbott, his wife Joanne and Paul Davis (Sarnia, CAN), with a second in the first race and a superb first in the second race lead the championship over Stu Walker, Doug Loup and Andrew Dizer (Annapolis), who finished third and second with 5 points, just one ahead of Joe Hoeksema, his wife Rose and Matias Collins (Chicago) who finished first and fifth with 6 points.    
   
Jim Medley, Mark Hulbert from Seattle were fast, finishing fourth in both races for a total of 8 points, just one better than the local team from Wilmette of Jorgen Johnsson, his son Martin and David Snodgrass with 9 points posting finishes of 3rd and 6th.    
   
The World Championship continues on the 27th with two more races scheduled and also a bad forecast. A total of 7 races are scheduled with the worst result to be discarded.    
   
Top 5 results    

POS Sail Helmsman Middleman Bowman POINTS R1 R2    
1 CAN 1 Bill Abbott Joanne Abbott Paul Davis 3 2 1    
2 USA 842 Stuart Walker Doug Loup Andrew Dize 5 3 2    
3 USA 807 Joe Hoeksema Matias Collins Rose Hoeksema 6 1 5    
4 USA 840 James Medley Marc Hulbert 8 4 4    
5 USA 845 Jorgen Johnsson Martin Johnsson David Snodgrass 9 6 3