Hamlin and Nelson head the field

Two more races into the UK 505 Nationals and world title contenders show themselves

The blue skies and strong sunshine more reminiscent of California than Hampshire proved inspirational for the strong American contingent that has arrived ahead of the World Championship starting next weekend. The second day, Tuesday, of the UK Nationals (and effective pre-worlds) was succesful with two races sailed.

However, the American clean sweep of the podium places in the first race of the day was assisted in no small part by an extraordinary lapse by the British pair of Mark Upton-Brown and Ian Mitchell, who squandered a lead of over a minute when they rounded the leeward mark incorrectly and were thus judged to have sailed the course incorrectly.

Upton-Brown and Mitchell had led the fleet round the first windward mark and steadily increased their lead throughout the race showing impressive pace in the steady 12 knot south easterly breeze. However, once their error became known, it became clear that the real race had been going on in their wake, with three American teams, Howard Hamlin and Jeff Nelson, Tyler Moore and Jesse Falsone, and Alexander Meller and Mike Coe breaking through to the front of the fleet by the end of the second lap.

Although there was considerable jousting between this group Hamlin and Nelson held on to take the gun ahead of Moore and Falsone.

The third race of the championship was started in a warm 10 knot breeze. The first race of the day had shown the fleet that the left side of the course paid and it was therefore no surprise when the German victors of Monday’s heat, Boris Herrmann and Julien Kleiner, emerged from the pack of boats exploring that side to lead at the first mark. Alexander Meller and Mark Coe (USA) just sneaked inside Mark Upton-Brown and Ian Mitchell (GBR) to round second. The off wind leg opened up a number of tactical options which resulted in considerable place changes, although Herrmann and Kleiner remained serene at the front of the fleet.

The wind was slowly losing pressure, and in similar conditions to those in their emphatic opening day performance, the German pair showed excellent boat speed. However, this time they were found Upton-Brown and Mitchell were in determined mood after their disappointment in the previous race. By the top of the second beat these two boats had opened up a significant gap on the rest. The two boats raced down the two fast reaches and up the next beat with never more than a few boat lengths separating them, and rounded the windward mark for the third time overlapped. The decisive moment came on the next leeward leg. With the falling breeze the choice had to be made whether to maintain speed by sailing higher or take a more direct but slower route. Although Upton-Brown seemed to taken the advantage by calling a gybe inside the German boat, he also opted to sail low to the mark. In contrast Herrmann and Kleiner chose speed over distance, and were rewarded with a clear lead of about ten boat lengths by the finish.

Although the focus had been on the dual for first spot, the ever consistent Americans, Howard Hamlin and Jeff Nelson, worked their way through to finish third and now head the championship overall.

		Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	USA	Howie Hamlin	Jeff Nelson	2	1	3	6
2nd	GER	Boris Herrmann	Julien Kleiner	1	8	1	10
3rd	GBR	Ian Pinnell	Steve Hunt	3	4	6	13
4th	GER	Dietrich Scheder	Rainer Goerge	6	9	4	19
5th	GBR	Ian Barker	Mark Darling	5	5	9	19
6th	USA	Tyler Moore	Jesse Falsone	16	2	5	23
7th	GER	Hasso Plattner	Peter Alarie	10	6	11	27
8th	GER	Jens Findel	Johannes Tellen	13	7	8	28
9th	FIN	Penntti Matti	Otto Toivanen	9	10	13	32
10th	USA	Ali Meller	Mike Coe	20	3	10	33
11th	AUS	Michael Quirk	Geoff Lange	15	13	7	35
12th	USA	Ben Moon	Nick Nelson	12	17	16	45
13th	GBR	Andrew Smith	Norman Byrd	7	22	22	51
14th	GBR	Charlie Walters	Dougal Cram	17	20	14	51
15th	GER	Christian Niefert	Thomas Weber	25	11	17	53
16th	USA	Pierre Jeangirard	Paul Von Grey	22	12	21	55
17th	GER	Helen Fisher	Angela Stenger	4	31	23	58
18th	AUS	Nigel Lott	Bob Franks	21	24	15	60
19th	USA	Macy Nelson	Dustin Romey	23	18	24	65
20th	GER	Meike Schomaeker	Robert Rothe	19	29	19	67
21st	GBR	Mark Upton Brown	Ian Mitchell	8	59.0 DNF	2	69
22nd	AUS	Michael Babbage	James McAllister	39	15	20	74
23rd	AUS	Earle Alexander	Ian Gregg	26	21	31	78
24th	GBR	Russell Short	Andrew Short	11	35	34	80
25th	GBR	Stuart Turnbull	Jason Lunn	29	16	35	80
26th	GBR	Alex Cherry	Magnus Leask	18	37	27	82
27th	GBR	Rob Napier	Matt Bristow	24	32	30	86
28th	GBR	Christopher Dando	Donald Sloan	31	23	33	87
29th	GBR	Robin Brown	Neil Fulcher	DNC	19	12	90
30th	GBR	Ben Illiffe	Simon Lake	32	26	32	90
31st	GBR	Terry Scutcher	Christian Diebitsch	14	59.0 DNF	18	91
32nd	AUS	Kevin Cameron	Jeremy Manders	35	27	29	91
33rd	GER	Jan Sell	Stefan Schmidt	28	33	36	97
34th	GBR	Toby Dale	James Cole	40	30	28	98
35th	GBR	Martin Stainsby	Martin Grady	27	36	41	104
36th	GER	Jens Hufnagel	Lars Dehne	59.0 DSQ	25	25	109
37th	USA	John Wyles	Sol Marini	34	39	37	110
38th	USA	Ian McKeige	Douglas McKeige	38	34	38	110
39th	IRL	Michael Ennis		33	38	40	111
40th	DEN	Tom Bojland	Jakob Karbo	DNC	28	26	113
41st	GBR	Paul Davies	John Davies	36	40	39	115
42nd	FRA	Michel Boiry	Jean Ancelot	30	44	45	119
43rd	ITA	Marco Giraldi	Gabriele Cortegiani	43	41	44	128
44th	USA	Parker Shinn	Garreth Williams	59.0 DNS	14	59.0 DNF	132
45th	GBR	Alastair Milton	Laurence Milton	41	46	46	133
46th	GBR	Jim Berry	Richard Berry	44	43	47	134
47th	GBR	Shaun Seear	Stuart Curtis	46	48	49	143
48th	FRA	Pierre Guibbal	Simon Chartier	DNC	42	43	144
49th	FRA	Giles Carvallo	Claire Carvallo	DNC	47	42	148
50th	FRA	Jean Philippe Chartier	Alain Chartier	DNC	45	48	152
51st	GBR	Terry Selfe	Alan Montague	37	DNC	DNC	155
52nd	GBR	Martin Wedge	Scott Allen	42	DNC	DNC	160
53rd	GBR	Peter Halliwell	ÿ-----	45	DNC	DNC	163
54th	GBR	Kevin Holden	Tony Merry	47	DNC	59.0 DNF	165
55th	GBR	Patrick McGale	Alex Cull	DNC	DNC	DNC	177
55th	GBR	Ben Farren-Price	Pete Brooke Houghton	DNC	DNC	DNC	177
55th	GBR	Ben Jones	David Thorpe	DNC	DNC	DNC	177
55th	GBR	Brian Newlyn	David Williams	DNC	DNC	DNC	177