Kiwis dominate, Brits penalised

Light winds prevail at the Wells Fargo Star World Championship in San Francisco

Hamish Pepper and crew Carl Williams (NZ) stole the racing today, leading the rock star fleet around each mark to finish in first place overall after day 4 of the Wells Fargo Private Bank Star World Championships. Fellow New Zealanders Rohan Lord and Miles Addy, while taking 11th today, move up the ladder to second place overall.

Sailors were presented with the most challenging day thus far in the competition with gray skies, flat water, occasional rain and the lightest of air. The start was delayed while the St Francis Yacht Club race committee was forced to move marks to adjust for some significant shifts. The breeze never reached more than 8 knots from the west with lows of 3-5 knots during racing - tricky sailing even for the local guys.

World Championship title defenders, Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau from France, took second place today, while the UK's Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell picked up their performance for a third, with US sailors Jim Buckingham and Mike Dorgan taking fourth place and Brazilian Olympic legend Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada fifth.

Hot favorites, youngsters Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom (SWE), are making their come back and sitting comfortably in 10th overall.

With much at stake in this competition, there have been some serious disappointments during the starting sequence. Today saw a general recall at the first start and the second a Z-flag start. A number of teams were over early and penalised, subsequently knocking back some of top guys. Notably, Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell (GBR) whose request for redress following their OCS on Day 3 was denied; today they received a Z-flag penalty, dropping them to 31st overall. Andy Horton and Brad Nichol (USA) also received a Z-flag penalty and sending them from first to 6th overall.

Bill Buchan, US Olympic Gold medalist in the Star in 1984 and sitting in 25th overall commented, “It was trying today. We were third at the first mark and on the first run I lost patience trying to stay with the two in front of us so decided to split and it cost us dearly. We were wallowing with the rest for much of the race but caught a little westerly that came in near the finish so we ended on a high note in the 20’s. It could have been a lot worse – finishing in the 20’s is good in this fleet!”

Veteran Star sailor John Kostecki, in a coaching role this regatta was on the docks at the St Francis Yacht Club at day’s end. “It’s been unusual this week with the weather. It’s not typical for San Francisco so there’s been no real local advantage unfortunately,” he laughed. “But you’re still seeing all the good guys at the top.”

Head of International Jury, Ralph Roberts, commented, “The biggest thing is that San Francisco is losing its image as a heavy weather venue. Everyone measured in their heavy weather sails because it purportedly never blows under 20 knots here. It’s just been challenging for everyone however this is the best fleet I’ve ever seen. While it’s been difficult, at the same time this contest is made for those who are training for Beijing.”

Mark Pickel (GER), 16th overall said: “We had a tough beginning in the first two races and we’re doing pretty average. It’s just been trying to get the shifts better on the first beat. Conditions here are tough. We’re quite happy with our result today, we just ran out of pressure before the finish and lost 5 places.”

Iain Murray (AUS), 11th overall: “We could have started better. There’ve been lots of starts and we’ve been a little conservative on our starts and as a result behind all race. It’s all about getting it right on the first beat and we haven’t been consistently doing that. We’ll try to be more aggressive over the next few days.”

Full results....