Strong start for RMW

Peter Danby reports from the International 14 Worlds

Using brains, boatspeed and excellent boat handling, Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson of Great Britain won the opening race of the International 14 World Championship by two and three quarter minutes in Wakayama this afternoon (Tuesday).

Completing an outstanding day for Great Britain, Archie Massey and George Nurton finished second, Jarrod Simpson and Harvey Hillary finished third, followed by four more British boats. Two Australian teams came next, but the leading Americans were surprisingly off the pace, and will no doubt be looking for more boat speed and a better understanding of the conditions tomorrow, when two further races are scheduled to take place.

The wind was by far the most difficult since racing began with the international team event last Saturday, and the Race Officer ordered a postponement until the light and variable breeze under a cloudy sky settled down at approximately 7 knots. At the end of the first lap the wind shifted significantly towards the south, and the windward mark was moved accordingly, but when the shift continued even further in the southerly direction the Race Officer took the wise decision to abandon the race and reset the course completely.



The restart took place after one general recall, and, although the increasing breeze was unstable in both direction and strength, the race was able to progress without further major incident. Several boats capsized in the stronger gusts, and the fleet was spread out by a massive distance by the finish.

The British teams in general, and Greenhalgh and Johnson in particular, had excellent results in this opening race of the seven race series, but conditions here can change very rapidly, and it is far too early to speculate about the eventual outcome.

Race 1 results:

Pos	Sail No.	Skipper	Crew
1	GBR1482	Rob Greenhalgh	Dan Johnson
2	GBR1476	Archie Massey	George Nurton
3	GBR1489	Jarrod Simpson	Harvey Hillary
4	GBR1479	Andrew Penman	Tim Bastow
5	GBR1483	Victor Brellisford	Damian Ash
6	GBR1481	Andy Partington	Ben Vervieres
7	GBR1495	Chris Turner	Peter Bagwell
8	AUS617	Alan Vickery	Andrew Wilson
9	AUS623	Mark Krstic	Rob Oshlack
10	GBR1484	James Fawcett	Bruce Grant
11	GBR1487	Ian Teasdale	Matt Chapman
12	AUS602	Anthony Anderson	David Hughes
13	USA1137	Zach Berkowitz	Mike Martin
14	USA1127	Kris Bundy	Jamie Hanseler
15	CAN584	Fred Eaton	John Vincze
16	GBR1444	Paul Vine	Dave Dobrijevlc
17	GBR1477	Paul Ravenhill	Neil Trickett
18	GBR1431	Colin Smith	Peter Helm
19	USA1150	Ron Boehm	Pete Mohler
20	AUS624	David Alexander	Don Hart
21	GBR1448	Roger Douglas	Jeremy Reed
22	CAN583	Jamie Kidd	Jason Lemieux
23	USA1117	Brad Ruetenik	Todd Czarnecki
24	GBR1472	Rollo Pyper	Anthony Haines
25	AUS622	James McDonald	Jason King
26	USA1140	Ted Rogers	Kirk Price
27	GBR1486	Dominic Bowns	Gretel Van Raemdonck
28	JPN108	Yoshihisa Fujii	Naoki Shigeyama
29	GBR1464	Doug Walker	Louise Hickey
30	AUS400	Mat Lon	Derek Layfield
31	USA1129	Steve Goodson	Alan Direcks
32	GBR1442	Charls Duchesne	Martin Pascal
33	GBR1462	Kimball Morrison	Chris Kinghts
34	USA1152	John Hele	Stuart Saffer
35	JPN107	Toru Kojima	Kei Matsumoto
36	AUS616	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Perry
37	USA1114	Gvillaume Vernieres	Reiko Tani
38	AUS577	Mark Elsworth	James Lanati
39	AUS609	Stewart Vickery	Matt Balmar
40	JPN110	Takashi Shimozato	Tomonari Tanaka
41	JPN101	Yoichi Hirane	Kenji Hirade
42	JPN112	Kensuke Kita	Takao Washino
43	JPN106	Ryo Nishima	Yasunobu Yanagisawa
44	JPN99	Yusuke Sugahara	Satoshi Ishida
45	USA1144	Andrew Bates	Eric Arens
46	JPN109	Yasutaka Uto	Takehide Takase
47	USA1145	Kirk Twardowski	Tim Burks
48	JPN111	Eiji Kato	Susumu Shima
49	JPN90	Kenichi Hagiwara	Hiroshi Aoki
50	JPN113	Daijiro Takahara	Yoichi Mori
51	JPN97	Naoki Yamaguchi	Masayuki Nagashima
DNF	JPN84	Tsunenori Chiba	Masahiro Ii
DNF	USA1128	John F Hyde	Peter Shumar
DNF	GBR1461	Ian Pinnell	Sam Gardiner
DNC	JPN89	Toshinari Harada	Takao Kawamura
DNC	USA1138	Alan Laflin	Tatsuo Okada