Too much gear failure

Brits win final race, but Argies come out on top at the Tornado Worlds in Palma, reports Mark Bulkeley

The first race started at the fourth time of asking and we decided to start right on the comittee boat and tack out early to go right. We managed this and soon after tacking we were looking good. Together with Mitch Booth we led out of the right hand side and had a commanding lead at the top mark. By this point the wind was up to gusts of 25 knots and the downwind it was hairy to say the least. When we got to the leeward marks we were neck and neck with Booth and we went right and he went left. We then extended our lead up the next leg to lead comfortably. Behind us there was carnage as boats capsized downwind in the gusty and wavy conditions.

In the second downwind the Spanish pair of Echiavarri/Paz capsized but managed to right the boat so quickly that they still finished third. We led for the rest of the race crossing the finishing line well clear. Booth had his problems on the final top reach and capsized (the second time in 25 years of Tornado racing!!). He would recover to finish sixth.

Lange and Espinola did enough to maintain their lead and Lovell and Ogletree would finish two places behind Bundock and Forbes. The race officer then decided to send us in as the wind had built to over 25 knots. As a result Lange and Espinola win the World Championships, second is Lovell and Ogletree and third Bundock and Forbes. We finished in fifth place overall, just behind Echiavarri and Paz.

It has been a hard week and Lange has sailed a very consistent series, It is also the first time in four years that Bundock and Forbes haven't won - it was a much closer Worlds than previous years. For us it was a case of too much gear failure, a ripped main which took our discard and broken mainsheet shackle which caused our 24th yesterday, however there are a lot of positives and it was nice to finish with a bullet.

Final results

Pos	Sail no	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Tot
1	ARG 1	Santiago Lange/Carlos Espinola	1	8	1	14	4	11	3	2	9	39
2	USA 808	John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree	5	1	8	16	6	16	1	3	10	50
3	AUS 967	Darren Bundock/John Forbes	8	7	30	5	14	2	5	1	8	50
4	ESP 1	Fernando Echavarri/Anton Paz	9	6	13	12	5	5	9	7	3	56
5	GBR 1	Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley	12	4	3	3	3	DNF	8	24	1	58
6	FRA 295	Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron	22	3	11	11	9	13	4	8	2	61
7	NED 1	Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen	20	32	2	1	1	1	28	4	6	63
8	FRA 279	Xavier Revil/Laurent Guillemette	10	9	6	13	20	9	13	23	7	87
9	AUT 380	Roman Hagara/Hans Peter Steinacher	13	5	10	2	29	22	30	5	5	91
10	RUS 97	Andrey Kirilyuk/Valery Ushkov	29	14	7	9	7	6	10	31	11	93
11	SWE 199	Martin Strandberg/Kristian Mattsson	32	16	14	10	18	8	16	29	4	115
12	GER 1090	Roland Gaebler/Gunnar Struckmann	48	34	4	27	12	4	6	20	15	122
13	GRE 1	Dimitris Theodorakis/Andonis Bougiouris	19	18	41	4	2	7	37	22	23	132
14	GER 1087	Johannes Polgar/Carsten Happel	23	12	18	7	17	21	18	16	DNC	132
15	POR 1	Diego Cayolla/Nuno Barretto	RDG	RDG	16	8	28	29	20	15	12	137,6
16	FRA 282	Matthieu Souben/Gurvan Bontemps	21	10	21	36	15	18	22	6	27	140
17	CAN 369	Oskar Johansson/John Curtis	3	19	29	18	22	12	31	27	13	143
18	SWE 201	Hans Wallen/Christoffer Rappe	18	21	17	20	27	25	14	10	18	143
19	POR 2	Hugo Rocha/Luis Beito	14	13	34	6	OCS	20	34	25	17	163
20	PUR 1	Enrique Figueroa/Jorge Hernandez	7	17	40	24	8	37	15	30	25	163
21	FRA 293	François Gabart/David Romain	2	25	5	28	OCS	27	43	11	28	169
22	ESP 2004	Enrique Garcia de Soto Lastra/Fernando Sales	26	30	25	43	13	10	26	19	21	170
23	FRA 28	Yann Guichard/Christophe Espagnon	4	11	9	19	DNF	3	44	21	DNC	174
24	BRA 37	Mauricio Santa Cruz/Henrique Pelicano	35	26	28	15	10	19	23	43	20	176
25	NZL 87	Aaron McIntosh/Mark/Kennedy	17	20	24	25	24	28	35	14	30	182
26	ESP 121	Jose Mª Ponce/Ramon Illan	11	39	20	21	31	36	17	17	33	186
27	NED 162	Sven Karsenbarg/Mischa Heemskerk	38	15	23	26	19	DNF	41	13	16	191
28	SLO 1	Dusan Puh/Alan Biderman	31	2	12	35	32	30	11	40	DNF	193
29	ESP 7	Francisco Sanchez Ferrer/Juan Manuel Barrionuevo	24	36	19	29	DNF	26	7	9	DNC	213
30	DEN 1	Peder Ronholt/Soren Schmidt Jorgensen	33	29	32	34	35	24	19	DNF	14	220
31	FRA 281	Besson/Arnaud Jarlegan	OCS	24	OCS	22	11	39	24	18	22	223
32	ESP 23	Toni Rivas/Fabian Escude	6	33	47	37	23	14	39	34	38	224
33	ESP 11	Manuel Calavia/Carlos Varea	37	22	22	46	21	DNF	12	32	35	227
34	ITA 257	Francesco Marcolini/Edoardo Bianchi	27	27	OCS	39	25	15	21	28	DNC	245
35	CAN 1	Eric Holden/Mark Coakley	34	31	37	47	26	33	42	26	24	253
36	GRE 7	Iordanis Paschalides/Christos Garefis	DNF	DNF	31	44	16	23	2	12	DNC	254
37	FRA 286	François Morvan/Matthieu Vandame	OCS	23	35	40	42	31	25	38	26	260
38	FRA 276	Baptiste Balzeau/Gaël Ledoux	42	35	15	42	DNF	47	33	35	19	268
39	FRA 260	Moana Vaireaux/Romain Petit	28	42	51	51	33	35	29	41	31	290
40	UKR 21	Stanislav Golimbiyevskyy/Oleksandr Meninkov	39	41	26	33	34	43	49	48	41	305
41	RUS 77	Konstantin Emelyanov/Alexander Yanin	43	37	39	38	OCS	38	50	36	29	310
42	AUT 381	Thomas Zajac/Thomas Czajka	16	DNC	38	DNC	36	45	38	39	42	317
43	ITA 5	Vincenzo Sorrentino/Giorgio Colombo	30	28	46	30	OCS	32	27	DNC	DNC	319
44	RUS 007	Sergey Dzienbaev/Oleg Ryazantsev	15	RDG	36	31	DNF	DNC	54	37	44	322,7
45	SUI 227	Martin Rusterholz/Michiel Fehr	36	43	45	41	OCS	DNC	32	33	34	327
46	ITA 7	Giuseppe Angilella/Giovanni Barraja	50	51	52	55	30	17	47	45	36	328
47	FRA 278	Guillaume Coyon/Lucas Millieret	25	38	49	49	OCS	46	40	42	43	332
48	RUS 27	Alexey Chekrygin/Sergey Bogatkin	OCS	44	33	17	37	53	48	49	DNF	344
49	HUN 1	Arpad Litkey/Peter Szaniszlo	49	49	27	53	OCS	34	46	52	37	347
50	GRE 11	Constantinos Gkiris/Andreas Tsamitas	45	52	DNF	23	40	42	36	51	DNC	352
51	GBR 404	Jonathan Hutchcroft/Marcus Lynch	51	40	48	52	44	40	52	46	32	353
52	GBR 402	Andrew Walsh/Ed Barney	46	48	44	54	38	41	51	47	40	355
53	CZE 52	Zdenek Pavlis/Jri Pavlis	47	53	43	32	45	49	DNC	55	45	369
54	BRA 52	Luiz Eduardo Adler Pimentel Duarte/Gualberto Naldi	41	47	42	50	43	48	53	50	DNC	374
55	GBR 415	Leo Farrow/Tristan Lamb	40	46	50	45	47	51	58	44	DNC	381
56	ESP 5	Bernardo Benítez/Miguel Quintana	44	50	DNC	DNC	39	44	56	56	39	391
57	BRA 51	Jose Roberto de Jesus/Fernando Jacobina	52	45	55	57	41	DNF	45	53	DNC	411
58	BRA 43	Alex Leal/Thiago K Leal	55	DSQ	57	48	46	50	55	54	DNC	428
59	ESP 3	Oriol Bou Bohé/Eduardo Olmos	DNC	56	56	DNC	DNC	52	59	57	DNC	469
60	GER 1024	Günter Mörtl/Walter Kerf	56	55	54	56	OCS	DNC	60	DNC	DNC	470
61	GBR 398	John Bernard Ready/Angus Roberts	54	54	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNF	57	58	DNC	475
62	ESP 277	Pablo de Villar Farrés/Nicolás de Virgiliis	53	DNF	53	58	DNC	DNC	DNF	DNC	DNC	479