Photos: Rich Roberts

Carolijn Brouwer ahead

GlobalTech Formula 18 World Championship gets underway in Los Angeles

Tuesday September 11th 2012, Author: Rich Roberts, Location: United States

Opening day anxiety coupled with an unexpected misty marine layer, light winds, a family affair and a bit of bad luck marked the launch of the GlobalTech Formula 18 World Championship hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, the class's first Worlds ever contested in the USA.

Despite the overcast and winds of 7 to 9 knots, Carolijn Brouwer (NED) had no complaints, standing in first place among the 118 entries from 13 countries and five continents, while Darren Bundock (AUS), her life partner is 16 points back in 12th.

Bundock, with Jeroen van Leeuwen (NED) as crew, had finishes of 9, 12 and 3, but is also supported by their 1 1/2-year-old son Kyle and Bundock's mother who came up from Sydney to babysit.

Brouwer, sailing with Wouter Samana as crew, said: "We're happy with a fourth and two seconds. It was tricky and fairly light. Everyone who's been training here was expecting to get 18 to 19 knots of sea breeze. We're not the heaviest team so we were happy with the conditions. It's better than coming back all tired and battered."

But her finishes Tuesday were no fluke. She has been dominant in Europe and was fourth in the Worlds that Bundock won last year.

As for Bundock he said, "It was a pretty tough day. Generally, it was a left-and track, and we went right most of the day, and paid for it dearly."

Plus, he lost a couple of places in one race while dragging kelp on his rudder.

But he had a better day than Musab Al Hadi. The skipper for the Oman entry, with crew Ahmed Al Balushi, won their first race but was soon sidelined with a severely cut right hand after a collision with another boat after the start of Race 2.

"I was trapezing [hiking out] when something broke and I fell down with the tiller in my hand," Al Hadi said.


The carbon fibre tiller splintered and gashed the two middle fingers of his hand. He was brought to shore by Long Beach Firemen on a rescue boat who administered preliminary treatment before he was taken to a nearby emergency facility, uncertain if or when he would return to sail this week.

"I'm going to try," he said.

So should the weather, which opened gloomy amid a few false starts and a couple of course changes prompted by wind shifts until it settled into a gentle 7 to 9 knots from the southwest.

The schedule calls for three races each day, starting at noon, conditions permitting, with as many as 15 races through Saturday on the open ocean off Seal Beach a short run down the coast from ABYC.

Through the first three days the fleet is divided into four groups, competing on trapezoid-shaped courses. There will be two starts for each of three daily races, with the group matchups rotating with each race in qualifying for the final two days Friday and Saturday. Then the overall top half of the boats in scoring will advance to the Gold division championship, the others going to Silver.

However, results of the first three days will count in the final overall scoring.

Top 50 results

Pos Nat Helm Crew Q1 Q2 Q3 Tot Net
1 BEL Carolijn Brouwer Wouter Samama 4 2 2 8 8
2 SUI Billy Besson Jeremie Laguarrigue 3 6 1 10 10
3 FRA Olivier Backes Matthieu Vandame 2 3 6 11 11
4 SWE Tim Shuwalow Thomas Ekefalk 6 4 4 14 14
5 NED Jorden Veenman Frank de Waard 10 1 5 16 16
6 USA Michael Easton Tripp Burd 4 13 1 18 18
7 NED Gunnar Larsen Gerhard van Geest 7 5 6 18 18
8 GBR Hugh Styles Alain Sign 10 1 9 20 20
9 USA Robbie Daniel Hunter Stunzi 5 13 2 20 20
10 NED Oscar Zeekant Karel Begemann 5 5 10 20 20
11 NED Mischa Heemskerk Bastiaan Tentij 8 8 5 21 21
12 AUS Darren Bundock Jeroen van Leeuwen 9 11 3 23 23
13 AUS Jason Waterhouse Brett Goodall 11 6 8 25 25
14 USA Sarah Newberry Maxime Hainneville 1 2 23 26 26
15 NED Coen De Koning Thijs Visser 3 15 8 26 26
16 FRA Emmanuel Boulogne Frederic Moreau 18 9 3 30 30
17 FRA Pierre Le Clainche Antoine Joubert 11 8 12 31 31
18 USA Matt Struble Damon LaCasella 2 20 14 36 36
19 ITA Vittorio Bissaro Carlo De Paoli 7 19 10 36 36
20 USA Greg Thomas Jacques Bernier 12 11 13 36 36
21 USA John Tomko Ian Billings 9 7 22 38 38
22 USA Taylor Reiss Matthew Whitehead 8 3 29 40 40
23 USA Pease Glaser Jay Glaser 15 4 21 40 40
24 USA Bob Merrick Tyler Burd 6 10 24 40 40
25 NED Willem Geijssen Dominiaque van Asselt 13 9 18 40 40
26 ARG Esteban Luciano Blando Nicolas Aragones 24 10 7 41 41
27 NED Froukje Feenstra Mischa de Munck 12 20 9 41 41
28 NED Vincent Huntleman Olivier Witteveen 19 12 14 45 45
29 NZL Mike Drummond Finn Drummond 14 7 25 46 46
30 ARG Cruz Gonzalez Smith Mariano Heuser 16 14 16 46 46
31 FRA Gurvan Bontemps Benjamin Amiot 17 16 18 51 51
32 USA John Casey Dalton Tebo 26 22 4 52 52
33 USA Steve Myrter Roger Jenkins 29 14 11 54 54
34 USA Drew Carlyle James Wierzbowski 16 25 13 54 54
35 USA Steve Rosenberg Jacob Rosenberg 17 19 19 55 55
36 AUS Andrew Macpherson Shannen Marck 23 18 15 56 56
37 FRA Charles Hainneville David Fanouillere 21 26 11 58 58
38 ARG Juan Pablo Sucic Esteban Luis Daneri 14 12 32 58 58
39 PUR Enrique Figueroa Jayson Moore 13 27 19 59 59
40 USA Scott Miller Hailey Miller 19 17 23 59 59
41 ARG Ian Rodger Andre Noe 22 18 20 60 60
42 USA Karl Langefeld Beth Langefeld 15 31 15 61 61
43 AUS Rod Waterhouse Chris Way 21 29 12 62 62
44 CAN Louis-Philippe Ethier Maxime Loiselle 20 21 21 62 62
45 CAN Nicolas Dube Vincent Gagne 27 16 22 65 65
46 USA Brooks Reed Jeff Dusek 25 23 17 65 65
47 AUS Greg Goodall Christa van Helden 20 24 25 69 69
48 USA Annie Gardner Eric Witte 22 32 16 70 70
49 CAN Olivier Pilon Alberto Torne 24 21 26 71 71
50 AUS Michael Broise Miranda Powrie 30 25 17 72 72



 

From Christophe Favreau

 
 

 

Latest Comments

Add a comment - Members log in

EmailPrintTwitterFacebookLinkedInStumbleDigg

Latest news!

Back to top
    Back to top