Percy/Simpson to the fore

As three are tied in the top spot after day two of the Star Europeans at Rolex Baltic Week

The 2009 Star European Championships at Rolex Baltic Week were always going to be a tightly fought contest, but after two days of racing the leader board is tied three ways, with all three 2008 Olympic medalists scoring one race win apiece and equal nine points. The 'golden boys' from Qingdao last year, Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson from Great Britain are at the top tied with Swedes Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander and Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada from Brazil. Germany’s rising stars Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs are ranked fourth, 12 points behind the trio.

For the second day of racing the Kiel Fjord yet again produced gusty WSWerly conditions which caused some gear damage. Although the skies were dotted with clouds, there were thankfully no signs of the thunderstorms which arrived the day before. Racing on a two-lap windward-leeward course for the day’s opener, first victory went to Percy/Simpson. After a close downwind duel with rivals Scheidt/Prada, which saw Scheidt yellow-flagged by the on-the-water jury, the Olympic gold medalists added a win to the second place on the first day to top the leaderboard.

Behind them the Greek team of Emilios Papathansiou and Karnoutsos Apostolos took second. However, the Greek duo failed to complete the opening race on Monday and fell foul of the Black Flag in Tuesday’s second, leaving them with two 88-point scores and plunging them down the overall results to 61st position. Fellow Qingdao Olympic medalist Freddie Loof showed consistency in shifty conditions to take third, Scheidt held onto fourth after completing his 720 penalty turns, whilst fifth went to American Marks Mendelblatt and Strube.

For the second race of the day Scheidt and Prada didn’t put a foot wrong to take the gun, finishing first ahead of Babendererde and Jacobs, who gave the world number one a good challenge until the final leg. Third went to Alberto Barovier and Nando Colaninno (ITA), who had not previously troubled the top 15 at this year’s Rolex Baltic Week - proving that the 86-boat fleet is packed with contenders who could upset the established order. In fourth place was Volvo Ocean Race winning yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian and Alejandro Colla (ARG). Aside from his round the world success Juan K helped create the latest Mader-built Star which was sailed to Olympic gold last year by Percy/Simpson in Qingdao. In the third Rolex Baltic Week race Kouyoumdjian was followed home by Loof in fifth and Percy in sixth.

After two days of racing this leaves all three Olympians - Percy, Loof and Scheidt - tied at the top on 9 points apiece, but with one win and one second place to count, it is Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) who top the leaderboard overnight.

Percy was pleased with his win today, but admitted that they the shifting conditions at the Rolex Baltic Cup were still a challenge. "We were in a hard position fight with Robert Scheidt on the downwind finish leg, but he got a yellow flag (720) and we won safely at the end. But in the last race we should have finished third," he said. "We lost three boats on the last 100 meters before the line. It was very tricky, shifty and gusty winds, and we got the tactics totally wrong. This was pretty frustrating. We still need to improve."

In second overall is Fredrik Loof, sailing his first event with Johan Tillander. He commented: “I’m happy all in all to be with the top runners again with my new crew. We need to be a little more aggressive at the start. Our upwind speed is okay and the downwind speed is already excellent. But it is still a long way to go at the Rolex Baltic Week with five races to go."

Robert Scheidt added: "We lost three boats when we got the penalty by the on-water jury. The decision was okay but didn't make us happy at all. The second race was easy at the end when the two young Germans [Babendererde/Jacobs] stopped attacking us to cover their second place. Before that they were only 30 meters behind us. Scoring a bullet is still a nice feeling in such a competitive fleet."

Young Germans - Babendererde and Jacobs - are currently lying in fourth overall after some determined sailing in Tueday’s second race. Timo Jacobs commented: “We were almost leading at the first mark in race two, but misjudged the tactics on the downwind leg totally, ending up 20th or so at the gate. But we fought back boat by boat into the top 10 again. On the last beat to the finish in race 3 we had five boats close behind us. Then we decided to better cover them instead of attacking Scheidt for the bullet."

Wednesday’s racing is scheduled to begin at 12.00 hrs (local time), with two races – the discard will come into force after five races have been completed.

More photos on the following pages....

Full results here: