Worlds @Takapuna: Day 2 Burling, Landy & Anderson lead
Excellent report by Bob Griffits. Great to see the 'old' guard, Andrew Landenberger and Scott Anderson, maintaining their top 3 with last year standard equipment against the new talented Youths, yesterday in 5-10 knots and today in 18knots breeze. Great championship so far. Also read below some commments from Bob regarding the AGM meeting.
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RACES 3 and 4, A CLASS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
"Race 3 belonged to Team New Zealand, who proved that they have the sailors, the equipment, and the organisation to dominate in the fresher conditions.
The weather people were correct in their forecast regarding the wind direction, but there was an underestimation of the wind velocity, which pumped in at 18 to 20 knots rather than the predicted 10 to 12 knots.
The offshore breeze meant that the sea was reasonably flat with just a small wind chop, more marked in the starting area, due to its more offshore location.
Glenn Ashby had his second win of the regatta, with the New Zealand 49ner duo of Peter Burling, and Blair Tuke taking out 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. The Team Zealand tactician, Ray Davies was 4th.
Mischa Heemskerk, the defending World Champion, enjoyed the stronger conditions, and demonstrated the skills that won him the title in Islamorada, to finish in 5th place.
The top ranking amateur was Stephen Brayshaw in 6th place. Scott Anderson continues to perform well, and show that wisdom and experience still count for something against youth and muscular strength, finishing 7th.
The top 10 was rounded out with Brad Collett 8th, Andrew Landenberger 9th, and Bruce Mahoney, from the Houston Yacht 10th.
There was a degree of attrition amongst some of the other competitors, with a number of retirements due to breakages, collisions, and sailor fatigue.
The wind had eased a little by the start of Race 4. Glenn Ashby’s seemingly endless match towards another World Championship was slowed with a broken rudder fitting, forcing his retirement.
Nathan Outteridge was not having a good day either. A late start in Race 3, resulting from a broken outhaul system, led to an eventual 17th finish. His 4th race was plagued by more outhaul problems, a broken Trapeze wire retaining system, and a voluntary capsize to retrieve the trapeze wire. Somehow despite it all, he still managed to finish in 6th place.
The race was won by Mischa Heemskirk, following up on 5th place in the previous race.
Andrew Landeberger maintained his consistent form across this regatta to finish in 2nd place. Australia’s Adam
Beattie, another quiet achiever at this regatta, finished 3rd.
There are still 5 races ahead. With a drop, Glenn Ashby still leads overall, but without drops, the scoreboard reads as follows:
1. Peter Burling 11, 3, 2, 5 (21 points)
2. Andrew Landenberger 8, 4, 9, 2 (23 points)
3. Scott Anderson 2, 5,7,14 (28 points)
4. Blair Tuke 15,9,3,4 (31 points)
5. Ray Davies 7,6,4,15 (32 points)
6. Nathan Outteridge 12, 1, 17,6 (36 points)
7. Adam Beattie 6, 8, 20, 3 (37 points)
8. Brad Collett 3,19,8,8, (38 points)
9. Stephen Brayshaw 14, 11, 6, 11 (42 points)
10. Jacek Noetzel 5,14,11,13 (43 points)
The important news away from the racing emerged from the A Class AGM. Several motions were put to change some of the Class Rules, to facilitate foiling.
All these motions were defeated, due to failure to gain the necessary thirds of the vote required to permit change.
A dedicated band of foiler’s has already emerged, and a significant numbers of others have indicated a wish to follow suit. It is likely that foiling is here to stay. It still needs further technical development, and for the moment it must continue within a restrictive framework.
So far we have seen DNA’s “J” boards, the Windrush “flexi C boards”, the Exploder “L” boards, and the Exploder “Cassette” system. No doubt other technical solutions will result.
Bob Griffits.
