Kiwis to the fore

Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk take the lead at the Star Worlds

Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk have been teamed up since the Delta Lloyd Regatta earlier this spring and much of the time Pepper has been under the weather and Monk has been in wonderment about being back on the Olympic sailing circuit since competing in the Finn for New Zealand in the 1996 Olympics. Yesterday's day off from sailing meant rest and relaxation and they resuscitated the Kiwi Magic of 2006 and 2007 when Pepper won the San Francisco Star World Championship and was in the hunt at every regatta.

Pepper and Monk not only won today's first race, they also came out of the day atop the leaderboard following the completion of four races. They popped off the boat end of the starting line and took the express lane up the right hand side of the course with the current propelling them forward in flat (and shallower) water. Others, in the middle of the course, struggled against the current in the light air. The Kiwis followed Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube (USA) around the weather mark and overcame the Americans' 40-second lead on the run after Mendelblatt and Strube gybed toward the inside for what looked like more pressure. It was just the break that the Kiwis needed to take the lead and stay in a controlling position for the remainder of the race.

Following the race, Pepper said, "We sailed pretty conservatively today. It's easy to lose boats in this fleet and in these conditions."

The American team was quite pleased with their performance during the first race. Mendelblatt/Strube took second. George Szabo and Rick Peters were third and Andrew Campbell and Magnus Liljedahl were fourth. J

The Germans had their day in the sunshine too. During the second race of the day, Race 4 of the series, the Germans had four boats in the top ten. Johannes Polgar and Tim Kroeger were fourth, Alex Schlonski and Frihjof Kleen were fifth, Matthias Miller and Benedikt Wenk were seventh and Johannes Babandererde and Timo Jacobs pulled out a ninth place finish in a race in which the pressure was up and down and the current continued to be a factor, albeit the breeze had filled to 8-10 knots in the afternoon sun.

Polgar/Kroeger were low point for the day with a 7, 4. Said Polgar, "We had a clear picture in our minds before we went out today. We also had two good starts." Polgar, who spent years sailing Tornados at an Olympic level and transferred into the Star this spring, said, "it is nice to finally be sailing with the leaders after being in another class for so long. I hope that Tim and I and the rest of the Germans can keep the good sailing alive through the remainder of the week."

The lead in Race 4 was passed from Xavier Rohart and Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) to Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria (SUI) during the second beat, and Marazzi/De Maria held on for the bullet. Marazzi/De Maria are in fourth place overall after four races, but are likely to be sitting pretty when teams are able to discard their worst race following the completion of five races. The Swiss have three finishes in the top three and one deep score.

Despite ending the day on a low note, Mendelblatt/Strube are in second overall and Andrew Campbell and Magnus Liljedahl are in third. Campbell, a rookie in the Star Class, is sailing with Liljedahl, an Olympic Gold Medalist and Star World Champion. Said Liljedahl earlier in the week, "I've sailed with 15 Olympic medallists and I've already learned things from Andrew. He is incredibly calm and level-headed in a boat." Campbell agreed saying, "We're learning a lot from each other and every race is an improvement. It's a pleasure to sail with someone with so much experience and enthusiasm."

Race 5 of the 2009 Star World Championship in Varberg, Sweden is scheduled for Thursday, August 6, 2009.

More photos on the following pages...

Results:

Pos	Nhelm	Crew	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot	Net
1	Hamish Pepper	Craig Monk	NZL	11	9	1	11	32	32
2	Mark Mendelblatt	Mark Strube	USA	8	4	2	26	40	40
3	Andrew Campbell	Magnus Liljedahl	USA	14	14	4	8	40	40
4	Flavio Marazzi	Enrico De Maria	SUI	3	3	35	1	42	42
5	Alexander Schlonski	Frithjof Kleen	GER	9	17	11	5	42	42
6	Fredrik Lööf	Johan Tillander	SWE	2	5	15	23	45	45
7	Nicola Celon	Edoardo Natucci	ITA	7	21	8	25	61	61
8	Johannes Polgar	Tim Kroeger	GER	31	22	7	4	64	64
9	Lars Schmidt Grael	Ronald Seifert	BRA	30	6	14	14	64	64
10	Afonso Domingos	Frederico Melo	POR	38	7	10	10	65	65
11	Matthias Miller	Benedikt Wenk	GER	5	24	31	7	67	67
12	Robert Scheidt	Bruno Prada	BRA	26	2	33	13	74	74
13	Diego Negri	Valerio Chinca	ITA	22	11	19	22	74	74
14	Mats Johansson	Leif Möller	SWE	10	20	44	2	76	76
15	Marin Lovrovic Jr	Sinisa Mikulicic	CRO	18	26	27	6	77	77
16	George Szabo	Rick Peters	USA	54	1	3	20	78	78
17	John Gimson	Ed Greig	GBR	19	27	12	21	79	79
18	Max Treacy	Anthony Shanks	IRL	12	32	24	12	80	80
19	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	Dominik Zycki	POL	1	12	50	18	81	81
20	Johannes Babandererde	Timo Jacobs	GER	4	34	34	9	81	81
21	Alejo Rigoni	Juan Pablo Percossi	ARG	16	16	38	15	85	85
22	Benny Andersen	Mogens Just	DEN	32	25	6	28	91	91
23	Horacio Carabelli	Ubiratan Matos	BRA	20	30	9	37	96	96
24	Peter O'Leary	Tim Goodbody	IRL	15	10	22	53	100	100
25	Robert Stanjek	Markus Koy	GER	35	19	13	39	106	106
26	Xavier Rohart	Pierre Alexis Ponsot	FRA	43	15	46	3	107	107
27	Andrew Macdonald	Brian Fatih	USA	17	13	64	17	111	111
28	Silvio Santoni	Fabio Toccoli	ITA	6	54	26	27	113	113
29	Erik Dahlén	Krister Carlsson	SWE	13	46	25	33	117	117
30	Alberto Barovier	Nando Colaninno	ITA	21	42	20	40	123	123
31	Manuel Voigt	Paul Sradnick	GER	24	39	16	46	125	125
32	Ante Razmilovic	Brian Hammersley	GBR	28	38	23	41	130	130
33	Juan Kouyoumdjian	Steven Erickson	ARG	29	43	29	29	130	130
34	Tibor Tenke	Miklos Berezeti	HUN	25	37	18	52	132	132
35	Dan Lovrovic	Antonio Arapovic	CRO	59	8	45	30	142	142
36	Kunio Suzuki	Daichi Wada	JPN	41	59	21	24	145	145
37	Paul Mckenzie	Philip Toth	AUS	45	18	32	60	155	155
38	Alexander Hagen	Kai Falkentahl	GER	47	31	40	44	162	162
39	Herluf Joergensen	Lars Wegener	DEN	39	49	30	51	169	169
40	Andrew Landenberger	Beat Stegmeier	AUS	33	87 DSQ	5	47	172	172
41	Lars Edwall	Henrik Ljungdahl	SWE	48	52	36	36	172	172
42	Henrik Dannesboe	Vincent Hagin	SUI	34	65	43	38	180	180
43	Flemming Sorensen	Niels Trysoe-Hansen	DEN	23	82	58	19	182	182
44	Sander Jorissen	Erik Veldhuizen	NED	56	36	82	16	190	190
45	Henrik Jörhov	Karl Kristensen	SWE	44	35	61	50	190	190
46	Calle Schröder	Stefan Hemlin	SWE	27	87 DNF	42	35	191	191
47	Andre Mirsky	Marcelo Jordao	BRA	60	23	51	63	197	197
48	Mate Arapov	Ivan Misura	CRO	37	72	59	31	199	199
49	Brian Cramer	Matt Johnston	CAN	51	28	63	62	204	204
50	Kurt Scheidegger	Markus Scheidegger	SUI	46	66	54	45	211	211
51	Fredrik Ljungkvist	Daniel Alm	SWE	40	79	37	58	214	214
52	Konstantin Datsenko	Bazurin Ilya	UKR	36	57	80	43	216	216
53	Philip Carlson	Benjamin Peterson	SWE	70	63	17	70	220	220
54	Sune Carlsson	Dan Anders Carlsson	SWE	74	44	28	76	222	222
55	Hans Oskarsson	Håkan Lundgren	SWE	69	67	39	48	223	223
56	Andrea Fornaro	Riccardo Capociuchi	ITA	65	60	65	34	224	224
57	Joni Leeve	Asko Salminen	FIN	58	64	55	49	226	226
58	Tomas Franzen	Pontus Gabel	SWE	78	45	41	64	228	228
59	Gerhard Weinreich	Alexander Kagl	AUT	82	40	53	56	231	231
60	Pelle Petterson	Anders Ekström	SWE	50	29	75	78	232	232
61	Claude Bonanni	Richard Burgess	USA	52	62	62	59	235	235
62	Jan Strömbeck	Stefan Jacobsson	SWE	75	61	69	32	237	237
63	Ingvar Krook	Henrik Hasselgren	SWE	62	47	72	57	238	238
64	Vasyl Gureyev	Volodymyr Korotkov	UKR	53	74	70	42	239	239
65	Johnny Jensen	Claus Lauritsen	DEN	55	55	78	55	243	243
66	Olle Johansson	Dag Hansson	SWE	73	33	71	67	244	244
67	Roman Juchli	Philipp Juchli	SUI	77	51	52	66	246	246
68	Peter Van Veen	Paul Goeist	NED	57	68	48	74	247	247
69	Regis Berenguier	Laurent Bernaz	FRA	76	53	57	73	259	259
70	Roberto Tomasini Grinover	Gunnar Bahr	AUT	71	69	67	54	261	261
71	Hubert Rauch	Chris Conrads	GER	49	87 BFD	49	77	262	262
72	Juerg Wittich	Christian Trachsel	SUI	72	50	68	72	262	262
73	Christian Paucksch	Christian Knoll	GER	63	73	60	68	264	264
74	Florian von Linde	Tobias Steffens	GER	42	76	76	79	273	273
75	Anders Hoagland	Gunnar Faernert	SWE	79	41	81	75	276	276
76	Jochen Diercks	Herbert Braasch	GER	64	81	66	65	276	276
77	David Tabb	Tom Peyton	GBR	66	70	73	69	278	278
78	Fredrik Fransson	Tomas Åkerman	SWE	81	77	56	71	285	285
79	Arkadiusz Wierzbicki	Krzysztof Pawlowski	POL	61	80	84	61	286	286
80	Daniel Wyss	Urs Joss	SUI	68	58	74	87 DSQ	287	287
81	Benny Nilsson	Stefan Fagerlund Nilsson	SWE	83	78	47	80	288	288
82	Börje Larsson	Carl-Fredrik Larsson	SWE	85	48	79	81	293	293
83	Gösta Eriksson	Björn Beskow	SWE	84	56	77	87 DNF	304	304
84	Andrey Berezhnoy	Sergey Masalov	RUS	67	71	85	82	305	305
85	Dierk Thomsen	Philip Behn	GER	80	75	83	83	321	321
86	Mariusz Modrzynski	Sebastian Moras	POL	87 DNF	83	86	84	340	340