Star start at ISAF World Champs

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Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams score a win in the Star in race two at the ISAF Sailing World Championships. Image credit: FRIED ELLIOTT/www.friedbits.com

Star start at ISAF World Champs
Date Released: 4 July 2007
From: Jodie Bakewll-White

Star start at ISAF World Champs
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams have kicked off the ISAF Sailing World Championships with a 3rd and a 1st to have a share of the lead at the end of day one.

The Stars and the Tornados were the first two classes to start racing at the ISAF Sailing World Championships being sailed off Cascais, Portugal which lasts eleven days and will decide eleven World Championship titles. National Olympic qualification will be decided for 75% of the places available at Qingdao, China at this regatta.

For the defending Star World Champions this is their first major event together this season, due to William's Americas Cup commitments.

"Since the Americas Cup we have been rekindling our boat handling and teamwork," said Pepper speaking after the first day. "It's an easy transition because Carl is incredibly talented at jumping from boat to boat."

Conditions were cloudy and shifty and Pepper and Williams were able to make solid gains by taking advantage of the favoured right hand side of the course.

French pair Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambaeu share the lead with the kiwi pair also scoring a 3rd and a win racing in a separate fleet. Other strong contenders in the hotly contested Star fleet including Scheidt and Prada (BRA), Percy and Simpson (GBR) and Kusznierewicz and Zycki (POL) are all within the top six at the end of day one.

The other New Zealand pair in the Star, Rohan Lord and Miles Addy started with a 23rd, but improved to finish 5th in the second race. They lie 25th overall

The Stars are scheduled to sail a further four races over the next two days before a rest day, following which the 63 entries will be split into gold and silver fleets.

In the Tornados, the top placed of the three kiwi entries are Brett Sellers and Bruce Kendall, lying 31st overall after two races on day one. There are 49 entries in the two-handed catamaran class and an Olympic berth for the top 11 nations, excluding China who as host nation directly qualifies a place. The same quota is available in the Star class.

Sellers and Kendall were 26th in the first race of the regatta.

"Brett and Bruce had good speed having started on port tack and threaded their way through the fleet and were well placed approaching the top mark," describes their coach, Rex Sellers. "However they lost their way tactically rounding the mark and dropped to finish 26th."

Both the Stars and the Tornados are back on the water tonight (NZ time) for two more races, while the Lasers and Laser Radials kick off.

Eleven more kiwis will get underway with seven New Zealanders in the 149 boat Laser fleet and four in the 109 boat Laser Radial fleet. Each of these classes includes a Yachting New Zealand Olympic Squad sailor - Andrew Murdoch in the Laser, and Jo Aleh in the Laser Radial. Both have picked up multiple medals in the major regattas already sailed this season, and will be hoping for a strong performance.

In other news from Cascais, New Zealand Finn sailor Dan Slater has been elected to the ISAF Athletes' Commission. One representative for each of the eleven Olympic classes is elected by fellow sailors.

Full results and news are available on the regatta website through the link below.

ISAF Sailing World Championships 2007
New Zealand's Current Standings

Star (63 boats)

Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 1st equal
Rohan Lord & Miles Addy - 25th

Tornado (49 boats)

Brett Sellers & Bruce Kendall - 31st
David Shaw & Susan Shaw - 38th
Paul Francis & Aaron Duncan - 49th

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