2012 Laser Radial Men's World Championship – the wrap
by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World Team on 18 Jul 2012
Tristan Brown - Laser Radial Mens World Championship 2012 Mike Kenyon
http://kenyonsportsphotos.com.au/
West Australian Tristan Brown has won the 2012 World Laser Radial Men’s Championship, which was sailed out of Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron from 12–17 July.
Lightly built 22 year old Tristan finished fourth at the 2011 Laser Radial Worlds in La Rochelle France. He won the last Australian Laser Radial Championship and before that won both the Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne regattas in the Radial.
Tristan held the regatta lead for the last three days after a series of mid regatta wins.
This afternoon he was smiling broadly as he derigged his Radial on the green RQ lawns.
‘Getting those mid event race wins is pretty good as I haven’t actually won a race at a Worlds before.
‘Last year I came very close about five times, got second in quite a few races but it is good to get a few wins. I am very happy with my consistency across this regatta.
‘The last two days were pretty patchy; the breeze was coming in waves, between 5-15 knots.
‘Today the final with two races was pretty stressful. The wind was shifting around all over the place. I had to keep an eye on Matt (Wearn) because he was the closest. But we both managed to do enough to keep our spots. And it finished off nicely with the wind at the end on the last race, so it was good. It was similar to other days in that the breeze got down to about five knots and at other times around 10 or 12 knots, so it was ranging quite a bit.’
‘My comebacks through the fleet were what saved me, because quite often I’d be rounding the top mark in twentieth or thirtieth place and then I’d work my way back through the fleet. Just saving those points each time kept adding up I guess, but I’ve had a bit of practice at getting bad starts.’
Matthew Wearn maintained second place overall for the final two days of the regatta.
Matt explained ‘The first race was a bit dicey and I had a pretty deep result which didn’t help, but I finished off with a fourth I think.’
‘I was ninth after about the third day of racing so I was happy to finish off strongly.’
‘I’ve sailed in these conditions before but with a full rig, Olympic class mainly, so I’m actually not a Radial sailor. I’m a bit heavy for the boat so when it’s windier it’s an advantage but when it’s lighter it’s a disadvantage.’
Tristan interjected, ‘But Matt’s skillful enough to make it work and the conditions suited us. The conditions actually have been quite similar to Freshwater Bay on the Swan River where Matt and I come from.’
(Tristan and Matthew made the long journey from Perth, Western Australia to compete at this World Championship.)
Victorian sailor Jeremy O’Connell who finished 11th at the 2011 Worlds eclipsed New Zealand’s Mahia Pepper for third place.
Pepper commented ‘Yesterday cost me any chance at the title. I capsized and I got stuck under my boom in one race then in the third race I overlaid the top mark by 500 metres.
‘Today I wasn’t getting the shifts. It was the right wind strength for me but I just couldn’t hold it together.’
Principal Race Officer Kevin Wilson said, ‘Today the wind was increasing, we sailed the first race in 5-9 knots and then the second was 8-10 knots for the whole race, and the direction held at 130 degrees south east for both races today. The last race was a very good clean race with good pressure.’
‘It was an excellent day to finish the regatta. The breeze came in nicely, but it picked up and if we had stayed for the third race we might have had trouble.’
Wilson agreed it could be stressful for the winner to defend first place. ‘If you want to go one side you can lose big places so you have to look at where the wind is coming from and play the lifts and knocks and also use the tide because the current can have a big effect on racing.
‘And when you’re trying to defend first place it can be very stressful. If the other sailors go the other way then all of a sudden you can be caught out and you can be back in the pack with a bad race.
‘But Tristan has been sailing very consistently, very well with all his ‘count’ races in the top ten.
‘Congratulations to Tristan Brown, Matthew Wearn and Jeremy O’Connell on gaining first, second and third places in this World Championship.’
Results - Top twenty:
|
Rank
|
Ent-Sail
No
|
Name
|
Sailor
ID
|
R1
|
R2
|
R3
|
R4
|
R5
|
R6
|
R7
|
R8
|
R9
|
R10
|
R11
|
R12
|
Total
|
Nett
|
|
1st
|
202854
|
Brown Tristan
|
AUSTB13
|
1.0
|
4.0
|
6.0
|
(20.0)
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
5.0
|
1.0
|
(9.0)
|
5.0
|
7.0
|
1.0
|
62.0
|
33.0
|
|
2nd
|
153160
|
Wearn Matthew
|
AUSMW34
|
3.0
|
15.0
|
17.0
|
(22.0)
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
7.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
(18.0)
|
4.0
|
98.0
|
58.0
|
|
3rd
|
197284
|
OConnell Jeremy
|
AUSJO5
|
8.0
|
6.0
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
13.0
|
(23.0)
|
2.0
|
10.0
|
15.0
|
(53.0 BFD)
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
140.0
|
64.0
|
|
4th
|
185806
|
Pepper Mahia
|
NZLMP9
|
4.0
|
2.0
|
8.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
6.0
|
(28.0)
|
13.0
|
12.0
|
12.0
|
13.0
|
(16.0)
|
118.0
|
74.0
|
|
5th
|
199104
|
Smith Daniel
|
AUSDS33
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
8.0
|
16.0
|
(26.0)
|
17.0
|
4.0
|
8.0
|
6.0
|
21.0
|
(22.0)
|
132.0
|
84.0
|
|
6th
|
192624
|
Kennedy Mitchell
|
AUSMK2
|
5.0
|
(30.0)
|
16.0
|
14.0
|
6.0
|
8.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
(53.0 BFD)
|
19.0
|
17.0
|
177.0
|
94.0
|
|
7th
|
202810
|
Walkemeyer Ben
|
AUSBW14
|
12.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
21.0
|
(25.0)
|
11.0
|
18.0
|
8.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
16.0
|
(31.0)
|
154.0
|
98.0
|
|
8th
|
198115
|
Dunning Beck Logan John
|
NZLLD6
|
(30.0)
|
(33.0)
|
24.0
|
9.0
|
14.0
|
9.0
|
10.0
|
11.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
2.0
|
20.0
|
167.0
|
104.0
|
|
9th
|
199111
|
Perez Garcia-duran Alejandro
|
ESPAA20
|
6.0
|
17.0
|
10.0
|
(27.0)
|
2.0
|
5.0
|
12.0
|
14.0
|
(25.0)
|
16.0
|
10.0
|
12.0
|
156.0
|
104.0
|
|
10th
|
203223
|
Franklin Benjamin
|
AUSBF3
|
11.0
|
(28.0)
|
20.0
|
26.0
|
19.0
|
3.0
|
19.0
|
6.0
|
18.0
|
(53.0 BFD)
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
211.0
|
130.0
|
|
11th
|
199215
|
Roberts James
|
NZLJR6
|
(27.0)
|
11.0
|
13.0
|
4.0
|
9.0
|
20.0
|
23.0
|
18.0
|
(24.0)
|
10.0
|
15.0
|
13.0
|
187.0
|
136.0
|
|
12th
|
202599
|
Lilley Jake
|
AUSJL12
|
35.0
|
16.0
|
9.0
|
(40.0)
|
10.0
|
4.0
|
7.0
|
9.0
|
13.0
|
1.0
|
35.0
|
(53.0 OCS)
|
232.0
|
139.0
|
|
13th
|
183535
|
de Trazegnies Jean Paul
|
PERJD1
|
9.0
|
24.0
|
7.0
|
(36.0)
|
7.0
|
15.0
|
6.0
|
21.0
|
28.0
|
19.0
|
(53.0 DNF)
|
9.0
|
234.0
|
145.0
|
|
14th
|
192612
|
Lane George
|
NZLGL2
|
16.0
|
8.0
|
27.0
|
3.0
|
5.0
|
31.0
|
11.0
|
(43.0)
|
34.0
|
7.0
|
4.0
|
(53.0 OCS)
|
242.0
|
146.0
|
|
15th
|
189794
|
Davids Keith
|
USAKD53
|
18.0
|
32.0
|
2.0
|
(53.0 OCS)
|
24.0
|
7.0
|
22.0
|
(33.0)
|
14.0
|
13.0
|
6.0
|
15.0
|
239.0
|
153.0
|
|
16th
|
198363
|
Puopolo Andrew
|
USAAP58
|
7.0
|
20.0
|
12.0
|
(33.0)
|
12.0
|
24.0
|
27.0
|
17.0
|
(33.0)
|
26.0
|
27.0
|
2.0
|
240.0
|
174.0
|
|
17th
|
187268
|
Dietrich Tomas
|
ARGTD1
|
15.0
|
13.0
|
29.0
|
(42.0)
|
15.0
|
42.0
|
13.0
|
12.0
|
5.0
|
(53.0 BFD)
|
5.0
|
26.0
|
270.0
|
175.0
|
|
18th
|
162626
|
Kennedy Mark
|
AUSMK7
|
14.0
|
23.0
|
3.0
|
23.0
|
11.0
|
10.0
|
36.0
|
(37.0)
|
7.0
|
14.0
|
(40.0)
|
35.0
|
253.0
|
176.0
|
|
19th
|
201506
|
Vincent Thomas
|
AUSTV3
|
25.0
|
5.0
|
(31.0)
|
18.0
|
21.0
|
25.0
|
16.0
|
19.0
|
6.0
|
24.0
|
(28.0)
|
19.0
|
237.0
|
178.0
|
|
20th
|
199225
|
Kempkers Matthew
|
NZLMK10
|
29.0
|
7.0
|
15.0
|
13.0
|
28.0
|
12.0
|
20.0
|
(32.0)
|
29.0
|
21.0
|
(31.0)
|
6.0
|
243.0
|
180.0
|
Full Results
Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron website
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