Para World Sailing Champs – Collisions and chaos in tough conditions

by Bernie Kaaks on 30 Nov 2015 Broken masts, collisions and a tough old day for the sailors at the Para World Sailing Championships as Port Phillip showed its wild side on the third day of competition in Williamstown, Melbourne, Australia.

A warm northerly breeze lured the sailors out of the comfortable surroundings of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria to their respective course areas with no sign of what was to follow.

The first race for all fleets was run in a breeze of 15 knots or so, with gusts to 20 knots and the wind direction swinging wildly in each gust. It was challenging but enjoyable sailing. In the second race however, the breeze built quickly. Strong gusts, reported at 30 knots, caught many crews unawares, with spectacular results.

Israeli and American SKUD18 sailors fell victim to the second race gusts as their masts snapped whilst Puerto Rico's Julio Reguero collided with the committee boat on the 2.4mR race track.

On the SKUD18 course, conditions were trying for all crews in the first race, which was won by Australians Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch ahead of their team mates Amethyst Barnbrook and Brett Pearce, with the Netherlands crew of Rolf Schrama and Sandra Nap third.

In the race that followed, conditions were frightening, with vicious gusts sweeping down the course. Americans Ryan Porteous and Maureen McKinnon launched their spinnaker after rounding the windward mark, only to watch it fill instantly as a gust hit, and snap the mast neatly at the spreaders.

Soon afterwards, the Israeli crew of Hagar and Moshe Zahavi suffered a similar fate, both boats being towed back to the marina. The Australian crew, having established a good lead by the final lap, delayed the deployment of a spinnaker until after they had gybed, and kept a close watch on the Canadian boat closing in behind them. They went on to score another win, with Canada's John McRoberts and Jackie Gray second and the Netherlands' Rolf Schrama and Sandra Nap third.

Total points after dropping the worst are now Australia on six points, Great Britain on 17 and Italy on 21.

At one point during the final race, Julio Reguero (PUR) in the 2.4mR fleet was unable to keep clear of an anchored committee boat during a particularly strong gust, while down the course there were four boats in the hands of support craft. For these little boats with their low freeboard, just keeping then afloat was challenging, and bilge pumps were being used by everyone to pump out water that had swept over them in the high winds. France's Damien Seguin showed his versatility today by winning followed by Australia's Matt Bugg, who was third in both races. Canadian Brian Miller was third in race six.

After six races, dropping the worst, Damien Seguin leads with nine points, from Germany's Heiko Kroeger on 14 and Australian Matt Bugg on 19.

On the Sonar course, the predicted tightening of the competition was clear when the first three boats crossed the finish line almost together, each overlapped with the boat ahead. The Australian crew of Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden started soundly in the centre of the fleet and narrowly led at the first mark from the British and French crews. During the final downwind leg, French skipper Bruno Jourdren broke away from the Australian and British boats, favouring the left as they closed on the finish line. The Australians held their nerve, and with the British boat closing fast behind them, kept the French boat out wide until they gybed back, leaving the Frenchmen to lament what might have been. The finishing order was Australia, France and Britain.

In much stronger conditions during the second race, the British turned the tables, leading the Australians home with the New Zealand crew of Richard Dodson, Chris Sharp and Andrew May in third place. The French boat had their worst result for the series so far, finishing eighth.

Total scores, now incorporating the dropping of each boat's worst score, shows the Australians leading on seven points, ahead of the British crew of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas on 13 points and the French crew on 22.

With severe conditions forecast for tomorrow, teams are already discussing their strategy after today's carnage on the race course.

Full results

 2.4m

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	FRA13	ERDF	Damien Seguin	FRA	9.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	5.0	1.0	[6.0]
2	GER1	AUDI SAP M`POL V`NAS	Heiko Kroeger	GER	14.0	[8.0]	4.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
3	AUS36	MOSHI	Matt Bugg	AUS	19.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	8.0	[9.0]
4	NOR1	NOR1	Bjoernar Erikstad	NOR	27.0	5.0	5.0	10.0	[12.0]	4.0	3.0
5	GBR121	THE BRAIN	Megan Pascoe	GBR	31.0	15.0	6.0	6.0	[16.0]	3.0	1.0
6	GBR75	GBR 75	Helena Lucas	GBR	31.0	4.0	9.0	3.0	10.0	[49.0U]	5.0
7	CAN39	LIFE OF BRIAN	Bruce Millar	CAN	41.0	19.0	2.0	[19.0]	1.0	12.0	7.0
8	USA7	KANALOA	Dee Smith	USA	43.0	[17.0]	7.0	9.0	6.0	10.0	11.0
9	GER44	AUDI SAP EWE	Lasse Kloetzing	GER	46.0	2.0	13.0	13.0	[15.0]	6.0	12.0
10	ITA104	ITA104	Antonio Squizzato	ITA	46.0	7.0	10.0	14.0	4.0	11.0	[16.0]
11	AUT1	AUT1	Sven Reiger	AUT	53.0	12.0	[49.0R]	12.0	14.0	7.0	8.0
12	FRA5	NAPPY BOAT	Kevin Cantin	FRA	54.0	9.0	20.0	5.0	7.0	13.0	[22.0]
13	FIN173	VOITTO II	Niko Salomaa	FIN	60.0	6.0	14.0	11.0	[22.0]	14.0	15.0
14	CZE7	CZE7	Daniel Bina	CZE	62.0	10.0	17.0	16.0	[18.0]	5.0	14.0
15	PUR14	NONE	Julio Reguero	PUR	79.4	21.4G	[49.0R]	7.0	17.0	21.0	13.0
16	ESP7	SAMBA PATI	Antonio Maestre	ESP	81.0	13.0	15.0	[28.0]	26.0	9.0	18.0
17	SWE1	SKOTA HEM	Fia Fjelddahl	SWE	86.0	11.0	18.0	21.0	[25.0]	16.0	20.0
18	GBR3	GBR 3	Will Street	GBR	91.0	[49.0F]	26.0	8.0	29.0	18.0	10.0
19	ESP15	FUNDACIO DAMM	Montes Vorcy Arturo	ESP	94.0	[49.0F]	23.0	18.0	13.0	17.0	23.0
20	AUS40	MORNA 7	Peter Thompson	AUS	100.0	25.0	[35.0]	20.0	23.0	28.0	4.0
21	ESP914	RFEV - IBERDROLA	Rafa Andarias	ESP	100.0	27.0	[29.0]	24.0	11.0	19.0	19.0
22	ARG2	ARG2	Tomas Saez Raffaelli	ARG	102.0	22.0	11.0	[29.0]	19.0	23.0	27.0
23	AUS38	ROCKY	Neil Patterson	AUS	102.0	18.0	19.0	15.0	21.0	[49.0U]	29.0
24	MAS33	MAS33	Matrin Al Mustakim	MAS	104.0	16.0	21.0	27.0	[27.0]	15.0	25.0
25	ARG1	NO NAME	Juan Ocampo	ARG	106.0	23.0	22.0	17.0	20.0	24.0	[24.0]
26	NZL105	NZL105	Paul Francis	NZL	108.0	49.0Q	8.0	25.0	9.0	[49.0U]	17.0
27	RUS8	VLADIVOSTOK	Dmitrii Khonich	RUS	111.0	14.0	[37.0]	23.0	28.0	25.0	21.0
28	POR5	VELA SOLIDARIA	Joao Pinto	POR	122.0	[49.0F]	27.0	36.0	8.0	20.0	31.0
29	RUS4	VORONEJ	Nikolai Uliashev	RUS	123.0	20.0	31.0	26.0	24.0	22.0	[49.0Q]
30	GRE1	GRE1	Paterakis Nikos	GRE	139.0	21.0	25.0	33.0	32.0	[35.0]	28.0
31	ESP16	PUERTO SHERRY	Borja Melgarejo	ESP	151.0	49.0O	12.0	22.0	38.0	[49.0Q]	30.0
32	POR2	FITAS	Manuel Soares	POR	151.0	31.0	16.0	38.0	37.0	29.0	[49.0U]
33	JPN1	JPN1	Takumi Niwa	JPN	152.0	26.0	24.0	40.0	30.0	[49.0R]	32.0
34	CZE4	VIKTOR I	Alexander Sadilek	CZE	157.0	34.0	[42.0]	30.0	41.0	26.0	26.0
35	EST1	EST1	Anre Nomme	EST	160.0	24.0	34.0	35.0	[40.0]	33.0	34.0
36	POL8	JOWITA	Andrzej Puchalski	POL	163.0	28.0	28.0	[45.0]	42.0	32.0	33.0
37	POR1	TRETAS	Fernando Pinto	POR	165.0	29.0	[40.0]	34.0	36.0	31.0	35.0
38	AUS25	PATCH	Mark Durnan	AUS	169.0	30.0	36.0	[41.0]	34.0	30.0	39.0
39	RUS2	SEVEN FEET	Egor Kamalov	RUS	171.0	[49.0F]	41.0	31.0	31.0	27.0	41.0
40	MAS22	MAS22	Ani Azmi	MAS	174.0	[49.0F]	30.0	39.0	33.0	34.0	38.0
41	ITA107	ITA107	Gianluca Raggi	ITA	174.0	33.0	33.0	37.0	35.0	36.0	[49.0F]
42	POL7	ZEBRA	Piotr Nowak	POL	176.0	32.0	38.0	32.0	[39.0]	37.0	37.0
43	HKG6	THE KAPLAN	Yuen Wai Foo	HKG	184.0	35.0	32.0	[44.0]	43.0	38.0	36.0
44	KOR2	2.4MR	Lee Changhoon	KOR	202.0	36.0	39.0	42.0	44.0	41.0	[45.0]
45	HKG5	SWIRE FLYER	Kin Wah Lam	HKG	208.0	38.0	45.0	43.0	[45.0]	40.0	42.0
46	HKG7	INSPIRATION	Chi Yeung Puk	HKG	212.0	39.0	44.0	46.0	[46.0]	39.0	44.0
47	HKG1	VICTORIA 1026	Ping Cho	HKG	213.0	37.0	43.0	47.0	[47.0]	43.0	43.0
48	GUA165	KEEP GOING	Rodolfo Quezada	GUA	216.0	40.0	46.0	48.0	[48.0]	42.0	40.0

 Skud 18

Place	Sail No	Skipper	Crew	From	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	AUS047	Daniel Fitzgibbon	Liesl Tesch	AUS	6.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	[2.0]
2	GBR077	Alexandra Rickham	Niki Birrell	GBR	17.0	7.0	4.0	[13.0]	1.0	2.0	3.0
3	ITA054	Marco Gualandris	Marta Zanetti	ITA	21.0	6.0	3.0	[8.0]	3.0	4.0	5.0
4	AUS044	Amethyst Barnbrook	Brett Pearce	AUS	23.0	4.0	2.0	3.0	5.0	[18.0S]	9.0
5	NED69	Rolf Schrama	Sandra Nap	NED	24.0	3.0	8.0	[9.0]	4.0	3.0	6.0
6	POL082	Monika Gibes	Piotr Cichocki	POL	26.0	5.0	[10.0]	6.0	6.0	8.0	1.0
7	CAN058	John Mcroberts	Jackie Gay	CAN	27.0	2.0	6.0	[10.0]	7.0	5.0	7.0
8	USA071	Ryan Porteous	Maureen Mckinnon	USA	29.0	[18.0F]	7.0	2.0	10.0	6.0	4.0
9	NED70	Vera Voorbach	Jan-Rein Van Essevel	NED	41.0	10.0	[12.0]	5.0	8.0	7.0	11.0
10	NZL076	Tim Dempsey	Gemma Fletcher	NZL	44.0	8.0	11.0	4.0	11.0	10.0	[14.0]
11	USA074	Sarah Skeels	Cindy Walker	USA	45.0	9.0	[13.0]	7.0	12.0	9.0	8.0
12	SIN083	Jovin Tan	Desiree Lim	SIN	47.0	12.0	5.0	11.0	9.0	[14.0]	10.0
13	ISR062	Hagar Zahavi	Moshe Zahavi	ISR	66.0	[18.0F]	9.0	15.0	15.0	12.0	15.0
14	NZL060	Paul Webber	Amanda Beaver	NZL	66.0	11.0	15.0	16.0	13.0	11.0	[16.0]
15	ESP039	Sergio Roig	Violeta Del Reino	ESP	69.0	18.0F	14.0	12.0	[18.0Q]	13.0	12.0
16	MAS037	Nurul Amilin Balawi	Junell Mustafah	MAS	69.0	13.0	[16.0]	14.0	14.0	15.0	13.0
17	AUS030	Russell Phillips	Kim Ballantyne	AUS	84.0	18.0C	[18.0F]	17.0	16.0	16.0	17.0

 Sonar

Place	Sail No	Skipper	Crew	Crew.	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	AUS1	Colin Harrison	Jonathan Harris	Russell Boaden	7.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	[2.0]	1.0	1.0
2	GBR748	John Robertson	Hannah Stodel	Steve Thomas	13.0	1.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	2.0	[9.0]
3	FRA1	Jourdren Bruno	Flageul Eric	Vimont-Vicary Nicola	22.0	[8.0]	2.0	1.0	6.0	7.0	6.0
4	NZL1	Richard Dodson	Chris Sharp	Andrew May	25.0	3.0	[11.0]	5.0	10.0	5.0	2.0
5	CAN835	Paul Tingley	Logan Campbell	Scott Lutes	26.0	5.0	5.0	8.0	4.0	4.0	[8.0]
6	NOR1	Aleksander Wang-Hans	Marie Solberg	Per Kristiansen	27.0	9.0	6.0	[19.0Q]	1.0	8.0	3.0
7	IRL844	John Twomey	Ian Costelloe	Austin O'Carroll	30.0	4.0	4.0	[12.0]	7.0	11.0	4.0
8	USA1	Rick Doerr	Bradley Kendell	Hugh Freund	31.0	6.0	[8.0]	7.0	5.0	6.0	7.0
9	ISR1	Dror Cohen	Arnon Efrati	Shimon Ben Yakov	35.0	10.0	9.0	[11.0]	8.0	3.0	5.0
10	GER11	Jens Kroker	Siegmund Mainka	Robert Prem	42.0	7.0	10.0	6.0	9.0	10.0	[11.0]
11	GBR747	Craig Wood	Steven Palmer	Liam Cattermole	48.0	11.0	[15.0]	3.0	12.0	12.0	10.0
12	ITA720	Cristiano Dagaro	Fabrizio Solazzo	Gian Bachisio Pira	55.0	12.0	7.0	10.0	[14.0]	13.0	13.0
13	USA810	Andrew Fisher	Dan Evans	Thomas Brown	56.0	13.0	13.0	9.0	[13.0]	9.0	12.0
14	ESP1	Francisco Llobet	Hector Garcia	Manuel Gimeno	67.0	[17.0]	14.0	13.0	11.0	14.0	15.0
15	AUS716	Jason Elwes	Lindsay Mason	Stephen Churm	70.0	14.0	12.0	15.0	[16.0]	15.0	14.0
16	ISV3	David Flaherty	James Kerr	Antonio Sanpere	78.0	15.0	17.0	14.0	[17.0]	16.0	16.0
17	JPN3	Shinya Yamamoto	Junichi Ohnuma	Koji Ishii	80.0	16.0	16.0	16.0	15.0	17.0	[17.0]
18	KOR1	Yun Dongjin	Kang Cheonsik	Choi Kibum	89.0	18.0	18.0	17.0	18.0	18.0	[18.0]