Brits back on top at IFDS World Championships

by Event media/G New on 22 Jan 2006 British teams won both the Sonar and 2.4mR races held on Sunday at the 2006 IFDS Alcoa World Sailing Championships in Perth, Western Australia.

Skandia Team GBR members recovered the lead overall in both classes. John Robertson won Sonar race five from Shimon Ben Yakov (ISR) with former leader Jens Kroker of Germany finishing third to place second overall. This leading pair have almost identical places, both having won two races.

With a south easterly breeze of about 15 knots, all the crews agreed that the conditions were difficult, with big shifts, and fluctuation in strength.

'Very shifty, awful conditions,' commented John Robertson, 'Coming off the south of the bay, so it was pretty tricky really.'

Robertson and his crew rounded the first mark in seventh place, and had to claw his way back through the fleet, 'We got two places on the first run, then on the second beat we got up to second, and passed him on the next rounding, and that was it,' reflected the defending champion.

In the 2.4mR single hander, Helena Lucas of Briton came roaring back with her third win of the series. Heiko Kroeger (GER) her closest rival finished in fifth and is second overall. Second place went to Bjornar Erikstad of Norway with Danny McCoy of Canada in third place.

Lucas had similar comments on the weather, 'Really tricky conditions, I think the seabreeze was trying to come in, and it all got a bit mad, one minute you were in a lull, and the next minute you were in a 20 knot gust, and 30 degree shifts happening as well.'

Fortunes waxed and waned for Lucas, 'I was second at the top mark,'she explained, 'And I dropped to third down the first run, then pulled it back on the second beat, and was leading at the top second time.'

Racing continues with two races on Monday. This Championship, being hosted by the Royal Perth Yacht Club on the Swan River, is the first qualifying event for the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition, with the top seven nations qualifying, subject to IPC approval. The eleven race series finishes on Wednesday 25 January.

Sonar Overall after 5 races:
1 GBR702 John Robertson 1( 1) 2( 2) 5( 5) 2( 2) 1( 1) 11 11
2 GER11 Jens Kroker 6( 6) 1( 1) 2( 2) 1( 1) 3( 3) 13 13
3 ISR1 Dror Cohen 8( 8) 3( 3) 3( 3) 4( 4) 5( 5) 23 23
4 AUS721 Jamie Dunross 3( 3) 5( 5) 1( 1) 9( 9) 7( 7) 25 25
5 NOR1 Jostein Stordahl 5( 5) 4( 4) 9( 9) 3( 3) 8( 8) 29 29
6 ISR5 Shimon Ben Yakov 10( 10) 6( 6) 7( 7) 5( 5) 2( 2) 30 30
7 IRL697 Paul McCarthy 4( 4) 9( 9) 8( 8) 10( 10) 4( 4) 35 35
8 AUS621 Peter Thomson 2( 2) 12( 12) 10( 10) 7( 7) 11( 11) 42 42
9 CAN644 Ken Kelly 7( 7) 11( 11) 14( 14) 8( 8) 6( 6) 46 46
10 IRL694 JohnTwomey 12( 12) 8( 8) 4( 4) 11( 11) 12( 12) 47 47
11 GRE1 Vasilis Christoforou 11( 11) 7( 7) 6( 6) 17(DSQ) 10( 10) 51 51
12 ISR1000 Avi Tzur 9( 9) 10( 10) 12( 12) 12( 12) 13( 13) 56 56
13 AUS716 Stephen Churm 13( 13) 13( 13) 11( 11) 13( 13) 9( 9) 59 59
14 USA732 Jen French 14( 14) 17(DSQ) 13( 13) 6( 6) 14( 14) 64 64
15 JPN1 Hidehiro Kodaira 16( 16) 14( 14) 15( 15) 14( 14) 16( 16) 75 75
16 SIN99 Tan Wei Qiang Jovin 15( 15) 15( 15) 17(DNF) 15( 15) 15( 15) 77 77

2.4mR overall afer 5 races:
1 GBR75 Helena Lucas 1( 1) 1( 1) 2( 2) 11( 11) 1( 1) 16 16
2 GER1 Heiko Kroeger 4( 4) 2( 2) 1( 1) 7( 7) 5( 5) 19 19
3 NOR102 Bjornar Erikstad 2( 2) 3( 3) 19(DNF) 2( 2) 2( 2) 28 28
4 CAN99 Paul Tingley 3( 3) 6( 6) 6( 6) 9( 9) 9( 9) 33 33
5 GBR60 Megan Pascoe 13( 13) 8( 8) 4( 4) 1( 1) 10( 10) 36 36
6 USA109 Roger Cleworth 5( 5) 7( 7) 3( 3) 8( 8) 13( 13) 36 36
7 CAN39 Bruce Millar 6( 6) 17(DNF) 5( 5) 5( 5) 4( 4) 37 37
8 NZL1 Andrew May 12( 12) 5( 5) 11( 11) 3( 3) 8( 8) 39 39
9 CAN1 Danny McCoy 8( 8) 14( 14) 10( 10) 6( 6) 3( 3) 41 41
10 AUS13 Aaron Hill 10( 10) 4( 4) 7( 7) 18(DSQ) 11( 11) 50 50
11 GBR79 Michael Cogswell 7( 7) 11( 11) 12( 12) 4( 4) 16( 16) 50 50
12 USA114 Nick Scandone 9( 9) 9( 9) 8( 8) 18(DNF) 6( 6) 50 50
13 GRE2 George Delikouras 14( 14) 12( 12) 13( 13) 10( 10) 7( 7) 56 56
14 PUR1 Julio Reguero Hernandez 11( 11) 13( 13) 9( 9) 20(DNC) 12( 12) 65 65
15 GBR80 Brian Harding 15( 15) 10( 10) 17( 17) 13( 13) 18( 18) 73 73
16 AUS21 Rachael Cox 16( 16) 15( 15) 16( 16) 18(DNF) 15( 15) 80 80
17 ITA19 Fabio Vignudini 20(DNC) 20(DNC) 15( 15) 12( 12) 17( 17) 84 84
18 ITA84 Olmi Fabrizio 20(DNC) 20(DNC) 14( 14) 18(DNF) 14( 14) 86 86
19 AUS7 Maryanne Ireland 18(DNF) 20(DNC) 20(DNC) 20(DNC) 20(DNC) 98 98

Event website: http://www.2006ifdsworlds.com.au