Gold and Silver for Brits at IFDS Worlds in Perth

by RYA / Lindsey Bell on 26 Jan 2006 British Sonar sailors John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas secured their second consecutive world title for Skandia Team GBR today at the 2006 Alcoa IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships in Perth, Australia.

Helena Lucas also clinched silver for Britain in the single-handed 2.4mR class.

The Sonar trio mastered the tricky conditions on the Swan River to successfully defend the world crown they won in Denmark back in September, making Robertson the first skipper in the history of disabled Sonar sailing to defend the World Championship title.

By finishing amongst the top seven ranked nations in both classes at the Perth event, Skandia Team GBR has already guaranteed its berths for both the Sonar and 2.4mR fleets at the Paralympic regatta in 2008.

The pressure was on heading into the final day of competition today at the Royal Perth Yacht Club, after racing was cancelled on Tuesday due to bad weather. Robertson, Stodel and Thomas were tied on points with German rival Jens Kroker’s boat, while Helena Lucas had been knocked down to third place after a disqualification following a protest in the first race on Monday.

With one last push, Robertson’s team secured two firsts and a second from the three races held on the final day and clinched victory with a 12 point margin ahead of Kroker in second and Norway’s Jostein Stordahl in third on equal points, but with the German ahead on countback.

'The others made it very difficult for themselves,' said Sunderland’s Robertson on their victory. 'The Germans nailed themselves to the pin on the starting line twice.'

With the three races held on Wednesday, Lucas was able to discard Monday’s disqualification and posted a sixth, a second and an equal third to boost her to second place overall and take silver behind German Heiko Kroger, who claims his seventh world title.

Fellow Skandia Team GBR 2.4 mR sailors Megan Pascoe and Michael Cogswell finished fifth and twelfth respectively.

Sonar final positions:
John Robertson 15
Jens Kroker 27
Jostein Stordahl 27
Jamie Dunross 31
Dror Cohen 36
Shimon Ben Yakov 37
Paul McCarthy 43
Peter Thomson 60
Ken Kelly 62
Avi Tzur 63
JohnTwomey 65
Vasilis Christoforou 83
Stephen Churm 90
Jen French 92
Hidehiro Kodaira 117
Tan Wei Qiang Jovin 118

2.4mR final positions:
Heiko Kroeger 17
Helena Lucas 20.5
Bjornar Erikstad 30
Nick Scandone 46
Megan Pascoe 47
Bruce Millar 50
Paul Tingley 50
Roger Cleworth 50
Danny McCoy 54
Aaron Hill 57.5
Andrew May 66
Michael Cogswell 69
George Delikouras 83
Fabrizio Olmi 92
Julio Reguero Hernandez 93
Rachael Cox 121
Brian Harding 122
Fabio Vignudini 125
Maryanne Ireland 153

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