Star World Championship - Americans claim race win in Malcesine
by Star Class World Championship on 5 Jul 2014
Arnis Baltins and Augie Diaz (USA) Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League
Today, July 4th, at the Star World Championship, American team Augie Diaz with crew Arnis Baltins in USA 8465 have more to celebrate than their American holiday: Independence Day. In the pivotal, and ultimately dramatic Race 5, USA 8465 Diaz/Baltins won their first race of the 2014 event and after the calculation of a drop race, maintain a position in the top five of the overall standings.
As the 12:30 pm scheduled first warning time for Race 5 neared, the Northerly Peler wind began to die and the Race Committee was once again forced to postpone the Star fleet onshore. After one short hour, the Southerly Ora breeze had completely filled in and for the first time during this event, the fleet was all clear at the start. The intense battle for victory in Race 5 had begun with a drag race to the left shoreline of Lake Garda to avoid a foul tide. Italian team ITA 8491 Diego Negri with crew Sergio Lambertenghi and Greek team GRE 8434 Emilios Papathanasiou with crew Antonis Tsotras were the most successful in utilizing the favored, left side of the course and consistently exchanging the lead for the whole first leg.
Greek team GRE 8434 Papathanasiou/Tsotras edged out ITA 8491 Negri/Lambertenghi and rounded the weather mark in first place, however their lead was short lived.
American team USA 8465 Diaz/Baltins, with incredible speed and keen understanding of the current and wind patterns, attacked from behind and took a commanding lead. Throughout the following two legs, USA 8465 Diaz/Baltins continued to control the fleet until an unforeseeable 100 degree right shift shortly after rounding the leeward gate mark for the last time.
Several other competitors including, NOR 8317 Eivind Melleby with crew Bruno Prada and GER 8340 Robert Stanjek with crew Frithjof Kleen, received the new breeze just before rounding the gate and were able to take advantage of the right shift early by heading up the middle of the lake immediately after rounding. USA 8465 Diaz/Baltins lost all of their once 200 meter lead in a matter of seconds and fought hard to cover chasing teams NOR 8317 Melleby/Prada and BRA 8474 Lars Grael with crew Samuel Goncalves as the group sailed toward the finish line.
On their approach to the finish, NOR 8317 Melleby/Prada lead USA 8465 Diaz/Baltins by just a boat length on the port layline to the pin end of the line. Within the final three feet of the race course, NOR 8317 Melleby/Prada made an error in calling the location of the finish line marks and ended up missing pin end of the line entirely, allowing USA 8465 Diaz/Baltins to sneak in and take the winning gun at the last second. NOR 8317 Melleby/Prada was forced to circle back in order to cross the finish line properly, and luckily still managed to place second. Brazilian team BRA 8474 Grael/Goncalves finished in a respectable third place.
As the 92nd edition of the International Star Class World Championship progresses onto Race Day 6 tomorrow, the final race day in the series, German team Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen in GER 8340 lead the event by 10 points over second place USA 8465 Augie Diaz and Arnis Baltins. Eivind Melleby with crew Bruno Prada in NOR 8317 currently sit in third place overall with 24 points total, and Italian team Diego Negri with crew Sergio Lambertenghi in ITA 8491 and Brazilian team Marcelo Fuchs with crew Ronald Seifert in BRA 8398 are tied for fourth place with 26 points total.
Augie Diaz, Race 5 Winner 'We are fast at the moment and that means everything in this fleet.' commented Augie Diaz. 'It is difficult to put a plan in place when there are so many well sailed boats but when you get out in the front, you can stick to your game plan a lot easier. We will see how fast we are tomorrow but it is going to be tough to catch up Robert and Freda (nickname for Frithjoff Kleen). We will just try to have a good start and take it from there.'
Race 5 Results
No
|
Numero
|
Nome
|
Punti
|
5
|
1
|
USA 8465
|
Diaz Augie, 06-Giu-1954, Arnis Baltins, Coral Reef YC
|
1,0
|
1
|
2
|
NOR 8317
|
Melleby Eivind, 19-Apr-1972, Bruno Prada, Royal Norwegian, KNS
|
2,0
|
2
|
3
|
BRA 8474
|
Grael Lars Schmidt, 02-Set-1964, Samuel Goncalves, Iate Clube de Brasilia
|
3,0
|
3
|
4
|
GER 8340
|
Stanjek Robert, 05-Lug-1981, Frithjof Kleen
|
4,0
|
4
|
5
|
GRE 8434
|
Papathanasiou Emilios, 05-Ago-1973, Antonis Tsotras, Olympiacos
|
5,0
|
5
|
6
|
BRA 8210
|
Grael Torben Schmidt, 22-Lug-1960, Guilherme de Almeida, Rio Yacht Club
|
6,0
|
6
|
7
|
ITA 8491
|
Negri Diego, 16-Apr-1971, Sergio Lambertenghi
|
7,0
|
7
|
8
|
BRA 8398
|
Fuchs Marcelo, 24-Giu-1961, Ronald Seifert, YC Santo Amaro
|
8,0
|
8
|
9
|
USA 8320
|
Szabo George, 07-Giu-1970, Edouardo Natucci, San Diego Yacht Club
|
9,0
|
9
|
10
|
USA 8335
|
Reynolds Mark, 11-Feb-1955, Beppe Oggioni, San Diego Yacht Club
|
10,0
|
10
|
11
|
GER 8442
|
Polgar Johannes, 25-Ago-1977, Markus Koy, Norddeutscher
|
11,0
|
11
|
12
|
CRO 8339
|
Lovrovic Jr Marin, 16-Giu-1973, Marin Lovrovic Sr, YC Galeb
|
12,0
|
12
|
13
|
ITA 8242
|
Boggi Lucio, 19-Nov-1968, Vongher Alessandro, CN Marina di Carrara
|
13,0
|
13
|
14
|
CRO 7287
|
Arapov Mate, 25-Feb-1976, Ante Sitic, JK Mornar Split
|
14,0
|
14
|
15
|
BRA 8390
|
Pascolato Alessandro, 16-Mag-1943, Henry Boening, Iate Clube de Rio de Janeiro
|
15,0
|
15
|
16
|
GER 8450
|
Merkelbach Hubert, 18-Giu-1963, Gerrit Bartel, Bodensee YC Ueberlingen
|
16,0
|
16
|
17
|
BRA 8287
|
Reis Luiz Andre, 15-Ott-1951, Antonio Moreira, iate Clube de Brasilia
|
17,0
|
17
|
18
|
FRA 8237
|
Rohart Xavier, 07-Gen-1968, Serge Pulfer, Centre Fosseen de Voile
|
18,0
|
18
|
19
|
AUT 8423
|
Nehammer Christian, 26-Mag-1976, Florian Urban
|
19,0
|
19
|
20
|
SWE 8446
|
Lofstedt Tom, 18-Mag-1954, Jesper Sundman
|
20,0
|
20
|
21
|
BRA 8172
|
Bellotti Marcelo, 22-Nov-1985, Arthur Lopes
|
21,0
|
21
|
22
|
UKR 8205
|
Khashina Denis, 14-Mag-1970, Dmitriy Mechetin
|
22,0
|
22
|
23
|
ITA 7988
|
Benamati Michele, 08-Mag-1994, Luca Maffezzoli
|
23,0
|
23
|
24
|
SUI 8476
|
Ryffel Juerg, 05-Giu-1958, Alex Gouda, YCR
|
24,0
|
24
|
25
|
SWE 8352
|
Edwall Lars, 08-Giu-1959, Hakan Lundgren, Lerkil BS
|
25,0
|
25
|
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