Scheidt and Prada lead Star Eastern Europeans

by Lynn Fitzpatrick on 22 May 2009
Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada have taken the lead after four races at the Star Eastern European Championship in Hyeres. Thursday’s conditions resembled those of the Qingdao Olympic test events – hazy skies, barely a breath of air and a little chop. Scheidt and Prada’s consistency at the top of the fleet has them in the lead and Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria are performing well in their Wilke Star.

While common wisdom in Hyeres is that the wind goes right during the day, it has done everything but go right during the first two days of racing during the Star Eastern European Championship.

Switzerland’s Flavio Marazzi and Enrico DeMaria gave each other a congratulatory hand shake and broke into smiles after four legs of intense concentration during the first race. They crossed the finish line over two minutes in front of Australia’s Andrew Landenberger and Simon Reffold. Landenberger/Reffold excelled on the runs in the light air, probably because Landenberger, an Olympic medalist in the Tornado, is used to sailing wide angles.

Spain’s Fernando Garcia Lago and Juan Alvarez Desotomayo, sailing hull number 7384, a boat that the US considered using in the 1992 Olympics, finished third in the first race.

Italians, Nicola Celon and Edoardo Natucci grabbed the lead well before the first weather mark of the second race and held onto it. Celon is very familiar with conditions in Hyeres. He won the Melges 24 World Championship in Hyeres two years ago. The Greeks, Aiuilios Papathanasiou and Apostolos Karnoutsos rounded each mark about a minute behind Celon/Natucci and finished second.

Marazzi/DeMaria held off Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, Lars Grael and Renato Moura and George Szabo and Rick Peters and Landenberger/Reffold, to take third place in a close finale for the day.

Ireland's Peter O'Leary and Tim Goodbody slipped from second to sixth but remain in contention with 15 pts. Britain's John Gimson and Ed Greig had a better day to move to 19th.

Star - Positions after 4 races with 1 discard (29 entries) :

1. Scheidt/Prada (BRA) – 1, 8, 4, 4 – 9pts

2. Szabo/Peters (USA) – 10, 1, 5, 7 – 13pts

3. Papathanasiou/Karnoutsos (GRE) – 3, 21, 8, 2 – 13pts

4. Celon/Natucci (FRA) - 7, 6, 19, 1 - 14pts

5. Bernaz/Berenguier (FRA) – 2, 5, 18, 8 – 15pts

6. O'Leary/Goodbody (IRL) - 5, 3, 7, 15 - 15pts

7. Marazzi/DeMaria (SUI)– 24, 12, 1, 3 - 16pts


19. Gimson/Grieg (GBR) - 18, 29, 15, 16 - 49pts


News courtesy of www.worldregattas.com