| Almost perfect day for Mitch - Seawind F18 Worlds |
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Weather conditions were perfect, the south easterly blowing at 16-18 knots, the sun shining and the sky blue. Spectators on the beach enjoyed the action as the F18's flew around the race course. The triple F18 World Champion Mitch Booth won the first race of the day, Race 6 in the series and was leading Race 7 when, just three hundred metres from the finish, he broke a halyard and his spinnaker came down. After a general recall the fleet got away cleanly in Race 8 and Booth and Nieuwenhuis (NED) immediately showed their preference for the conditions, sailing clear of the fleet. Besson and Jarlegan (FRA) were second around the mark, with Heemskerk and Rasley (NED) third, twelve seconds in arrears. Bundock and Ashby were fourth, after going out to the right of the course. Daniel and Stunzi (USA) were fifth. Heading towards the next mark, Booth and Nieuwenhuis continued their dominance of the race, rounding twenty one seconds ahead of Besson and Arnaud. Heemskerk and Rasley were third, with Bundock and Ashby moving up from sixth to fourth. Daniel and Stunzi were fifth. At the next mark, Booth and Nieuwenhuis were five seconds ahead of Besson and Jarlegan, with Heemskerk and Rasley twenty six seconds further back. Bundock and Ashby were still fourth, with Collet and McDonald (AUS) in fifth, ten seconds behind them. At the third mark the top four places remained the same. Collett and McDonald moved up to fifth, swapping spots with Daniel and Stunzi. Booth and Nieuwenhuis crossed the line way ahead of Besson and Jarlegan, with Bundock and Ashby, twenty two seconds further back, but moving up one place from the last mark rounding, to take third. Heemskerk and Rasley were three seconds behind them, then Collett and McDonald a further fourteen seconds in arrears. Styles and Peel finished sixth, Daniel and Stunzi seventh, and the French pairing of Thibault Vauchel and Bourgnon Yvan finished in eighth. Brouwer and van Leeuwen were ninth and Mourniac and Citeau finished tenth. Results Race 8 - subject to protest 29 Mitch Booth Pim Nieuwenhuis NED NED8 29 1 1 47 Billy Besson Arnaud Jarlegan FRA FRA658 47 2 2 23 Darren Bundock Glenn Ashby AUS AUS7 23 3 3 77 Mischa Heemskerk Cristopher Rasley NED NED007 77 4 4 24 Brad Collett Lucas Mcdonald AUS AUS18 24 5 5 38 Hugh Styles Tom Peel GBR GBR007 38 6 6 53 Robbie Daniel Hunter Stunzi USA USA121 53 7 7 66 Thibault Vauchel Bourgnon Yvan FRA FRA8 66 8 8 37 Carolijn Brouwer Jeroen Van leeuwen BEL BEL7 37 9 9 60 Jean-Christophe Mourniac Franck Citeau FRA FRA1 60 10 10 Race 9, and a perfect afternoon down at the beach with the breeze holding steady, still a postcard 16-18 knots. After two general recalls, the F18 fleet started cleanly on the third attempt, with Bundock and Ashby (AUS) and Booth and Nieuwenhuis (NED) starting on the pin end of the line. They went left, followed by fifty percent of the fleet. Bundock and Ashby and Booth and Nieuwenhuis started left and stayed left, coming into the next mark from the port layline. Out on the right of the course, Collett and McDonald made big gains, making up for their ordinary start. At the first mark, Besson and Jarlegan (FRA) had a good lead over Styles and Peel (GBR), with Booth and Nieuwenhuis (NED) third. Then followed Bundock and Ashby (AUS), Daniel and Stunzi (USA) and Collett and McDonald (AUS). The leading group tightened up coming into the mark as the breeze continued to build gradually. At the next mark Booth and Nieuwenhuis moved up from third into the lead, with a gap to Besson and Jarlegan in second. Bundock and Ashby moved up a place to be third, four seconds behind Besson. Styles and Peel dropped back to fourth, with Daniel and Stunzi maintaining their fifth place, fourteen seconds in arrears of the Brits. Echavarri and Paz Blanco (ESP) moved up from ninth to sixth. Heemskerk and Rasley maintained their seventh place, with Collett and McDonald dropping back from sixth to eight place. Booth and Nieuwenhuis held a big lead over the fleet as they approached the next mark. They had made a huge gain on the right, with their lead probably twenty five boat lengths over Bundock and Ashby, who came up on the left hand side of the course. Styles and Peel were third, then a gap to Daniel and Stunzi, with Echavarri and Paz Blanco (ESP) just four seconds back. Booth and Nieuwenhuis' lead was unassailable, they went on to win easily from Bundock and Ashby. Echavarri and Paz Blanco came flying in from left, and so did another group of F18's out on the right. There was nothing between them and it was difficult to pick who finished where. In the end it was Besson and Jarlegan fourth, Heemskerk and Rasley fifth, from Styles and Peel. Results Race 9 - subject to protest 29 Mitch Booth Pim Nieuwenhuis NED NED8 29 1 1 23 Darren Bundock Glenn Ashby AUS AUS7 23 2 2 36 Fernando Echavarri Anton Paz Blanco ESP ESP2207 36 3 3 47 Billy Besson Arnaud Jarlegan FRA FRA658 47 4 4 77 Mischa Heemskerk Cristopher Rasley NED NED007 77 5 5 38 Hugh Styles Tom Peel GBR GBR007 38 6 6 53 Robbie Daniel Hunter Stunzi USA USA121 53 7 7 37 Carolijn Brouwer Jeroen Van leeuwen BEL BEL7 37 8 8 24 Brad Collett Lucas Mcdonald AUS AUS18 24 9 9 27 Steve Brewin Andrew Williams AUS AUS7 27 10 10 Mitch Booth was smiling after winning the last race and catching Darren Bundock, who had led the regatta since the first race. 'Conditions have been good for us so far. The last race was interesting. We’d been square with the Billy Besson (FRA) at the bottom mark, we chose the favoured gate, which was the right, then we were committed because we could not cross the fleet coming down under spinnaker. We were unhappy being out there on our own. 'We found a nice shift on the right and rounded at least 20 lengths ahead. Darren made a big gain down the last run. There is still a long way to go in this regatta though, anything could happen from here.' On the beach Darren Bundock commented on the regatta so far. 'Mitch has more time than anyone else on Tigers. To be honest three years ago in these conditions, which are perfect for him, he’d have left us all for dead, so we are pleased to be square with him, with a better drop.' Mark Laruffa, the Regatta Co-coordinator was reflecting on the sunshine and lighter breezes. 'These are the conditions we expected, plenty of sunshine, almost postcard sailing, close to the brochure. If we can get two more days like this it will be great.' Provisional Overall standings Top 10 - 1 Mitch Booth Pim Nieuwenhuis NED NED8 2 5 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 18 13 2 Darren Bundock Glenn Ashby AUS AUS7 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 3 2 16 13 3 Billy Besson Arnaud Jarlegan FRA FRA658 4 13 7 5 5 5 1 2 4 46 33 4 Mischa Heemskerk Cristopher Rasley NED NED007 8 2 3 4 78 DNF 6 3 4 5 113 35 5 Jean-Christophe Mourniac Franck Citeau FRA FRA1 3 7 10 3 10 4 7 10 78 DNF 132 54 6 Steve Brewin Andrew Williams AUS AUS7 6 4 9 8 4 8 8 28 10 85 57 7 Carolijn Brouwer Jeroen Van leeuwen BEL BEL7 7 8 6 9 3 10 78 DNF 9 8 138 60 8 Fernando Echavarri Anton Paz Blanco ESP ESP2207 5 3 5 17 8 18 11 16 3 86 68 9 Robbie Daniel Hunter Stunzi USA USA121 24 20 18 15 12 9 9 7 7 121 97 10 Robert Greenhalgh Peter Greenhalgh GBR GBR120 9 RDG 15 78 DNF 10 7 7 16 11 26 179 101 www.2007f18worlds.com
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