Andrea Bonezzi makes it six at Contender Worlds

by Sail-World/G New on 14 Jan 2006 Andrea Bonezzi of Italy is the new Ronstan Contender World Champion. He did enough in the two Friday races to seal the title and does not need to sail the final race Saturday. The worst he could finish with is nine points and Hamilton cannot beat that even with a win in the final race. This will be Bonezzi's sixth Contender World title.

The first race of the day started with a 10 to 12 knot southerly wind increasing steadily to a 12 to 16 knots for the second race. The wind conditions were gusty and very patchy with no side of the course better than other, making it tactically challenging for the 62 Contenders representing nine nations.

The first race started with Andrea Bonezzi taking a perfect start at the committee end of the line. The Italian skipper had his main opponent for the title, Marcus Hamilton (AUS) in sight as most of the top sailors also chose the race committee end.

At the first mark Australian Paul Green was leading coming from the far left, following the Jan Von der Bank (2005 World Champion) 'hit the corner' theory. However the following three boats didn’t apply that theory and just played the shift in the middle of the course. Briton Ben Holden was second, followed by Simon Mussel (GBR) third and Andrea Bonezzi fourth. Marcus Hamilton was deep in the fleet but his legendary speed on a reach was awesome and he started to recover boats one by one.

Australian leader Paul Green was losing ground during the second lap and by focusing too much on covering Italian Bonezzi, he let Ben Holden sneak into the lead and snatch the victory of race 7. Bonezzi was third with closest rivel for the championship, Marcus Hamilton of Australia, safely behind him in fourth.

The 2nd race of the day started in a similar way: most of the top sailors started at the committee end. And again Marcus Hamilton was quite far back at the first mark mostly because of a really bad start. Although he did recover well and ended up 11th, Andrea Bonezzi by winning the 8th race sealed his victory in the championship. Second place went to Simon Mussell (GBR), setting him up for a podium place if he can outsail Matt Hosie (AUS) again in the final race on Saturday.

'I am the new world champion (for the 6th time) and it feels bloody good. I don’t need to sail the last race on Saturday,' said Andrea Bonezzi. 'Somebody told me I should sail the last race anyway, somebody else told me that I shouldn’t, but the best advice came from Tim Hill: 'do what you want'. As I am quite exhausted after two weeks of really hard sailing I will use Saturday to pack up my gear and stay ashore,' concluded the newly crowned Ronstan Contender World Champion.

The second place is still achievable for Matt Hosie however it is quite a long shot. Matt has no other option but win the last race to dislodged Marcus Hamilton from second place. Anything less than a win and the silver medal will stay with Marcus Hamilton. However Matt Hosie will probably be focused on protecting his bronze position as Briton Simon Mussell is breathing down his neck only one point behind.

Contender positions after 8 races of 9, 2 discards:

Pos No Helm R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Tot Pts

1 ITA 11 Andrea Bonezzi 1 1 1 1 [ 3] 1 [ 3] 1 12 6pts

2 AUS2323 Marcus Hamilton 2 2 2 2 1 3 [ 4] [ 11] 27 12

3 AUS2296 Matt Hosie 3 3 [ 11] 7 2 2 9 [ 13] 50 26

4 GBR 709 Simon Mussell [ 11] 6 7 3 5 4 [ 8] 2 46 27

5 AUS2281 Tim Hill 4 4 6 5 6 [ 7] [ 19] 6 57 31

6 AUS2126 Paul Green 5 8 4 13 [ 14] 6 2 [ 18] 70 38

7 GER 544 Jan Von der Bank 6 [ 62] 3 4 10 [ 62] 11 5 163 39

8 ITA 313 Virgilio Frau 12 [ 62] 12 [ 12] 4 5 7 4 118 44

9 DEN 44 Soren Andreasen 9 5 9 [ 18] 9 [ 10] 6 9 75 47

10 GER 551 Christoph Homeier 8 9 8 8 8 [ 13] [ 16] 7 77 48

11 AUS2237 John Cassidy [ 62] 10 [ 15] 11 7 9 13 10 137 60

12 AUS2208 Chris Chambers [ 23] [ 19] 5 15 12 11 5 14 104 62

13 GBR2318 Tim Holden 10 7 [ 62] 10 11 8 [ 30] 20 158 66

14 GBR2315 Ben Holden 7 [ 62] 17 9 23 14 1 [ 23] 156 71

15 GBR 702 Matt Aston 20 11 [ 62] 17 [ 28] 12 12 8 170 80

16 GBR 693 David Davies 16 14 10 [ 20] [ 17] 15 10 15 117 80

17 ITA 342 Roberto Lorenzi 13 13 [ 62] 6 13 [ 33] 25 25 190 95

18 GBR2324 Gary Langdown 15 17 20 14 20 [ 62] 21 [ 26] 195 107

19 GBR 685 Chris Mitchell [ 62] 23 [ 30] 27 19 26 20 3 210 118

20 GBR 683 Geoff Bettle 24 15 [ 33] 21 22 16 [ 32] 21 184 119

21 AUS2263 Richard Batten [ 62] [ 30] 24 22 15 17 24 17 211 119

22 GBR 711 Nick Noble 19 22 16 24 [ 40] 19 26 [ 29] 195 126

23 GBR 700 Nick Grace 30 18 22 [ 30] 21 18 17 [ 39] 195 126

24 AUS2388 Chris Sutherland 14 16 [ 62] 25 16 21 36 [ 36] 226 128

25 GER 531 Joachim Harpprecht 25 26 25 19 26 [ 40] 14 [ 32] 207 135

26 NED 222 Jan Haanstra 18 31 21 [ 40] 33 22 [ 33] 12 210 137

27 NZL1753 Andrew Griffiths 17 24 13 28 24 32 [ 43] [ 45] 226 138

28 AUS1365 Chris Peile [ 62] 34 [ 62] 26 34 24 15 16 273 149

29 ITA 299 Marco Versari 27 21 [ 62] 32 27 [ 34] 29 19 251 155

30 AUS2389 Andrew Pope 29 [ 62] [ 62] 16 29 36 23 27 284 160

31 GBR2310 Paul Walker 62 12 14 31 18 25 [ 62] [ 62] 286 162

32 GBR 622 Richard Buttner 21 [ 43] 37 33 35 20 [ 41] 28 258 174

33 GBR 714 Martin Jones [ 62] 27 26 34 [ 62] 31 31 30 303 179

34 AUS1306 Simon Spalding 32 25 18 29 42 38 [ 42] [ 43] 269 184

35 GBR 659 Martin Metcalfe 28 33 32 [ 36] 32 29 [ 47] 33 270 187

36 DEN 33 Jacob Lunding 26 [ 62] [ 62] 23 36 37 28 41 315 191

37 AUS1641 Mathew Smith 35 32 23 [ 43] 39 28 [ 46] 35 281 192

38 GBR 635 Paul Horlock 62 20 19 [ 62] [ 62] 27 51 22 325 201

39 AUS2339 Mark Phillips [ 62] 35 27 37 30 [ 47] 38 34 310 201

40 USA2117 Gil Woolley [ 62] 29 29 41 [ 45] 23 44 40 313 206

41 NED 232 Mark Thorborg 31 36 34 42 37 30 [ 54] [ 48.5] 312.5 210

42 GBR 678 Bill Hooton [ 62] 37 [ 62] 38 25 35 40 37 336 212

43 AUS 226 Ian Bowman 22 39 31 45 41 39 [ 50] [ 52] 319 217

44 AUS2338 Robin Dayes [ 62] 49 [ 62] 35 31 42 34 31 346 222

45 AUS1587 Adam Garnaut [ 62] 38 35 39 43 46 35 [ 46] 344 236

46 CAN1798 Neil Smith 36 40 36 46 44 [ 62] [ 53] 47 364 249

47 GBR1771 Alan Mollatt 34 28 62 [ 62] [ 62] 45 27 54 374 250

48 GBR 669 Simon Clark [ 62] 45 38 [ 51] 47 44 49 44 380 267

49 GBR 508 Paul Mew [ 62] 48 28 50 46 [ 62] 48 48.5 392.5 268.5

50 GBR2314 Rodger White 62 62 [ 62] 44 38 [ 62] 22 42 394 270

51 AUS2166 Ross Brennan 38 44 [ 62] 48 50 [ 62] 45 51 400 276

52 AUS1363 Kym Petersen 33 [ 62] [ 62] 49 49 43 55 50 403 279

53 AUS2164 David Luketina 62 41 39 62 [ 62] 41 37 [ 62] 406 282

54 GBR2331 David Murley 37 46 62 62 [ 62] [ 62] 39 38 408 284

55 NED 212 Bart Thorborg 62 62 62 62 [ 62] [ 62] 18 24 414 290

56 AUS2125 Mathew Kee 62 62 [ 62] 47 48 [ 62] 52 53 448 324

57 AUS 201 Wade Palmer 62 47 [ 62] 52 52 [ 62] 56 56 449 325

58 AUS 252 Antonio Martini 62 [ 62] [ 62] 53 51 48 57 55 450 326

59 AUS 229 Clinton Watkins 62 42 62 62 62 62 [ 62] [ 62] 476 352

60= AUS2105 Greg Barrington 62 62 62 62 62 62 [ 62] [ 62] 496 372

60= AUS2174 Norman Brandon 62 62 62 62 62 62 [ 62] [ 62] 496 372