Harken Star Team 12th in first race of Europeans

by Key Partners (KPMS) on 8 Aug 2006

Mark Mendelblaat and Mark Strubbe USA won the first race of the 2006 Star Europeans Rolex/Daniel Forster http://www.regattanews.com

The Harken Star Team of Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams have finished 12th in the opening race of the European Star Championships. This is their first major regatta of the two required for automatic qualification for the 2007 YNZ Olympic Squad.

To gain automatic qualification, they must finish in the top eight overall in the Europeans. If they miss this mark they have a second opportunity at the Star World Championships which will take place in San Francisco in the first week of October.

USA Olympic Laser sailor turned Star helm Mark Mendelblatt with crew Mark Strube gained an early advantage by winning today's first race at the Star European Championship, part of Rolex Baltic Week, here at Neustadt, Germany.

The Baltic was in fine mood for today's race with a 12 knot northwesterly and brilliant sunshine coinciding for the midday start on the Bay of Lübeck. With 80 examples of the two man Olympic keel boat competing, a long line was set, crews hiking hard as they powered away from the line up towards the weather mark off Neustadt.

ALEXANDER HAGEN, SEBASTIAN MUNCK, GER, former Star boat World Champion © Rolex/Daniel Forster http://www.regattanews.com

Mendelblatt/Strube crossed the line-up midway up and headed out on one long tack to the left, tacked once and then was able to lay the weather mark.

This was enough to get him into first place. While the Americans were convinced the left was the correct way to go, Swedish champion Frederick Loof was equally convinced the right side of the first beat would pay.

'We were a bit cautious in the start - we were slow and had to work our way back up the fleet,' said Loof, who started up at the committee boat end but was beaten out of the blocks by Brazilian triple Olympic Laser medallist Robert Scheidt, who also appeared to think right was right. 'It was so puffy, up and down all the time, so it was just work, work, work and then try to get through,' continued Loof.

Heading in from port Mendelblatt/Strube were first to the weather mark ahead of Italy's Diego Negri/Lugi Viale and the USA's Andrew MacDonald/Brian Fatih. From here the US duo defended well as the Stars rolled their way downwind their small headsails polled out on the opposite side to their mainsails. At the leeward gate the lead trio remained the same.

The second beat saw the wind dropping and enabled Mendelblatt and Strube to consolidate their position. 'We were in phase nicely going up the beat and at the top we extended a little bit when we got one or two shifts that the guys in second and third didn't get,' Mendelblatt recounted. 'Then on the last run we got our own pressure and the rest of the guys were tied up with each other. We got launched at that point.' By the time they crossed the finish line at the top of the third beat, they held a lead of around two minutes.

FREDRIK LOEF, ANDERS EKSTRÖM, SWE, on the way to the offset mark © Rolex/Daniel Forster http://www.regattanews.com

It was a photo finish for second place between Scheidt/Bruno Prada and Loof/Anders Ekström, the Brazilians winning out in the end.

Loof had done well pulling back positions on the second run, when he had seen and been able to exploit some pressure out on the left side.

George Szabo/Eric Monroe the present world no.1s in the class finished fourth with the French defending champions Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau seventh.

They had rounded the second weather mark behind Mendelblatt/Strube but had got on the wrong side of a shift on the second run.

Leading German pair today were relative unknowns Matthias Miller and Manuel Voigt in eighth just ahead of favourites Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski.

Tomorrow at Rolex Baltic Week two races are scheduled for the Star Europeans.

Norddeutscher Regatta Verein

Star Class European Championship 2006

L10405002 Norddeutscher Regatta Verein

Provisional Results
Races: 1

Races: 1.R.
Class / Low-Point

T-Rank	SAIL NO.	HELMSMAN	CREW	Pl(1.R.)	T-Pts	T-Rank
1	USA 8157	Mendelblatt, Mark	Strube, Mark	1	1,00	1
2	BRA 8127	Scheidt, Robert	Prada, Bruno	2	2,00	2
3	SWE 8256	Loof, Frederik	Ekström, Anders	3	3,00	3
4	USA 8273	Szabo, George	Monroe, Eric	4	4,00	4
5	POL 8252	Kusniercwicz, Mateysz	Zycki, Dominik	5	5,00	5
6	SWE 7978	J Krook, Ingvar	Gamner, Eric	6	6,00	6
7	FRA 8107	Rohart, Xavier	Rambeau, Pascal	7	7,00	7
8	GER 7991	Miller, Matthias	Voigt	8	8,00	8
9	GER 8213	Pickel, Marc	Borowski, Ingo	9	9,00	9
10	ITA 8266	Negri, Diego	Viale, Lugi	10	10,00	10
11	GER 7971	Stanjek, Robert	Kleen, Frithjof	11	11,00	11
12	NZL 8187	Pepper, Hamish	Williams,Carl	12	12,00	12
13	GER 8149	Hagen, Alexander	Munck, Sebastian	13	13,00	13
14	ITA 8224	Modena, Luca	Marchesini, Michele	14	14,00	14
15	USA 8268	Dane, John	Sperry, Austin	15	15,00	15
16	IRL 8028	O'Connell, Maurice	Peel, Edmund	16	16,00	16
17	GER 8020	Ilgenstein, Michael	Boguhn, Lutz	17	17,00	17
18	CRO 7955	Lovrovic, Marin	Lovrovic, Mark	18	18,00	18
19	USA 8156	Horton, Andrew	Nichol, Brad	19	19,00	19
20	USA 8250	Macdonald, Andrew	Fatih, Brain	20	20,00	20
21	POR 8145	Domingos, Afonso	Santos, Bernardo	21	21,00	21
22	GER 991	Bebendererde, Johannes	Petrov, Sebastian	22	22,00	22
23	ITA 8076	Simeone, Luca	Cocianinno, Ferdinando	23	23,00	23
24	SUI 7990	Stegmeier, Daniel	Stegmeier, Beat	24	24,00	24
25	ARG 8212	Kouyoumdjian, Juan	Rosas, Nicolas	25	25,00	25
26	ITA 8180	Bruni, Francesco	Nobili, Gilberto	26	26,00	26
27	GBR 8191	Razmilovic, Ante	Wolfs, Mike	27	27,00	27
28	DEN 8147	Andersen, Benny	Mogens, Just	28	28,00	28
29	ITA 8014	Barovier, Alberto	Coppola, Umberto	29	29,00	29
30	AUT 8226	Spitzauer, Hans	Nehammer, Christian	30	30,00	30
31	GER 7992	Schmidt, Reinhard	Meissner, Dirk	31	31,00	31
32	NOR 8183	Melleby, Eivind	Kjus, Lasse	32	32,00	32
33	SUI 8138	Marazzi, Flavio	Huter, Etienne	33	33,00	33
34	SWE 7812	Andersson, Bo Staffan	Broad, Michael	34	34,00	34
35	CAN 8143	Cramer, Brian	Tyler, Björn	35	35,00	35
36	SUI 8232	Dannesboe, Hendrik	Kaptourovitch, Igor	36	36,00	36
37	NED 8070	Frijdal, Chris	Edens, Rob	37	37,00	37
38	GER 8190	Schiffer, Thomas	Hentschel, Nils	38	38,00	38
39	UKR 8205	Gureyev, Vasyl	Korotkov, Volodymyr	39	39,00	39
40	GER 7978	Koch, Michael	Witt, Carsten	40	40,00	40
41	GER 7837	Merk, Sibylle	Merk, Michael	41	41,00	41
42	SLO 7888	Antoncic, Bostjan	Strakh, Gennadi	42	42,00	42
43	GER 8130	Voigt, Henning	Struve, Dirk	43	43,00	43
44	DEN 8066	Jensen, Johnny	Pedersen, Martin	44	44,00	44
45	GER 7989	Wilhelm, Peer	Hollweg, Nils	45	45,00	45
46	GER 8141	Merkelbach, Hubert	Bartel, Gerrit	46	46,00	46
47	GER 7860	Kiewning, Lars	Seeberger, Uli	47	47,00	47
48	RUS 7805	Vokhmintsev, Dimitry	Lyasnikov, Vladimir	48	48,00	48
49	AUT 7846	Weinreich, Gerhard	Kagl, Alexander	49	49,00	49
50	NED 7633	Kok, J.W.	Krogt, van der	50	50,00	50
51	GER 8160	Linde, Dr. Florian von	Conrads, Chris	51	51,00	51
52	GER 1122	Heinzmann, Uwe	Nolte-Franzen, Andi	52	52,00	52
53	GER 8016	Rauch, Hubert	Schappeler, Ingo	53	53,00	53
54	ESP 8098	Altadill, Guillermo	Roca, Manuel	54	54,00	54
55	GER 8198	Fernholz, Uwe	Diestelmayer, Stefan	55	55,00	55
56	GER 8055	Diercks, Jochen	Braasch, Herbert	56	56,00	56
57	GER 8093	Hasche, Marko	Behn, Philip	57	57,00	57
58	FIN 8004	Leeve, Joni	Salminen, Asko	58	58,00	58
59	SWE 7304	Eric Dahlen	Bergquist, Olle	59	59,00	59
60	GER 8102	Frowein, Heiner	Dentler, Sebastian	60	60,00	60
61	SWE 8126	Högland, Anders	Nilsson, Pär	61	61,00	61
62	GER 7272	Petersen, Reiner	Berger, Oliver	62	62,00	62
63	GER 8167	Tusch, Frank	Kleine, Frieder	63	63,00	63
64	GER 7842	Bauer, Florian	Schaefer, Bernhard	64	64,00	64
65	POL 7858	Wierzbicki, Arkadiusz	Zawistowski, Piotr	65	65,00	65
66	GER 7946	Weiler, Hermann	Horetski, Sergey	66	66,00	66
67	GER 7944	Kappes, Klaus	Ertel, Felix	67	67,00	67
68	COL 7859	Schlubach, Reginald	Carl, Daniel	68	68,00	68
69	HUN 8115	Katai, Petrer	Nazer, Csaba	69	69,00	69
70	FIN 6773	Holm, Kim F.W.	Sundman, Jesper	70	70,00	70
71	GER 7960	Thurner, Frank	Landinger, Hubert	71	71,00	71
72	NED 7806	Harwegen den Breems, Arie van	Corrigan, John	72	72,00	72
73	AUT 8249	Tomasini, Roberto	Bahr, Gunnar	73	73,00	73
74	GER 7712	Kahl, Wulf	Kahl, Wulf-Peter	74	74,00	74
75	GER 7750	Burmester, Jens	Peusch, Frank	75	75,00	75
76	GER 8018	Niemczewski, Robert	Umlauft, Michael	76	76,00	76
77	GER 7262	Toedt, Peter	Käshammer, Stefan	77	77,00	77
78	GER 7483	Hansen, Nils	Johannsen, Sven	78	78,00	78
79	FIN 7913	Öller, Christian	Öller, Johan	79	79,00	79
80	ESP 7514	Juarez, Augustin	Gonzales, Manuel	DNC	81,00	80