Irwin makes his move on Hamlin, Kahn - I14's
by Rich Roberts on 12 Sep 2006
Defending champs Irwin and Penny won in their kind of conditions Rich Roberts
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A few of the 71 competitors in the International 14 Class World Championship took one look at the big wind and waves and did U-turns back into the harbor Monday. Australia's Lindsay Irwin and crew Andrew Penny and 17-year-old Samuel (Shark) Kahn and crew Paul Allen from Santa Cruz had different ideas.
Irwin, the defending champion said, 'We had a few days just like that' when they won the Worlds on the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand last year.
Young Kahn noted, 'This is just like Santa Cruz. We said, 'OK, let's be conservative and win this race.'
So they finished 1-2 in conditions as wild as Sunday's opening race was mild: 22 knots of sea breeze that stirred up a heavy chop and roller coaster swell that tossed the little boats like teacups.
But Irwin and Kahn couldn't overtake Howard Hamlin and crew Euan McNicol, who despite spotting their closest rivals 25 to 50 pounds in body ballast in the heavy going put a fourth place next to Sunday's win to remain on top with five points - two ahead of Kahn/Allen and five ahead of Irwin/Penny.
At least at this early stage, Hamlin and Kahn---Team Pegasus in skiff competition - have duplicated their finish in last month's 18' Skiff International Regatta at San Francisco.
How rough was it?
A few boats capsized while just heading out of the Alamitos Bay jetty into the Pacific Ocean, foretelling a day that saw more flips than a House of Pancakes. Only 61 boats started and 43 finished, Irwin completing the 13-mile course in 1 hour 35 minutes, 85 minutes ahead of the last finishers, Kenichi Hagiwara and crew Satoshi Ishida of Japan, who beat the time limit by five minutes and enjoyed their day despite spending much of it upside down.
As they crossed the line Hagiwara and Ishida hailed the committee boat, 'Thank you! Great race!'
Kahn and Allen led everybody to the first windward mark, but flying downwind, Kahn said, they mistook a mark boat carrying a spare inflatable buoy for the leeward mark and sailed far enough off course to let Irwin and Penny past.
But they weren't real disappointed about the outcome. At one point, Kahn said, Allen avoided a serious setback when the spinnaker retrieval line flew loose 'and Paul jumped up on the bow to get it.'
'It was pretty gnarly out there and the waves were high, and we felt like we were going pretty good all day,' Kahn said.
He noted that he also had a fifth and a second on the first two days when he won the Melges 24 Worlds in San Francisco as a mere 13-year-old in 2003.
'But we don't want to get big heads,' he said. 'There are still five days to go.'
Irwin also loved the conditions, noting that 'it's great fun, but you want to sail within your limits. We backed off a couple of times, but once you decide what you're going to do you can't back off or you'll lose control.'
Boats that didn’t race Monday took last-place DNC (did not compete) points that most will discard after five of the seven races.
Britain's Archie Massey, who horizoned the fleet Sunday only to forfeit the win for crossing the start line early, placed ninth Monday. Countrywoman Katie Nurton, who wound up second behind Hamlin Sunday, dropped out Monday after injuring a foot that got caught in the hiking straps, but she expected to race Tuesday.
Racing continues daily through Saturday, starting at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and at 1 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
Supporting sponsors for the International 14 World Championship are West Marine Products, Ronstan, North Sails, Glaser Sails, Irwin Sails, SailingProShop.com, Magic Marine, Acqua di Gio Georgio Armani, Shackle Dog and Labatt's.
STANDINGS (71 boats; after 2 of 7 races):
1 1168 USA Howard Hamlin Euan McNicol 1 4 5pts
2 1173 USA Samuel 'Shark' Kahn Paul Allen 5 2 7
3 631 AUS Lindsay Irwin Andrew Penny 9 1 10
4 1498 GBR Michael Lennon Jon Blackburn 4 8 12
5 1524 GBR James Fawcett Dave Dobrijevic 8 6 14
6 592 CAN Bruce Edwards John Vincze 12 10 22
7 639 AUS David Alexander John Bannister 11 15 26
8 597 CAN Fred Eaton Jason Lemieux 7 20 27
9 1163 USA Kris Bundy Jamie Hanseler 3 25 28
10 625 AUS David Hayter Matthew Johnston 17 13 30
11 1512 GBR Jarrod Simpson David Cunningham 14 17 31
12 1164 USA Kris Henderson Matt Nobel 6 27 33
13 638 AUS Alex Newman Derek Layfield 16 18 34
14 637 AUS Brad Devine Denis Paul Jones 24 11 35
15 1150 USA Ron Boehm Peter Mohler 15 21 36
16 1504 AUS Grant Rollerson Simon Nearn 26 12 38
17 644 USA Stewart Vickery Matt Balmer 25 16 41
18 1159 USA Steve Goodson Alan Diercks 22 19 41
19 1137 USA Ted Rogers Tim Burna 13 29 42
20 1161 USA Brad Ruetenik Patrick Murray 21 24 45
21 593 CAN Christian Pavey Billy Gooderham 20 28 48
22 1147 USA Paul Galvez Leon de la Barra 27 26 53
23 1480 GBR Matthew Critchley Dion Houghton 23 31 54
24 590 CAN Peter Hayward Matthew Lusty 34 22 56
25 584 CAN Chris Leigh Nick Searle 29 36 65
26 604 CAN Leith Shenstone Dave Bradley 37 32 69
27 111 JPN Kenichi Hagiwara Satoshi Ishida 30 43 73
28 1148 USA Tracy Smith Ezra Smith 32 41 73
29 1520 GBR Katie Nurton Nigel Ash 2 DNS 74
30 1153 USA Harold von Sydow Justin Doyle 40 34 74
31 640 AUS Grant Geddes Daniel Wilsdon OCS 3 75
32 1143 USA Rand Arnold Gary Gremaux 42 33 75
33 553 AUS Ed Blackman Oliver Merz 46 30 76
34 600 CAN Tina Bayliss Trevor Baylis OCS 5 77
35 1526 GBR Robert Greenhalgh Dan Johnson OCS 7 79
36 1144 USA Alan Laflin Eric Arens 44 35 79
37 115 JPN Yoshihisa Fujii Yatsuhito Kamanishi 39 40 79
38 1519 GBR Archie Massey George Murton OCS 9 81
39 1522 Ian Turnbull Adam Ovington 10 DNF 82
40 112 JPN Kensuke Kita Takao Wahino 43 39 82
41 1505 GBR Roddy Bridge Lewis Toby OCS 14 86
42 1438 GBR Peter Lloyd Martin Robb 51 37 88
43 587 CAN Andrew Yates John Curtis 18 DNS 90
44 214 GER Axel Reinsch Joern Schulze 19 DNF 91
45 1479 GBR Andrew Penman Jason Merron OCS 23 95
46 1160 USA Andrew Bates Richard Argall 53 42 95
47 1525 GER Charles Tavner Edward Clay 28 DNF 100
48 1169 USA Kurt Lahr Chris Ganne 31 DNC 103
49 1149 USA Steven Grimes Brad Cole 33 DNS 105
50 1111 USA Lawrence Henderson Kurt Schmidt 35 DNC 107
51 1477 GBR Paul Ravenyill Dough Walker 36 DNF 108
52 106 JPN Takashi Furugaki Yasunobo Yanagisaw OCS 38 110
53 88 GER Peter Roocks Timo Wigger 38 DNF 110
54 1170 USA Ian Arber Bradley VanVechien 41 DNS 113
55 603 CAN Doug Ranahan Christian Dechamplain 45 DNF 117
56 1167 USA Kirk Twardowski Tony Basso 47 DNF 119
57 1090 USA Bob Abulin Jeff Abulin 48 DNF 120
58 602 CAN Ryan Hulsker Michael Leitch 49 DNF 121
59 1151 USA Joel Truher Stanly Martin 50 DNF 122
60 1172 USA Jerry White Brett Cross 52 DNS 124
61 628 AUS Philip Strong Jeffre Klemm 54 DNF 126
62 1408 GBR Paddy Royall Kevin Morgan 55 DNS 127
63 1165 USA Christopher Hsu Robert Hyde 56 DNF 128
64 1155 USA James Beninghaus Art Vasenius 57 DNS 129
65 1154 USA Jack Salerno Warren McArthur 58 DNC 130
66 114 USA Kevin Williams Kenton Hendricks 59 DNS 131
67 1131 USA Terry Gleeson Chris Hinck 60 DNF 132
68 594 CAN Michael Smits Christopher Johnston OCS DNC 144
68 91 JPN Tomoyuki Nakamura Masami Ito OCS DNC 144
68 1129 USA Geraldine Lampert Lutz Scheulen DNF DNS 144
68 1156 USA Gregory Mitchell David Berntsen OCS DNS 144
Complete results, daily press releases and photos will be posted at www.abyc.org
More information at http://www.i14worlds2006.com/
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