Team Pegasus first and second in I-14 Worlds

by Rich Roberts on 14 Sep 2006
Affirming the credo that no lead is ever too big, Shark Kahn and crew Paul Allen had to win Tuesday's race twice to pull to within one point of Team Pegasus teammates Howard Hamlin and Euan McNicol after three of seven races in the International 14 Class World Championship hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.

Kahn/Allen led Hamlin/McNicol by about a quarter-mile, and Hamlin/McNicol led everybody else by nearly that margin, until early on the last downwind leg when - wait, let them tell it.

'We did a major cartwheel,' Allen said.

Kahn: 'We were just sailing along trying to be conservative when a pretty innocent wave came up in front of us. We went straight into it . . . a perfect cartwheel.'

As the boat pitched forward and went from 18 knots to a dead stop as quickly as you can say a four-letter word, they both wound up on the headstay and then in the water.

By the time they leveraged the skiff upright, Hamlin/McNicol had flown past to lead by 50 yards at the last leeward mark, where the next race began with the former leaders in full attack mode.

Rather than follow their opponents, they tacked away, drawing Hamlin/McNicol into a tacking duel seldom seen in this class.

'We tried to cover them,' McNicol said, 'but unfortunately in the last tack they did a good job and rolled us.'

Kahn and Allen won by about two boat lengths. At 6-3 1/2 and 170 pounds and 6-0, 190, respectively, they figured that in the day's prevailing breeze of 15 knots they had an edge over Hamlin (5-9, 153) and McNicol (5-10, 180).

'We're a little bigger, so we tacked on their lee bow and just sailed a little higher until we were ahead,' Allen said.

Now Hamlin and McNicol have seven points to Kahn and Allen's eight, leaving proud papa Philippe Kahn's skiff team with about half as many points as anyone else. Could the final outcome be settled by wind conditions the rest of the week?

Hamlin said, 'We're very happy with second today. We're not gonna beat 'em in that sort of breeze. We have to think in terms of the conditions. The lighter the better.'

The wind was down from Monday's 22 knots but the carnage continued.

Late in the race principal race officer Mark Townsend noted over the race channel, 'There seems to be a scattering of upside-down boats around the course.'

Twenty-five of the remaining 68 competitors did not start Tuesday, and among those who did there was a very wide gap.

The leaders, including Great Britain's Michael Lennon and crew Jon Blackburn in third place Tuesday and overall, and Monday's winners, defending champion Lindsay Irwin and crew Andrew Perry of Australia, now in fourth place, lapped much of the fleet while sailing 14-nautical mile race - 2 ½ times around a windward-leeward course with one reach leg.

Those are the only boats will all single digit finishes so far.

Some boats kept their spinnakers packed but none were seen cautiously opting for 270-degree 'chicken' jibes instead of risking normal jibes, as several did Monday. For the second day in a row, following Sunday's ten disqualifications, there were no boats over early (OCS) at the start.

Racing continues daily through Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

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.

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club
2006 International 14 World Championships

Preliminary Results

Sailed: 3  Discards: 0  Ratings: USPN

Rank	Bow #	Sail No	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1	67	1168 USA	Howard Hamlin	Euan McNicol	1.0	4.0	2.0					7.0
2	62	1173 USA	Samuel "Shark" Kahn	Paul Allen	5.0	2.0	1.0					8.0
3	63	1498 GBR	Michael Lennon	Jon Blackburn	4.0	8.0	3.0					15.0
4	07	631 AUS	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Penny	9.0	1.0	9.0					19.0
5	01	592 CAN	Bruce Edwards	John Vincze	12.0	10.0	8.0					30.0
6	56	1163 USA	Kris Bundy	Jamie Hanseler	3.0	25.0	7.0					35.0
7	52	639 AUS	David Alexander	John Bannister	11.0	15.0	13.0					39.0
8	11	625 AUS	David Hayter	Matthew Johnston	17.0	13.0	10.0					40.0
9	21	637 AUS	Brad Devine	Denis Paul Jones	24.0	11.0	6.0					41.0
10	24	638 AUS	Alex Newman	Derek Layfield	16.0	18.0	15.0					49.0
11	38	1512 GBR	Jarrod Simpson	David Cunningham	14.0	17.0	20.0					51.0
12	55	597 CAN	Fred Eaton	Jason Lemieux	7.0	20.0	27.0					54.0
13	68	1504 AUS	Grant Rollerson	Simon Nearn	26.0	12.0	17.0					55.0
14	59	1164 USA	Kris Henderson	Matt Noble	6.0	27.0	24.0					57.0
15	39	1150 USA	Ron Boehm	Peter Mohler	15.0	21.0	23.0					59.0
16	09	644 USA	Stewart Vickery	Matt Balmer	25.0	16.0	18.0					59.0
17	23	1159 USA	Steve Goodson	Alan Diercks	22.0	19.0	21.0					62.0
18	50	593 CAN	Christian Pavey	Billy Gooderham	20.0	28.0	25.0					73.0
19	10	1161 USA	Brad Ruetenik	Patrick Murray	21.0	24.0	31.0					76.0
20	19	1137 USA	Ted Rogers	Tim Burna	13.0	29.0	36.0					78.0
21	02	1147 USA	Paul Galvez	Leon de la Barra	27.0	26.0	28.0					81.0
22	04	600 CAN	Tina Bayliss	Trevor Baylis	OCS	5.0	5.0					82.0
23	36	590 CAN	Peter Hayward	Matthew Lusty	34.0	22.0	26.0					82.0
24	73	1526 GBR	Robert Greenhalgh	Dan Johnson	OCS	7.0	4.0					83.0
25	40	640 AUS	Grant Geddes	Daniel Wilsdon	OCS	3.0	11.0					86.0
26	58	1524 GBR	James Fawcett	Dave Dobrijevic	8.0	6.0	DNF					86.0
27	25	1480 GBR	Matthew Critchley	Dion Houghton	23.0	31.0	38.0					92.0
28	37	1520 GBR	Katie Nurton	Nigel Ash	2.0	DNS	19.0					93.0
29	42	1519 GBR	Archie Massey	George Murton	OCS	9.0	12.0					93.0
30	43	1522	Ian Turnbull	Adam Ovington	10.0	DNF	14.0					96.0
31	20	1505 GBR	Roddy Bridge	Lewis Toby	OCS	14.0	16.0					102.0
32	45	584 CAN	Chris Leigh	Nick Searle	29.0	36.0	41.0					106.0
33	46	553 AUS	Ed Blackman	Oliver Merz	46.0	30.0	32.0					108.0
34	48	115 JPN	Yoshihisa Fujii	Yatsuhito Kamanishi	39.0	40.0	37.0					116.0
35	17	1143 USA	Rand Arnold	Gary Gremaux	42.0	33.0	42.0					117.0
36	06	214 GER	Axel Reinsch	Joern Schulze	19.0	DNF	29.0					120.0
37	22	1479 GBR	Andrew Penman	Jason Merron	OCS	23.0	30.0					125.0
38	33	112 JPN	Kensuke Kita	Takao Wahino	43.0	39.0	43.0					125.0
39	27	1149 USA	Steven Grimes	Brad Cole	33.0	DNS	22.0					127.0
40	49	1160 USA	Andrew Bates	Richard Argall	53.0	42.0	40.0					135.0
41	28	1111 USA	Lawrence Henderson	Kurt Schmidt	35.0	DNS	33.0					140.0
42	53	604 CAN	Leith Shenstone	Dave Bradley	37.0	32.0	DNF					141.0
43	47	1169 USA	Kurt Lahr	Chris Ganne	31.0	DNS	39.0					142.0
44	26	1477 GBR	Paul Ravenyill	Dough Walker	36.0	DNF	35.0					143.0
45	54	88 GER	Peter Roocks	Timo Wigger	38.0	DNF	34.0					144.0
46	31	111 JPN	Kenichi Hagiwara	Satoshi Ishida	30.0	43.0	DNF					145.0
47	34	1148 USA	Tracy Smith	Ezra Smith	32.0	41.0	DNF					145.0
48	72	1153 USA	Harold von Sydow	Justin Doyle	40.0	34.0	DNF					146.0
49	13	1144 USA	Alan Laflin	Eric Arens	44.0	35.0	DNF					151.0
50	32	106 JPN	Takashi Furugaki	Yasunobo Yanagisaw	OCS	38.0	46.0					156.0
51	15	1438 GBR	Peter Lloyd	Martin Robb	51.0	37.0	DNF					160.0
52	35	587 CAN	Andrew Yates	John Curtis	18.0	DNS	DNF					162.0
53	03	1167 USA	Kirk Twardowski	Tony Basso	47.0	DNF	44.0					163.0
54	29	602 CAN	Ryan Hulsker	Michael Leitch	49.0	DNF	47.0					168.0
55	16	628 AUS	Philip Strong	Jeffre Klemm	54.0	DNF	45.0					171.0
56	08	1525 GBR	Charles Tavner	Edward Clay	28.0	DNF	DNC					172.0
57	41	1408 GBR	Paddy Royall	Kevin Morgan	55.0	DNS	48.0					175.0
58	65	1131 USA	Terry Gleeson	Chris Hinck	60.0	DNF	49.0					181.0
59	66	1170 USA	Ian Arber	Bradley VanVechien	41.0	DNS	DNC					185.0
60	51	603 CAN	Doug Ranahan	Christian Dechamplain	45.0	DNF	DNF					189.0
61	14	1090 USA	Bob Abulin	Jeff Abulin	48.0	DNF	DNS					192.0
62	71	1151 USA	Joel Truher	Stanly Martin	50.0	DNF	DNF					194.0
63	30	1172 USA	Jerry White	Brett Cross	52.0	DNS	DNF					196.0
64	12	1165 USA	Christopher Hsu	Robert Hyde	56.0	DNF	DNF					200.0
65	69	1155 USA	James Beninghaus	Art Vasenius	57.0	DNS	DNF					201.0
66	60	1154 USA	Jack Salerno	Warren McArthur	58.0	DNS	DNC					202.0
67	64	114 USA	Kevin Williams	Kenton Hendricks	59.0	DNS	DNC					203.0
68	70	594 CAN	Michael Smits	Christopher Johnston	OCS	DNS	DNF					216.0
68	44	91 JPN	Tomoyuki Nakamura	Masami Ito	OCS	DNS	DNC					216.0
68	18	1129 USA	Geraldine Lampert	Lutz Scheulen	DNF	DNS	DNF					216.0
68	05	1156 USA	Gregory Mitchell	David Berntsen	OCS	DNS	DNF					216.0

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