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Pepper and Williams win Star North Americans

by Sail-World on 18 Nov 2006
Carl Williams (standing)and Hamish Pepper after racing in the 2006 Star Worlds Chuck Lantz http://www.ChuckLantz.com
The New Zealand crew of Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams have won the North American Star Championship with a race to spare.

Williams and Pepper won the World Championship six weeks ago in San Francisco, having been sailing for just eight months in the class. They won today's race sailing against a very classy 79 boat fleet in Miami, Florida, and are in an unbeatable points position.

The second placed crew of Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA) the 2004 Olympic Silver medalists have 20 points on the table with the Kiwis on top with just six points after the discard has been counted. Their worst placing is seventh in the Race 4, and even if they had to count this place they would still have 13pts, compared to Rohart and Rambeau's 14 points - should they win the final race of the regatta.

The third placed crew of Olympic Gold Medalist and seven times world champion in the Laser class, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) are on 20 points and can't look at Pepper and Williams.

The victory caps off an amazing year for the Kiwi crew, who have risen from zero to be #3 in the ISAF rankings and will probably top that feat when the latest rankings are announced in a couple of weeks.

Pepper and Williams have completely dominated this regatta winning three of the five races sailed to date, and with their two worst placings being in the top seven.

The other New Zealand crew of Rohan Lord and Peter Fox are lying in 15th overall having been scored as an OCS (early starter) in today's race. They were previously in eighth place overall.

Hamish Pepper spoke to Sail-World after their series win in the North American Star Championships in Miami.

'We certainly had great speed upwind. The breeze here wasn’t totally tricky (as it was in the Worlds in San Francisco) and was readable.

'We started off well with two good wins on the first day, followed by the third and seventh on the second. The seventh should really have been a third.

'Although we didn’t get off the start line as well as some, we were sailing very fast.

'In the fifth race we opted for a conservative start to stay out of trouble, and then looked for good clear water. We were second for much of the way to a Canadian crew, then we passed them and went on to win by 40 to 60 seconds.'


Day 3 Report – 5th Race by Lynn Fitzpatrick

Only one race was scheduled for the 3rd day of racing at the Star North Americans. Despite light conditions, the sailors were more exhausted following racing than had they sailed two heavy air races. After a ½-hour postponement on the water, and two general recalls the fleet coasted up wind. A big left shift caught most of the fleet off guard. Those on the left could fetch the weather mark, those on the right were nearly a mile behind at the first mark. As Robert Schiedt and Bruno Prada approached the leeward gate, the committee signaled an abandonment.

The line was shifted several hundred yards to the east and the race was restarted. Ten boats, including two of the top ten contenders (Lord and Szabo) were OCS. Canadian Grand Master Hans Fogh and Dave Caesar rounded the weather mark in the lead with Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams close behind. The two boats rounded the offset mark before any of the other boats reached the weather mark.

Pepper/Williams stole the lead going up the second beat as the wind shifted left and Fogh protected the right. At the top of the second sausage, Pepper was 1:20 minutes ahead of Fogh and Mark Reynolds was 4:00 minutes behind. The last boat rounded 20 minutes behind the leaders.

While Hamish, Carl, Hans and Dave continued to extend, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada and Peter McChesney and Todd Hiller quietly picked off boats to move from 16th and 17th to 4th and 6th, respectively.

Competitors saw the most breeze during the end of the final beat. In many cases, they were able to stretch their backs, get out of the hunched and squatting positions that they had been in for hours, and actually hike. Mark Reynolds and Skip Dieball and Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada ended the marathon day in a photo finish for 3rd and 4th.

After 6 races and a drop, Pepper and Williams have 3 bullets and 6 points. They are far enough in front of Rohardt and Rambeau so that they do not have to sail the final race of the series. They’re on an amazing run. Scheidt and Prada are in 3rd with 20 points. Ross MacDonald and Mike Wolfs are the top North Americans with 30 points.

Updates to follow when they come to hand.

2006 North American Star Championships
Provisional Results after Race 5
Star
Place Boat Skipper Crew Sail #: Fleet 1 2 3 4 5 Total
1 NZL 8187   Hamish Pepper   Carl Williams   NZL 8187   ISOL   1.0 1.0 3.0 7.0 1.0 6
2 FRA 8107   Xavier Rohart   Pascal Rambeau   FRA 8107   NI   5.0 3.0 4.0 1.0 23.0 13
3 BRA 8127   Robert Scheidt   Bruno Prada   BRA 8127   GuB   7.0 6.0 5.0 5.0 4.0 20
4 CAN 8168   Ross Macdonald   Mike Wolfs   CAN 8168   EB   2.0 8.0 12.0 54.0 8.0 30
5 GER 8213   Marc Pickel   Ingo Borkowski   GER 8213   Brm   9.0 7.0 8.0 19.0 11.0 35
6 USA 8156   Andy Horton   Brad Nichol   USA 8156   NB   25.0 2.0 2.0 13.0 22.0 39
7 POL 8252   Mateusz Kusznierewicz   Dominik Zycki   POL 8252   ISOL   11.0 4.0 15.0 42.0 10.0 40
8 USA 8239   Mark Reynolds   Skip Dieball   USA 8239   SDB   12.0 11.0 35.0 15.0 3.0 41
9 USA 8250   Andrew Macdonald   Brian Fatih   USA 8250   NH   4.0 19.0 16.0 27.0 7.0 46
10 DEN 8147   Benny Andersen   Mogens Just   DEN 8147   DF   6.0 23.0 40.0 12.0 9.0 50
11 USA 8273   George Szabo   Mark Strube   USA 8273   SDB   20.0 12.0 9.0 11.0 80.0 [OCS] 52
12 GER 7991   Matthias Miller   Manuel Voigt   GER 7991   UB   29.0 32.0 7.0 6.0 15.0 57
13 SUI 8138   Flavio Marazzi   Michael Herrmann   SUI 8138   TB   21.0 10.0 6.0 24.0 28.0 61
14 BER 8044   Peter Bromby   Bill Mc Niven   BER 8044   ISOL   38.0 9.0 10.0 17.0 25.0 61.0001
15 NZL 8061   Rohan Lord   Peter Fox   NZL 8061   ISOL   24.0 5.0 13.0 20.0 80.0 [OCS] 62
16 AUS 8269   James Spithill   Magnus Liljedahl   AUS 8269   WSFB   80.0 [DNS] 15.0 27.0 3.0 20.0 65
17 USA 8195   John A Maccausland   Robert Schofield   USA 8195   CR   15.0 18.0 23.0 10.0 41.0 66
18 POR 8145   Afonso Domingos   Bernardo Santos   POR 8145   CP   10.0 17.0 21.0 22.0 19.0 67
19 AUS 7836   Iain Murray   Andrew Palfrey   AUS 7836   LMac   19.0 16.0 17.0 80.0 [OCS] 17.0 69
20 GER 7971   Robert Stanjek   Frithjof Kleen   GER 7971   BF   16.0 30.0 14.0 80.0 [OCS] 12.0 72
21 BRA 8034   Alan Adler   Ricardo Ermel   BRA 8034   RdJ   18.0 27.0 20.0 8.0 38.0 73
22 USA 8222   Rick Merriman   Eric Monroe   USA 8222   SDB   13.0 24.0 31.0 9.0 80.0 [OCS] 77
23 AUT 8226   Hans Spitzauer   Christian Nehammer   AUT 8226   Att   28.0 13.0 25.0 16.0 24.0 78
24 IRL 8158   Maxwell Treacy   R Anthony Shanks   IRL 8158   ISOL   80.0 [DNS] 26.0 36.0 4.0 13.0 79
25 USA 8264   Peter McChesney   Todd Hiller   USA 8264   AN   30.0 37.0 24.0 21.0 6.0 81
26 ITA 8014   ALBERTO BAROVIER   Umberto Coppola   ITA 8014   SG   17.0 36.0 32.0 14.0 18.0 81.0001
27 USA 8136   Henry Filter   Will Wagner   USA 8136   AN   26.0 31.0 28.0 28.0 5.0 87
28 USA 8045   Augie Diaz   Phil Trinter   USA 8045   BisB   32.0 29.0 37.0 18.0 21.0 100
29 USA 8153   Eric Doyle   Steve Calder   USA 8153   NH   27.0 45.0 11.0 80.0 [OCS] 27.0 110
30 SWE 8256   Fredrik Loof   Anders Ekstrom   SWE 8256   SC   80.0 [OCS] 80.0 [OCS] 1.0 2.0 31.0 114
31 USA 8278   Peter Vessella   J Darin Jensen   USA 8278   WSFB   80.0 [DNS] 25.0 22.0 32.0 39.0 118
32 USA 8268   John Dane III   Austin Sperry   USA 8268   MoB   3.0 21.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [OCS] 16.0 120
33 ARG 7907   Fabian Mac Gowan   Federico Engelhard   ARG 7907   OL   31.0 35.0 29.0 48.0 33.0 128
34 ARG 7213   Julio Labandeira   Luis Hornos   ARG 7213   OL   47.0 20.0 43.0 26.0 40.0 129
35 ITA 8290   Silvio Santoni   Sergio Lambertenghi   ITA 8290   NG   35.0 52.0 18.0 41.0 36.0 130
36 CAN 8236   Hans Fogh   David Caesar   CAN 8236   LOC   48.0 43.0 49.0 40.0 2.0 133
37 NOR 8183   Eivind Melleby   Petter Morland Pedersen   NOR 8183   ISOL   14.0 41.0 58.0 46.0 34.0 135
38 SUI 8009   Christoph Gautschi   Alexander Gouda   SUI 8009   Bod   8.0 57.0 30.0 80.0 [DNF] 44.0 139
39 USA 8072   Douglas D Smith   Mike Moore   USA 8072   SBC   37.0 33.0 48.0 31.0 42.0 143
40 SUI 8232   Henrik Dannesboe   Igor Kaptourovitch   SUI 8232   BSL   46.0 50.0 26.0 37.0 35.0 144
41 BAH 8265   Steven Kelly   William Holowesko   BAH 8265   N   36.0 55.0 46.0 35.0 30.0 147
42 CHI 8181   Rodrigo Zuazola   Marcelo Ferreira   CHI 8181   VAL   39.0 59.0 54.0 30.0 26.0 149
43 USA 8235   Larry Whipple   Doug Brophy   USA 8235   PS   57.0 54.0 47.0 36.0 14.0 151
44 AUS 8234   Andrew Landenberger   Simon Reffold   AUS 8234   UB   42.0 40.0 41.0 39.0 32.0 152
45 ARG 7700   Alejo Rigoni   Gustavo Gonzalez   ARG 7700   BA   22.0 14.0 80.0 [DSQ] 80.0 [DNF] 37.0 153
46 USA 8043   Jock Kohlhas   Arthur Anosov   USA 8043   BisB   50.0 39.0 39.0 29.0 46.0 153
47 CAN 8143   Brian Cramer   Tyler Bjorn   CAN 8143   LOC   43.0 34.0 33.0 44.0 50.0 154
48 USA 8245   Joe Zambella   Peter Costa   USA 8245   BH   55.0 22.0 57.0 34.0 45.0 156
49 ITA 8183   Antonio Tamburini   Renzo Ricci   ITA 8183   SI   41.0 42.0 60.0 55.0 29.0 167
50 GER 7863   Klaus Meyer   Dirk Struve   GER 7863   Brm   51.0 28.0 45.0 51.0 80.0 [DNF] 175
51 USA 8215   Bill Allen   Brad Lichter   USA 8215   WH   54.0 47.0 38.0 38.0 55.0 177
52 CAN 7626   Mark Passmore   Larry Scott   CAN 7626   LOC   60.0 51.0 53.0 25.0 52.0 181
53 LAT 8135   Eizens Cepurnieks   Alexander Muzicenko   LAT 8135   ISOL   45.0 38.0 51.0 47.0 60.0 181
54 NED 8263   Erik Broekhof   Erik Veldhuizen   NED 8263   Med   33.0 58.0 59.0 33.0 80.0 [OCS] 183
55 USA 7866   John Manderson   Matt Semler   USA 7866   Mid   58.0 60.0 42.0 43.0 47.0 190
56 USA 8095   Gunti Weissenberger   Chris Brown   USA 8095   NCB   49.0 44.0 63.0 49.0 51.0 193
57 GER 7450   Stefan Lehnert   Peter Menning   GER 7450   Brm   65.0 62.0 44.0 56.0 43.0 205
58 USA 8077   Thomas Londrigan Jr   Matt Pederson   USA 8077   LS   80.0 [OCS] 49.0 55.0 23.0 80.0 [OCS] 207
59 FIN 8094   Staffan Lindberg   Erkki Heinonen   FIN 8094   Fin   34.0 80.0 [OCS] 19.0 80.0 [OCS] 80.0 [OCS] 213
60 ARG 8169   Alberto Zanetti   Juan Pablo Engelhard   ARG 8169   OL   23.0 80.0 [OCS] 34.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [OCS] 217
61 USA 8063   Bert Collins   Brent Ostbye   USA 8063   AN   61.0 66.0 56.0 45.0 57.0 219
62 USA 8080   Fotis Boliakis   Guy Avellon   USA 8080   CLIS   52.0 56.0 61.0 57.0 61.0 226
63 USA 8227   Jon Vandermolen   T C Belco   USA 8227   GL   44.0 53.0 50.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [DNF] 227
64 ITA 8277   Renato Irrera   Corrado Cristaldini   ITA 8277   Pal   53.0 67.0 64.0 50.0 80.0 [DNF] 234
65 USA 7916   Timothy J Delaney   Michael Delaney   USA 7916   SLE   66.0 72.0 65.0 52.0 53.0 236
66 USA 8279   Claude Bonanni   Richard Burgess   USA 8279   TaB   62.0 63.0 68.0 80.0 [OCS] 49.0 242
67 ARG 7976   Martin Pendola   Ariel Simonet   ARG 7976   BA   59.0 73.0 52.0 80.0 [DNF] 59.0 243
68 USA 8084   Robert Teitge   Fielden Fleming   USA 8084   DR   69.0 69.0 72.0 58.0 48.0 244
69 GER 7887   Philipp Rotermund   Florian Fendt   GER 7887   Glu   40.0 46.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [OCS] 246
70 USA 8065   G Brooks Sperry   Tim Ray   USA 8065   WSFB   63.0 68.0 62.0 59.0 64.0 248
71 USA 7425   Barbara Beigel-Vosbury   Shane Zwingelberg   USA 7425   AN   56.0 64.0 71.0 80.0 [DNF] 58.0 249
72 USA 8000   Harry W Walker   Chris Rogers   USA 8000   BisB   64.0 70.0 70.0 53.0 63.0 250
73 USA 7659   Rick Peters   Christel Gruenewald   USA 7659   SMB   67.0 71.0 66.0 62.0 56.0 251
74 USA 7999   Tiani Hausen   Ellie Holloway   USA 7999   BisB   73.0 74.0 67.0 61.0 54.0 255
75 USA 8083   John Chiarella   Robert Carlson   USA 8083   Sun   70.0 65.0 73.0 60.0 65.0 260
76 USA 8036   Jack Rickard   Tom Ferrier   USA 8036   WH   68.0 48.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [OCS] 276
77 GER 8016   Hubert Rauch   Ingo Schappeler   GER 8016   And   72.0 61.0 69.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [DNF] 282
78 USA 7956   Tony Herrmann   Rebecca Ruhm   USA 7956   WLM   71.0 80.0 [DNF] 80.0 [DNS] 80.0 [DNS] 62.0 293
79 USA 8132   Thierry De La Villehuchet   Witold Gessing   USA 8132   Mid   80.0 [DNS] 80.0 [DNS] 80.0 [DNS] 80.0 [DNS] 80.0 [DNS] 320
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