Hamish Pepper reflects on rare Star Double

by Hamish Pepper on 19 Nov 2006
Today we finished off what has been an awesome first year winning the Star North American’s in Miami USA. Within a strong fleet of 77 boats, plus or minus a few teams from the Worlds.

This regatta went extremely well, we had great upwind and downwind speed in the light to moderate conditions. Again coming here early was a key to our success, having the extra time in the boat to iron out the wrinkles and learn about sailing the Miami conditions. Miami was completely different from San Francisco with short choppy waves, and on weekends there is a mass of cigarette boats blasting past adding to the confusion. We didn’t change anything from the worlds in fact we used all the same gear.

We started the regatta off well with two wins on the first day to have a 6 point lead from the French pair Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau who placed 5th & 3rd. The 2004 Olympic silver medalists Ross Macdonald and Mike Wolfs where in 3rd position overall carrying a 2nd & 8th. Conditions were great for the star with 8-12kts and a few waves to catch down wind. We ended the day feeling that we were going fast enough but knew it was a strong fleet and that tomorrow was another day.

Day 2 was again excellent conditions with a range of 8-12kts with the exception of one 30kt squall on the final run of the 4th race. This was probably the most interesting race. As we rounded the final mark of race 4 there was thunder and lighting striking everywhere, the winds built instantly from 12kts to 30 kts! This can be a little dangerous in the Star as the smallest of mistakes can cause the rig to come tumbling down. We were lucky enough to escape with no such drama. But Macdonald/Wolfs where not so lucky dropping from 2nd to finish 54th over the line when a runner block broke. We ended day two with a 3rd & 7th to remain in the lead by 1 pt, us with a total of 12pts and Rohart/Rambeau on 13pts. In third spot was Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada on 23pts

Day 3 turned out to be the trickiest day of all with only one race scheduled. The breeze shifting 15-30 degrees with big wholes and pressure lines all over the course. This race however turned out to be the regatta winner for us. We managed the tricky conditions safely and ended up in 2nd spot at the top mark with a comfortable lead from 3rd place. We pasted Hans Fogh up the second beat and that was where we finished. With Rohart/Rambeau finishing down the fleet and our win giving us an unbeatable lead. So we won the regatta with out having to race the last race.

From here Carl heads back to his two boys and wife in New Zealand while Annabel and I go to Valencia before leaving to Lake Como, Italy where I will help finish off our new boat that is being built as we speak. Next regatta will be Olympic classes regatta 21st of January in Miami which I will sail with David Giles while Carl is busy with BMW Oracle.

Thanks to everyone for their support over this year its been fantastic

Regards Carl and Hamish
Southern Star Racing Team

Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams join a very select group in world sailing history

Below are the double winners of the Star Worlds and North American's  – since 1952 when there are comparable records for each year.

Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams are the first crew in the history of the Star class to have achieved the NA and Worlds Double in their rookie year. At this stage Sail-World is unable to determine if anyone has ever done the triple (NA’s Europeans and Worlds).

Pepper and Williams are also the first foreign (ie non-US resident) crew to have achieved this rare double.

Year	Skipper	Crew – NA’s	Crew - Worlds
1957	Lowell North	James Hill	James Hill
1963	James Duplin	Rodney Long	Francis Dolan
1975	Ding Schoonmaker	Jerry Ford	Jerry Ford
1977	Dennis Conner	Ron Anderson	Ron Anderson
1986	Vince Brun	Hugo Schreiner	Hugo Schreiner
1999	Eric Doyle	Tom Olsen	Tom Olsen
2006	Hamish Pepper	Carl Williams	Carl Williams

 

Hamish and Carl have been nominated for Seahorse 'Sailor of the Month' record your vote at http://www.seahorse.co.uk


2006 Star results for the Southern Racing Team

8th Levin Memorial Miami, USA

14th Biscayne Trophy Miami, USA

5th Olympic Classes regatta Miami, USA

3rd Expert Olympic Classes regatta Lake Garda, Italy

9th Eastern Europeans Championship Naples, Italy.

2nd Holland regatta

7th Kiel week, Germany

1st Cascais Sailing Week, Portugal

1st German district Championships

4th Star Europeans, Germany

1st Star Worlds San Francisco, USA

1st North Americas Miami, USA