New Champions at Access Class Worlds

by David Staley on 5 Sep 2007 Racing in the Access Class World Championships at Whitby Yacht Club resumed today enabling the SKUD 18 International and Two-Person 303 World Championships to be decided.

Wind ranged from 6-10 knots, mainly 8-10, throughout the day with a more significant chop than the competitors had experienced in previous races. An easterly greeted the first sailors on the water, but it progressively shifted right through 50 degrees. Principal Race Officer, David Sprague (CAN), and his race management team made two course re-alignments during the day.

In the SKUD 18s, Dan Fitzgibbon & Rachael Cox (AUS) maintained their dominance of the division with another three straight wins to finish 8 points clear. Ame Barnbrook & Dennis Critchley (AUS) finished each of today’s races ahead of Rick Watters & Audrey Kobayashi (CAN) to reclaim second place. All of the SKUDs racing here at Whitby will be loaded on trailers tomorrow for the trip to Rochester, NY and the IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championship – the first Nations Qualifier for the 2008 Two-Person Paralympic Sailing Competition.

At the end of the last day’s racing in the Two-Person 303’s, there was only one point separating each of the top three teams. But Eva Mircsev & Zoltan Pegan (HUN) handled today’s conditions perfectly to win every heat and claim the World Championship ahead of Michael Leydon & Debbie Boys (AUS), with Jim Brown & Tish Ennis (AUS) third.

There is still one day of competition to go in the remaining divisions.

Duncan MacGregor (AUS) is unbeatablein the 2.3 Single-Person division. The 17 year old from tropical Cairns holds a 7 point lead. Clare Andrew (GBR) has a 4 point gap on Debbie Boys (AUS). Martin Waller (AUS) is sailing his 2.3 with servo helm and mainsheet controls and led the fleet for part of the first race today but was eventually overtaken by MacGregor. To be ahead of the Australian and World Champion, albeit briefly, was a real highlight for this committed sailor from Melbourne.

While Zoltan Pegan (HUN) tasted success in the Two-Person 303 division today, he has struggled to replicate this in the solo competition. His first place in race one is now just a memory with the two Australians swapping the lead in today’s heats. Michael Leydon (AUS) went 3-2-3 in the early session, with Jim Brown (AUS) taking two firsts and a second. Leydon currently retains a 3 point lead with two races still to complete.

Joshua McKenzie-Brown (NZL) had his worst result today, but benefited from the second drop coming in to play. Discarding his 6th in the second of today’s races, his 1st and 2nd increased his lead to 5 points with just one race to sail, so the championship is assured.. Barry Coates (AUS) had two wins today to move him ahead of Chris Riordan (AUS). Cam Perry (CAN) is only 1 point adrift in 4th place and seems committed to getting Canada on the podium, but he has just one race to make his a reality.

The final races are scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) followed by a presentation ceremony at the Whitby Yacht Club.

Results at: http://www.wyc.ca/pdf/access/results.htm

For more information, visit www.accessclass.org or www.wyc.ca