Britain wins first race in Audi Flying Fifteen Worlds
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World on 10 Jan 2009
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GBR-3821 (Goacher and Evans) cross the finish line to win Race 1 of the 2009 Audi Flying Fifteen World Championships Richard Gladwell
www.photosport.co.nz
The first race in the 2009 Audi Flying Fifteen World Championships has been completed on Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne.
Racing was held in the forecast seabreeze of around 15-18kts, making for excellent racing.
The Australian crew of Grant Alderson and Dean Mcaullay led for much of the race before being overtaken by the British crew of Steve Goacher and Phil Evans on the penultimate windward leg.
Eighty five yachts competed from six countries competed in the the Open fleet with places amongst the top five being shared between three countries.
Two New Zealand crews had the closest finish with Murray Gilbert and Jonathan Burgen, just finishing ahead of Brett Willcox and Dave Pearson, after Gilbert called right of way on Willcox just short of the finish line allowing them to Gilbert to take 10th place with only a second or two separating the two boats in what was the closest finish of the day.
Third place was taken by Mike Hart and Richard Rigg (GBR), with a second GBR competitor, Charles Althrop and Alan Green fourth, followed by the first New Zealand crew, Aaron Goodmanson and Alister Rowlands in fifth place.
All results quoted above are provisional. Several protests have been lodged as a result of todays racing, however they are not expected to include the top finishers above.
Full details of the racing can be found on www.sail-world.com or the official website www.ffiworlds2009.yachting.org.au
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/52677
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