Brits still ahead at 2009 Star Class European Championships

by Andreas Kling on 9 Jul 2009
After five races at the 2009 Star Class European Championships for Rolex Baltic Week the cream of the Star fleet are showing their class, with all three 2008 Olympic medalists separated by just two points at the head of the leaderboard - and back in the familiar finish order that they stood on the podium in Qingdao last August.

Mistakes in this ultra-competitive 89-boat fleet are proving costly, but at the front of the fleet Brits Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson, Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada of Brazil and Swedish Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander have scored consistent results in the top 10 to extend their lead on the pack.

Day 3 of the Rolex Baltic Week on the Kiel Fjord, northern Germany, brought cloudy skies and showers on Wednesday (8 July). The gusty, shifty conditions which have characterized the event so far continued, with south-westerly breezes shifting up to 20 degrees. Today's average wind strength was around 12-15 knots, but the rain clouds also brought squalls which pushed the pressure up to 18-20 knots.

A large shift just after the gun saw the first start recalled, but the fleet restarted under the Black Flag just after midday. Xavier Rohart (FRA), with new crew Pierre Alexis Ponsot, sailed a near-faultless race to lead around every mark and take the gun. Behind him there was plenty of scrapping for positions, with Percy/Simpson pushing hard to climb through the fleet from ninth at the first top mark, to sixth at the gate, then finally surging past Hamish Pepper (NZL) on a wave to take second. The Kiwi duo of Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk held on for third, with world number one Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) fourth.

Fifth across the line was the home team of Alexander Schlonski/Frithjof Kleen (GER), but were found to have been black-flagged at the start. Fifth place points went to Flavio Marazzi/Erico De Maria (SUI), who couldn't quite get to Robert Scheidt, while Loof climbed from 14th to sixth. Throughout the entire fleet there were plenty of place changes, with a single high scoring race or black flag putting paid to many teams' chances.

The second race of the day saw an exciting match-racing style finale, with Fredrik Loof and Robert Scheidt pushing hard to get their nose in front. Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR) took the early lead, and showed the fleet the way round until the final beat, when they tacked back in from the favored right-hand side to the middle of the fleet a bit too late to lose a handful of places. This put Loof out in front, and set up a tacking duel for the race win with Scheidt. The Brazilian tacked out to the right just as Loof headed for the left-hand side. The Swede was held out to the left of the pack, whilst Scheidt got a little shift to overtake into first place.

Third place went to Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube (USA), winner of the 2006 Rolex Baltic Week, whilst Percy/Simpson finished in fourth. A fifth rounded off an improved Day 3 for the French pairing of Rohart, a former World Champion, and Ponsot. Hamish Pepper was among those to fall foul of the black flag.

This second win for Robert Scheidt leaves him in second place overall on 10 points, just one point behind the Olympic gold medalists Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson, who can now discard Tuesday's sixth, and one point ahead of Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander in third. While just two points separate the leaders, it's a further 15 points back to fourth-placed Robert Stanjek/Markus Koy (GER). As fellow German helm Johannes Babendererde, lying in 7th overall, put it: 'After fourth place the silver fleet begins!'

With two more days of racing for the Rolex Baltic Week, there's no doubt that Scheidt and Loof will be looking to upset the Olympic order. However, Scheidt warned that the British leaders would be a hard act to beat, saying: 'If you want to beat Percy you really need to sail very well. He is pretty quick and without his fault you hardly can beat him at all.'

Percy repaid the compliment, adding: 'It is the same the other way around. These guys at the top all sail very well. We are a bit untrained since we haven't raced since the Olympics [only Kieler Woche], that doesn't help. We were a bit unlucky in the second race or made a small mistake, however you see it, and we got punished right away. But it's a great regatta, fantastic competition.'

The Rolex Baltic Week teams now have a chance to regroup and repair any damage with a reserve day scheduled before the final three races. Crew Markus Koy (4th place overall) commented: 'We are satisfied with our ranking, although we had a little problem with our boat speed. When it got lighter upwind we were too slow. We'll pull the mast out on Thursday and want to change the rig trim.'

Racing resumes on Friday, 10 July, with two more races scheduled. The Star Class European Championship will end on Saturday with one final race to come. The sailors and organizers celebrated the classes' traditional mid-week prize-giving with an extra-ordinary Rolex Baltic Week dinner on Wednesday night.

Results after five out of eight races on day three of the 2009 Rolex Baltic Week / Star Class European Championship

Results from class: Star

Pos.	Sailingnumber	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	Points
1	GBR 8371	Percy, Iain (1976) SKANDIA 1. Simpson, Andrew (1976) Skandia,	2.00	1.00	(6.00)	2.00	4.00	9.00
2	BRA 8255	Scheidt, Robert (1971) ycsa 1. Prada, Bruno (1973) ycsa,	4.00	4.00	1.00	(4.00)	1.00	10.00
3	SWE 8387	Loof, Fredrik (1969) KSSS 1. Tillander, Johan (1977) KSSS,	1.00	3.00	5.00	(6.00)	2.00	11.00
4	GER 8340	Stanjek, Robert (1981) NRV 1. Koy, Markus (1974) NRV,	5.00	6.00	(19.00)	8.00	7.00	26.00
5	USA 8267	Mendelblatt, Mark (1973) SPYC 1. Strube, Mark (1970) SPYC,	9.00	5.00	11.00	(17.00)	3.00	28.00
6	SUI 8364	Marazzi, Flavio (1978) TYC/GYC 1. De Maria, Enrico (1976) YCR,	7.00	11.00	9.00	5.00	(13.00)	32.00
7	GER 8378	Babendererde, Johannes (1984) NRV 1. Jacobs, Timo (1982) LSV,	12.00	7.00	2.00	12.00	(39.00)	33.00
8	FRA 8237	Rohart, Xavier (1968) La Pelle 1. Ponsot, Pierre Alexis (1975) SNO Nantes,	19.00	20.00	(20.00)	1.00	5.00	45.00
9	GBR 8025	Gimson, John (1983) RSrnYC 1. Greig, Ed (1983) RSrnYC,	(23.00)	13.00	12.00	14.00	6.00	45.00
10	ITA 8384	Celon, Nicola (1964) tba 1. Natucci, Edoardo (1974) tba,	14.00	(21.00)	13.00	9.00	9.00	45.00
11	NZL 8187	Pepper, Hamish (1971) RNZYS 1. Monk, Craig (1969) RNZYS,	13.00	8.00	28.00	3.00	(89.00)BFD	52.00
12	USA 8156	Horton, Andy (1975) LCYC 1. Lyne, James (1970) vtyc,	18.00	12.00	(39.00)	7.00	17.00	54.00
13	ITA 8290	Santoni, Silvio (1964) tba 1. Toccoli, Fabio (2009) tba,	10.00	18.00	16.00	11.00	(35.00)	55.00
14	JPN 8144	Suzuki, Kunio (1976) WakayS.C. 1. Daichi, Wada (1974) W.S.C.,	3.00	15.00	22.00	(36.50)	19.00	59.00
15	IRL 8158	Treacy, Max (1978) tba 1. Shanks, Anthony (1972) tba,	15.00	(26.00)	8.00	20.00	18.00	61.00
16	ITA 8390	Barovier, Alberto (1972) tba 1. Colaninno, Nando (1967) tba,	16.00	33.00	3.00	(77.00)	12.00	64.00
17	ITA 8266	Negri, Diego (1971) tba 1. Stilo, Giovanni (2009) AVB,	(89.00)BFD	14.00	17.00	23.00	11.00	65.00
18	GER 8140	Schlonski, Alexander (1980) NRV 1. Kleen, Frithjof (1983) NRV,	6.00	9.00	35.00	(89.00)BFD	16.00	66.00
19	IRL 8261	O'Leary, Peter (2009) tba 1. Goodbody, Tim (2009) tba,	21.00	16.50	(37.00)	21.00	8.00	66.50
20	CRO 8339	Lovrovic, Martin (1973) tba 1. Mikulicic, Sinisa (2009) tba,	11.00	(43.00)	30.00	18.00	10.00	69.00
21	DEN 8380	Andersen, Benny (1963) KS/KBL 1. Just, Mogens (1962) KBL,	(31.00)	23.00	18.00	10.00	23.00	74.00
22	POR 8309	Domingos, Afonso (1969) c.n.cascai 1. Leone, Rocca (1971) C.N.Cascais,	(42.00)	16.50	14.00	16.00	30.00	76.50
23	BRA 8392	Grael, Lars (1964) ICB 1. Seifert, Ronald (1972) ICB,	(30.00)	27.00	15.00	15.00	20.00	77.00
24	ARG 8381	Kouyoumdjian, Juan (1971) YCA 1. Colla, Alejandro (1970) CVR,	24.00	(47.00)	4.00	26.00	25.25RDG(2)	79.25
25	GER 8109	Polgar, Johannes (1977) NRV 1. Kröger, Tim (1964) NRV,	17.00	19.00	33.00	(39.00)	15.00	84.00
26	DEN 8225	Sørensen, Flemming (1963) TBL 1. Hansen-Thrysøe, Niels (1960) SSS,	34.00	24.00	7.00	27.00	(50.00)	92.00
27	USA 8273	Szabo, George (1970) SDYC 1. Peters, Rick (1901) CYC,	22.00	25.00	21.00	(33.00)	26.00	94.00
28	USA 8077	Jennings, Jack (1979) tba 1. Fatih , Brian (1972) tba,	29.00	34.00	10.00	(52.00)	31.00	104.00
29	GER 8256	Merkelbach, Hubert (1963) BYCÜ 1. Bartel, Gerrit (1958) Touring Yacht Club,	20.00	(45.00)	26.00	35.00	25.00	106.00
30	HUN 8386	Tenke, Tibor (1953) Spartacus 1. Jóka, Gémesi (1971) Spartacus,	27.00	22.00	25.00	36.50	(58.00)	110.50
31	GER 8149	Hagen, Alexander (1955) NRV 1. Falkenthal, Kai (1965) VSAW,	8.00	31.00	(89.00)DNF	45.00	29.00	113.00
32	GER 7992	Schmidt, Reinhard (1964) SKBUe 1. Meissner, Dirk (1956) RVE,	36.00	(89.00)BFD	27.00	44.00	14.00	121.00
33	UKR 8247	Gureyev, Vasyl (1952) FOND 1. Volodymyr, Korotkov (1966) FOND,	28.00	44.00	47.00	13.00	(52.00)	132.00
34	AUS 8121	Landenberger, Andrew (1968) CRSC 1. Reffold, Simon (1965) RPAYC,	32.00	28.00	50.00	22.00	(89.00)BFD	132.00
35	GRE 8138	Papathansiou, Emilios (1973) OLYMPIACOS 1. Apostolos, Karnoutsos (1977) N.C.P.F.,	89.00DNC	2.00	(89.00)BFD	19.00	24.00	134.00
36	CRO 8280	Lovrovic, Dan (2009) tba 1. Arapovic, Antonio (1984) tba,	35.00	40.00	(41.00)	31.00	28.00	134.00
37	GER 8213	Wilhelm, Peer (1979) bsc 1. Paust, Stefan (1974) nrv,	26.00	35.00	42.00	(42.00)	32.00	135.00
38	ESP 7384	Soler, Fernando García-Lago (1973) tba 1. Alvarez de Sotomayor, Juan (1999) ???,	45.00	41.00	24.00	(60.00)	27.00	137.00
39	RUS 8047	Vokhmintsev, Dmitry (1973) tchayka 1. Lyasnikov, Vladimir (1969) tchayka,	33.00	42.00	(56.00)	30.00	43.00	148.00
40	ITA 8370	Simeone, Luca (1961) CNG 1. Antar, Vigna (1969) GDF,	51.00	(89.00)BFD	31.00	46.00	22.00	150.00
41	GER 8355	Paucksch, Christian (1964) byc 1. Knoll, Christian (1972) byc,	(89.00)DNF	37.00	46.00	24.00	45.00	152.00
42	ITA 7556	Fornaro, Andrea (1977) ycf 1. Carlo, Fornaro (1978) YCF,	43.00	59.00	32.00	(89.00)BFD	21.00	155.00
43	DEN 8066	Jensen, Johnny (1958) SYC 1. Krügger Lauritsen, Claus (1981) THISTED SEJLCLUB,	38.00	29.00	(67.00)	54.00	34.00	155.00
44	GBR 8316	Razmilovic, Ante (1971) RTYC 1. Hammersley, Brian (1979) RYA,	37.00	32.00	54.00	32.00	(54.00)	155.00
45	CAN 8143	Cramer, Brian (1953) RHYC 1. Johnston, Matt (1981) RCYC,	40.00	51.00	23.00	43.00	(89.00)DNC	157.00
46	SWE 8338	Johansson, Mats (1956) gkss 1. Moller, Leif (1960) gkss,	89.00DNC	10.00	36.00	29.00	(89.00)BFD	164.00
47	FIN 7994	Dahlman, Mathias (1971) Alandia SS 1. Leifelt, Martin (1982) TBA,	41.00	(67.00)	48.00	41.00	36.00	166.00
48	SWE 7712	Carlson, Philip (1990) SS Kaparen 1. Peterson, Benjamin (1989) SS Kaparen,	50.00	36.00	43.00	(61.00)	42.00	171.00
49	GER 8130	Voigt, Henning (1961) FSC/NRV 1. Struve, Dirk (1967) wvm,	46.00	30.00	(89.00)DNC	55.00	48.00	179.00
50	RUS 8359	Berezhnoy, Andrey (1968) Chaika 1. Masalov, Sergey (1972) Chaika,	53.00	(89.00)DNF	53.00	34.00	44.00	184.00
51	GER 7402	von Eicken, Andreas (1947) NRV 1. Hobbie, Dietmar (1959) ZSK,	39.00	(66.00)	38.00	57.00	51.00	185.00
52	SWE 7978	Krook, Ingvar (1947) KSSS 1. Hasselgren, Henrik (1975) KSSS,	52.00	(52.00)	51.00	51.00	33.00	187.00
53	SWE 8108	Dahlén, Erik (1999) HKK 1. Carlsson, Krister (1999) HKK,	25.00	39.00	89.00BFD	38.00	(89.00)RAF	191.00
54	GER 7414	Keilwitz, Lars (1971) SFS 1. Munck, Sebastian (1975) wscw,	(89.00)BFD	38.00	44.00	49.00	60.00	191.00
55	DEN 7575	Joergensen, Herluf (1954) SSK 1. Wegener, Lars (1973) SSK,	47.00	50.00	45.00	(89.00)BFD	66.00	208.00
56	HUN 8166	Martin, Viktor (1975) Matlák SE 1. Bezeréti, Miklós (1979) bud,	54.00	48.00	52.00	59.00	(62.00)	213.00
57	GBR 8254	Tabb, David (1952) tba 1. Peyton, Tom (2009) tba,	57.00	89.00DNF	(89.00)DNC	28.00	41.00	215.00
58	GER 8020	Ilgenstein, Michael (1966) N.R.V. 1. Sradnick, Paul (1992) Y.C.B.G.,	(89.00)BFD	53.00	59.00	50.00	56.00	218.00
59	UKR 8119	Bondar, Pavlo (1970) Dnipro 1. Shapovalov, Mykola (1956) Dnipro,	44.00	63.00	40.00	72.00	(72.00)	219.00
60	GER 8016	Rauch, Hubert (1958) DSC 1. Kling, Felix (1986) LSC,	89.00DNC	49.00	34.00	(89.00)BFD	49.00	221.00
61	GER 7837	Merk, Sibylle (1968) BYC 1. Merk, Michael (1971) SCFF,	60.00	(69.50)	68.00	48.00	46.00	222.00
62	SUI 8085	Zimmermann, Lorenz (1953) SCT 1. Hollweg, Nils (1977) SCT,	(89.00)BFD	64.00	60.00	62.00	38.00	224.00
63	SUI 7854	Juchli, Roman (1977) YCA / ASC 1. Juchli, Philipp (1977) YCA,	59.00	58.00	55.00	(81.00)	53.00	225.00
64	POL 7858	Wierzbicki, Arkadiusz (2009) tba 1. Pawlowski, Krzysztof (2009) tba,	64.00	65.00	57.00	(66.00)	40.00	226.00
65	GER 8233	Pieper, Josef (1937) WYD 1. Huchel, Martin (1968) KYC,	(89.00)DNF	54.00	66.00	40.00	68.00	228.00
66	AUT 7846	Weinreich, Gerhard (1967) UYCNf 1. Kagl, Alexander (2009) tba,	56.00	57.00	64.50	53.00	(71.00)	230.50
67	GER 7944	Tusch, Frank (1975) WYD 1. Winkelmann, Sven (1975) SCM,	48.00	61.00	(89.00)DNF	64.00	61.00	234.00
68	GER 7417	Schulte, Gert (1942) WYD 1. Schulte, Gerrit (1969) WYD,	67.00	46.00	61.00	63.00	(74.00)	237.00
69	GER 8093	Hasche, Marko A. (1970) NRV HF 1. Spehr, Helge (1964) SVK KF,	61.00	55.00	49.00	(74.00)	73.00	238.00
70	POL 8252	Grabowski, Maciej (1978) tba 1. Tarnowski, Pawel (2009) tba,	89.00DSQ(1)	89.00DNC	(89.00)DNC	25.00	37.00	240.00
71	GER 7960	Thurner, Frank (1963) MYC 1. Nitsche, Dr. Kai (1972) SGM,	58.00	(75.00)	64.50	56.00	63.00	241.50
72	GER 8055	Diercks, Jochen (1947) tba 1. Braasch, Herbert (2009) NRV,	66.00	71.00	(72.00)	47.00	59.00	243.00
73	GER 7904	Gold, Felix (1971) VSaW 1. Nolte, Andre (1970) SVMG,	49.00	72.00	(89.00)BFD	68.00	57.00	246.00
74	GER 7762	Gelsdorf, Christopher (1986) YCBL 1. Bode, Alexander (1983) DYC,	55.00	68.00	73.00	(76.00)	55.00	251.00
75	GER 7412	Stegenwalner, Nadine (1975) VSaW 1. Daub, Ulrich (1967) YCRE,	(89.00)DNF	60.00	58.00	67.00	67.00	252.00
76	SWE 7338	Carlsson, Sune (1931) tba 1. Nilsson, Benny (1942) tba,	65.00	62.00	(89.00)BFD	80.00	47.00	254.00
77	GER 7863	Meyer, Klaus (1957) WVW 1. Müller, Jörg (1963) WVW,	63.00	(69.50)	63.00	69.00	65.00	260.00
78	GER 7794	Murek, Udo (1961) YCBayerLev 1. Murek, Carsten (1994) YCBayerLev,	(89.00)DNC	80.00	29.00	71.00	82.00	262.00
79	GER 7866	Behn, Philip Gordon (1970) NRV 1. Stanjek, Philipp (1983) NRV,	62.00	(76.00)	75.00	65.00	64.00	266.00
80	GER 8147	Rupp, Christian (1967) MYC 1. Mössnang, Jörg (1955) DTYC,	(89.00)DSQ(1)	56.00	70.00	79.00	78.00	283.00
81	GER 8074	Dickow, Lutz (1957) VSaW 1. Kramer, Lutz (1947) SV03,	68.00	73.00	71.00	75.00	(80.00)	287.00
82	GER 7272	Petersen, Reiner (1956) VSaW 1. Berger, Oliver (1972) BYC,	70.00	78.00	69.00	73.00	(79.00)	290.00
83	GER 8346	Weiler, Hermann (1942) SCFF 1. Schmid, Thomas (1972) SFMOD,	73.00	79.00	62.00	(83.00)	81.00	295.00
84	SUI 7868	Rudolf, Juerg (1961) ASC 1. Zimmermann, Thobias (1973) YCRo,	71.00	77.00	74.00	(78.00)	76.00	298.00
85	GER 7672	Fallais, Dominik (1989) RSC 1. Fallais, Simon (1991) RSC,	72.00	89.00DNC	(89.00)DNC	70.00	75.00	306.00
86	RUS 7695	Budjakow, Alexander (1947) tba 1. Budantcew, Victor (1961) tba,	69.00	89.00DNS	(89.00)DNC	82.00	69.00	309.00
87	GER 7262	Toedt, Peter (1961) WSRM 1. Käshammer, Stefan (1967) WSRM,	89.00DNC	89.00DNC	(89.00)DNC	58.00	77.00	313.00
88	GER 8027	Westphal, Sönke (1965) MSC 1. Kaerger, Andreas (1965) MSC,	89.00DNC	74.00	89.00DNF	(89.00)BFD	70.00	322.00

1 Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (Great Britain) 9 points
2 Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (Brasil) 10
3 Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander (Sweden) 11
4 Robert Stanjek/Markus Koy (Germany) 26
5 Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube (USA) 28
6 Flavio Marazzi/Enrico de Maria (Schwitzerland) 32
7 Johannes Babendererde/Timo Jacobs (Germany) 33
8 Xavier Rohart/Pierre Alexis Ponsot (France) 45

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