Laser SB3 World Championships Day 4

by Katie Ashworth on 4 Sep 2009
Laser SB3 World Championships Day 4 report. The excitement was visible this morning when the race committee raised the flag signalling to the fleet that they would be sailing on Race Course A today.

With a forecast promising a building breeze, the fleet head out of the marina with big grins onboard. Today was going to be exciting, very exciting for the competitors.

With a constant 14 knots at the start of race 1, the fleet got away on the Race Committee’s first attempt, to tackle the beat and the rolling waves. Those that started at the Committee Boat end of the line benefitted and the first windward mark rounding order was In Your Pocket (Andrew Oddie), Xcellent (John Pollard) and Spirit of Cape Town (Taariq Jacobs/Roger Hudson). Craig Burlton rounded in 4th position but duly took a penalty turn after the spreader mark which cost him considerably and his finishing position of eighth has now been discarded. The downwind leg produced some of the most fantastic surfing conditions the fleet has ever experienced in the awesome rolling Atlantic swell, well……..that is until races 2 and 3!

David Hudson and the City of Cape Town crew took the bullet in the 1st race of the day. According to David, they had a fantastic start and completed a tidy race with fantastic pace. 'We have a great tactician on board in Wandisile Xayimpi (known to the fleet as Waddie), his brain seems to work in the same was a GPS set! He made some fantastic lay-line calls for us today,' praised David. Unfortunately Hudson Senior’s luck was about to change. With a collision at the start of race 2 they finished in 14th position but their luck deteriorated further still in race 3.

Following the first attempt to start the third race today the fleet were recalled and the black flag was hoisted for the second attempt. City of Cape Town reached the top mark to discover they had been called over and headed for home. 'We were lining up for a great start in the third race, but following a crash with another competitor we thought we had been pushed over the line. This was a really disappointing end to our day as we had to take action to avoid loosing our rig.'

The wind had increased to 18 knots at the start of this race and was heading right in direction too. Again in race 2 the Committee Boat end of the start line was favoured with the pin end all but deserted. The fleet rocketed off the start line and those that took the right hand side of the course certainly benefitted.

By the windward mark, the wind had increased to 22 knots and the fleet was lead by Mike Budd, with Burlton in fourth position. A few boats at the rear of the fleet suffered on their genneker hoists and the Portuguese Women’s Sailing Team on Clube Millenium BCP tore their kite to shreds but still managed to complete the race. Sat in a media boat in the middle of the race course, approximately a fifth of the way down the run provided front row seats to some of the most spectacular sailing I have personally ever seen, with crews in the foot straps and white water foaming in all directions, it was quite a spectacle! Race 2 saw Burlton achieve his first bullet of the regatta. At last!

Race 3 got away on the second attempt and following a great start, John Pollard on board Xcellent lead the fleet around the course. Catching up with John and his crew of Rob Smith and Martin Schwartz over a beer at the end of the day, they filled me in on their race. 'We have finally got into the groove with this boat,' commented Pollard with a broad beaming smile on his face, 'we are delighted to have posted a first after getting around the course in one piece after a great start!' Rob Smith made an excellent job of tactics in the third race. 'Cascais is a stunning venue for sailing, the long uphill legs are well worth it for the epic downwind surfing, the waves are incredible!'

The general feeling amongst the fleet this evening is that Race Course A is a better race track, with more stable wind and the fantastic swell, the right hand side of the course paid all day coupled with committee boat starts. The fleet have returned ashore exhausted but happy after a spectacular day of racing in a spectacular venue.

'It amazing that there are not more major sailing events held in Cascais, it is one of the best venues in the world,' explained Andy Rice on the dock, 'Today scores a nine out of ten and could only be bettered for us on board In Your Pocket if we’d had three bullets, then it really would have been a ten out of ten!'

It really doesn’t get much better than this! Racing concludes tomorrow with two final races. There are still only two points giving Burlton his lead for a fourth night, can he hang onto the gap on the final day….

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Laser SB3 World Championship 2009

Entries: 54      Races Sailed: 12      Discard: 2

Series Place	Sail No	Boat	Country	Helm	Crew	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Race 10	Race 11	Race 12
1	3042	Gill Race Team	GBR	Craig Burlton	Adam Healley/Stephen White	30	8	2	2	7	2	5	2	2	4	8	1	3
2	3469	Spirit of Cape Town	RSA	Roger Hudson	Taariq Jacobs/Ashton Sampson/Marlon Jones	32	2	1	55	13	3	1	1	6	3	9	2	4
3	3465	3 Sad Old Blokes	GBR	Jerry Hill	Joe Llewellyn / Paul Kameen	51	9	12	1	3	4	15	9	3	2	4	4	17
4	3451	City of Cape Town	RSA	David Hudson	Neil Malan/Wandisile Xayimpi/Jamie Waters	57	3	6	7	1	12	17	3	9	1	1	14	55
5	3047	Sun Microsystems	GBR	Robert Gullan	Ben Ainsworth/Pieter Heyn/Maria Stanley	61	7	7	6	17	1	4	13	1	12	3	17	7
6	3475	Zimmer	GBR	Mike Budd	Mark Greaves / Sam Gardner	63	1	5	12	55	8	2	12	10	5	16	6	2
7	3558	Black Bird/Capital Moura	POR	Filipe Silva	Joaquim Moreira / Pedro Costa Alemão	67	6	4	18	12	9	8	5	5	7	14	3	8
8	3462	In Your Pocket	GBR	Andrew Oddie	Gareth Edwards / Andy Rice	89	5	18	4	35	6	34	4	15	16	2	5	14
9	3575	Sail Boat Spares.com	GBR	Sarah Allan	Charlotte Savage/Michael John Gifford/David Giles	98	4	9	11	20	5	3	10	20	8	10	24	18
10	3152	Team Solent Helly Hansen	GBR	Guy Jackson	Jorgen Stromquist / James Moore	111	55	3	35	18	7	9	7	7	33	12	10	5
11	3032	Rumbleflurg	GBR	David Cummins	Ian Schenkel/Chris Cousins	114	14	10	9	15	20	14	6	11	9	6	55	26
12	3311	Selden Mast	GBR	Chris Jennings	Simon Everest/ Neil Hughston	133	15	19	26	4	11	23	15	34	6	7	7	55
13	3014	Sponge Bob	GBR	Marshall King	Matt Waite / Steven McLean	138	41	16	20	10	22	7	16	8	10	18	13	20
14	3027	Darling Associates	GBR	Chris Darling	Alice Darling/Sian McCleave/Alastair Shaw	147	44	21	15	14	27	12	23	12	14	11	9	16
15	3401	Else	GER	Ferdinand Ziegelmayer	Maximilian Ziegelmayer/Sebastien Ziegelmayer	150	10	14	16	16	10	18	19	14	55	21	12	21
16	3083	Bettersoft/Cidade Setubal	POR	Luis Santos	Rui Duarte/João Bolina	161	31	8	3	11	17	21	21	28	26	31	20	6
17	3491	Stenghele	ITA	Roberto Caresani	Pietro Negri/Giulia Conti	166	12	27	24	21	21	16	8	17	55	13	19	15
18	3506		POR	Rui Caldas Barreiro	Diogo Pereira / Gonçalo Cabrita	195	17	25	8	28	16	11	14	29	27	36	21	28
19	3038	Cheeky Monkey	GBR	Ian Sullivan	Tom Mallindine / Chris Noble	196,6	18	23	23	2	34	20	17	31	11	55	26	24
20	3082	Badger Racing	GBR	Paul Lovejoy	Sam Minns/Fredrik Blencke	198	20	17	55	6	35	10	11	13	13	55	18	55
21	3187	Phi!Number	ITA	Luca Bacci	Duccio Colombi/Michele Saleri	201	19	20	55	19	24	29	20	27	20	24	15	13
22	3048	Xcellent	GBR	John Pollard	Robert Smith/Martin Schwartz	204	37	55	55	55	15	6	55	4	18	5	8	1
23	3115	Quebramar	POR	Rui Brites	Gonçalo Esteves/Francisco Neto	216	16	11	10	9	31	19	26	44	28	22	46	55
24	3543	Citta di Numana	ITA	Vicenzo Graciotti	Camillo Zucconi/Andrea Trani	222	29	36	17	24	30	13	31	16	29	25	27	12
25	3203		POR	António Mello	João Mello/João Westwood/Lourenço P. Gonçalves	228	40	55	13	29	19	28	28	24	15	34	11	27
26	3256	Bicasco/Cidade Setubal	POR	António Santos	Fernando Faneco/José Miguel Cunha	241	48	15	14	22	13	48	27	38	21	37	32	22
27	3155	Fishbone	ITA	Giovanni Meloni	Massimiliano Pez/Cristian Ferro	247	30	24	21	5	37	27	40	23	23	26	31	55
28	3581		POR	Peter Straton	Francisco Garcia/Miguel Pedro	251	45	23	55	30	14	32	22	19	31	33	16	31
29	3177	Hot Pants	GBR	Mike Wood	Mike Walker / Ian Martin	259	36	40	30	8	23	36	37	21	55	20	29	19
30	3523	Sete	POR	Bernardo Pinto Gonçalves	Carlos Empis / Lourenço Empis/Martim Mello	259	13	22	37	55	29	40	30	18	42	17	30	23
31	3379	Pelican Racing	GBR	Ash Holmes	Ian Gilmour / Simon Davies	266	21	28	36	26	25	37	33	25	19	23	40	30
32	3420	Manias	POR	José Pedro Dias Pinheiro	Antonio Leal Faria/ Bernardo Dias Pinheiro	274	25	26	5	31	32	39	34	35	32	32	25	32
33	3563	Isabella II	GER	Reinhard Schroeder	Stephan Sorgel/Nico Thielemann	280	39	38	22	44	42	33	24	30	17	29	39	9
34	3505		POR	Vasco Passanha	Tiago Malhão Pereira/André Caiado	283	34	30	39	55	18	30	31	45	36	15	23	11
35	3295	Razzmatazz	GER	Sebastian Dohrendorf	Fieda van Belle/Jonathan Griffiths/Frank Geerlings	283	26	55	23	27	28	49	32	39	36	19	28	25
36	3139	Wagop	AUS	Michael Quirk	Jordan Spencer / Michael McLean	288	55	55	32	40	40	22	25	26	25	27	22	29
37	3209	Trunk Monkey	GBR	Joe Burnie	Doug Peniston/Mike Austen	312	23	35	28	23	47	35	36	32	37	30	33	55
38	3150	Audi Sunshine Girls	AUS	Lauren Calder	Lissa McMillan/Louise Watson/Morgann Stanton	317	55	33	29	32	49	41	29	43	24	40	36	10
39	3090	Purple DayDream	POR	João Duarte	Gonçalo Boto/Paulo Lobo/Christian Bayon	327	22	13	27	55	26	38	35	42	35	55	35	41
40	3438	Trinca Espinhas	POR	Luis Figueiredo	Gonçalo Lacerda/Nuno Rosa Lopes	334	11	29	31	36	41	45	39	33	34	35	55	55
41	3105	Dom Pedro Hotels	POR	José Paulo Ramada	Abilio Amaral / Pedro Ribeiro da Cunha	345	55	34	25	39	39	25	41	37	39	28	38	55
42	3111	ROFF - SAP Consulting	POR	Gonçalo Horta	Hugo Mastbaum / Pedro Rebelo	355	32	31	34	33	38	43	38	36	41	41	37	35
43	3333	Coating Team	ITA	Luca Maitan	Luca Zuklic/Manuel Faro	369	35	39	41	25	33	31	46	48	44	42	45	34
44	3103	ESRI	POR	Piedade Colaço	Diana Caldeira/Ariana Nunes/Luisa Figueiredo	371	28	41	55	34	36	44	45	47	22	38	48	36
45	3101	Casilda	POR	Duarte Bello	Gonçalo Eusébio /Eduardo VanZeller	379	27	37	33	37	50	50	43	49	30	39	34	55
46	3114	Clube Millenium BCP	POR	Vanessa Batista	Telma Miranda/Inês Soares/Mariana Freitas	395	33	43	19	45	48	46	42	41	38	48	49	40
47	3093	Super Bad	IRL	Emmet Ryan	James Budd/Anna Mackenzie/Jonny White	410	24	55	55	55	45	26	18	22	55	55	55	55
48	3411	Herdade do Esporão	POR	Diogo Corrêa Mendes	Fernando Passeiro / Duarte Pinto Coelho	411	46	46	55	41	44	24	55	40	43	45	44	38
49	3055	Rumshack Event Management	GBR	Roger Hexton	Peter Christie/Christopher Anthony	413	42	32	38	42	43	42	55	55	55	44	42	33
50	3077	Skallywag	GBR	James Ford	Rob Day / Nina Day	417	43	42	40	38	46	47	44	50	40	46	41	37
51	3124	Delta Q	POR	Gonçalo Almeida	João Lino/Daniel Matias/Elisa Matias	458	49	44	55	46	51	51	47	51	45	43	43	39
52	3092	Mergulhão	POR	André Gray	Rodrigo Amaral/Filipe Hogan	469	47	45	55	43	52	52	48	46	55	47	47	42
53	3525	Engexpor	POR	Fernando Bello	António Gois/Francisco Mourão	533	38	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55
54	3521	Santa Maria	POR	Firmino Morgado	Elísio Lourenço/Luis Rosario	537	50	47	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55	55