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FEATURED REGATTAS: May 8, 2008

Iain, Bart, Diego and Charlie
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Iain Percy and Andrew (Bart) Simpson (GBR) anticipated the changes in the wind direction better than anyone today, including the team that hoisted the Charlie flag at three of the marks. The Brits, who have been struggling with their speed all season, relied on a good start and being on top of some big shifts to take the lead at the first weather mark and hold on. Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) almost leapt off the boat when they crossed the finish line in second place. Not only were they celebrating their finish and a nice lock on second place in the regatta, but it's Diego Negri's birthday. The leaderboard is like the UN with each of the eleven leading teams from a different nation and Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) are at the top of the chart with 9 points following five races in the 104-boat fleet at the 2008 Star World Championships.

The boat yards and the dumpsters were piled high with shrapnel, bent whisker poles, torn sails, and punctured sections of transoms on Wednesday morning as a ridden hard and put away wet fleet left the docks for the fifth race of the 2008 Star World Championships. Everybody had at least on extra layer of gear on to stave off a recurrence of yesterday's wet shivers. When the protests, requests for redress and withdrawals were resolved and factored into Race 4's results some of the teams that have been making it to all of the regattas over the past year and a half moved up in the rankings and are sitting close together in the point standings. All of these teams have had the opportunity to practice reaching during windy days on Biscayne Bay this season and they have raced triangular and Olympic courses. Their efforts showed on Tuesday.

Wednesday's forecast was for more of the same, but from the north. The helicopter flying overhead had ample opportunity to take photo shoots of starts, because the RC went into sequence five times while waiting for the light winds to settle in. It was only after the RC moved to the south and west toward the center of Biscayne Bay that the fleet got off to a start... under the black flag. Percy/Simpson started a little to the left of the middle of the line and favored the left up the beat. They were part of a small band of boats that found a big left shift with pressure at the top of the beat.

Alan Adler and Ronald Seifert (BRA) were the first to round the weather mark, but they were also the first to see the writing on the board telling them to go home. Percy/Simpson were in second with Prof O'Connell and Ben Cooke (IRL) following. The good news for Percy/Simpson was that not only was the boat ahead of them blackflagged but the one behind them was also blackflagged. From then on, it was clear sailing for Team Skandia GBR. Among those who were sent home who have chalked up two BDF's in there scoreline — Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR) and O'Connell/Cooke.

Percy/Simpson broke ahead by going low. No one gybed because they could see the pressure building from up high. By the time they reached the gate, a new breeze had filled from the left. The new course, indicated below this Charlie flag, indicated a course that put all but the leaders who rounded the left gate heading directly into the rest of the fleet that had approached the left gate from the left.

The fickle breeze that had hovered between 5 and 10 knots during the early afternoon and had bounced between 45 degrees and 355 degrees, swooped in from NNE like an arctic blast. Once it arrived, everyone flopped on to starboard with their bows pointing toward the mainland. Percy/Simpson reached the shift ahead of the others and were able to maintain the lead. The news when they reached the top was that the course to the next gate was 215 degrees.

The changes in positions during the race were enormous. It was amazing to watch Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), Hans Spitzauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT) and Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL) pass scores of boats on the final run by sailing along the eastern edge of the fleet in the big breeze. By the time they reached the final leeward gate, there were white streaks of foam on the water.

Percy/Simpson rounded the bottom gate with a 30-second lead on Negri/Viale and John Dane and Austin Sperry (USA) had a solid clutch on third place. The leaders' positions held but the rest of the deck of cards was reshuffled.

This fifth race of the 2008 Star World Championship hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club enabled the fleet to drop their lowest score and with BFD's, DNF's, DNS's, and DSQ's in many score lines, overall positions changed.