Flying Dutchman World Championships at Santa Cruz Yacht Club - Day 5
by Richard Phillips 30 Sep 2012 08:48 BST
23-30 September 2012
Sun, fog, good breeze - race on!
After 8 races, Szabolcs Majthényi & András Domokos are the provisional winners of the FD Worlds with a race in hand.
Friday
There was no racing on Friday 28 September due to lack of wind. Racing was postponed to the lay day on Saturday 29 September. On Friday evening the Championship dinner was greatly enjoyed by approx 160 competitors, supporters and volunteers. A number of sponsored prizes were given away on the basis of bow numbers drawn from a hat.
Saturday
After a short shoreside postponement due to lack of wind on Saturday, boats were released from the harbour in sunshine for what proved to be a great day of racing with a good breeze for race 7 & 8.
However fog patches wafted through the course and some of the leading boats have claimed redress as they could not see the next mark of the course. Other boats were caught pumping by the Jury which was vigilant during the fog patches.
Race 7
After a General Recall, the Black flag was displayed and the 43 FDs got away to a clean start. The 10 to 12 knot SW wind enabled the fleet to quickly disperse across the course. The local sailors went hard right into the shore. During the first lap the fog kept coming and going.
At the first leeward mark the rounding order was 1st Szabolcs Majthényi & András Domokos - HUN 70, 2nd Enno Krammer & Ard Geelkerken - NED 26, 3rd Andrew McKee & Mathew Bismark - NZL 111, 4th Kay-Uwe Lüdtke & Kai Schäfers -GER 88, 5th Nicola & Francesco Vespasiani - ITA 4, 6th Dirk Bogumil & Michael Liskin - GER 199.
The fog continued to come and go on the second lap. At the end of the run on lap 2, the rounding order of the first five boats was the same. GER 19 had moved up to sixth place.
At the finish HUN 70 won with NZL 111 second having passing NED 26 which finished third.
Race 8
By the start of Race 8 the wind had increased to 15 to 18 knots and boats had changed to Clew 2. There was a significant chop on the water on top of the swell. A few boats went ashore and did not participate further.
Waves and wind resulted in capsizes, boats trawled spinnakers at the leeward mark and the conditions remained foggy. The first six boats at the leeward mark on the second lap were 1st NED 26, 2nd HUN 70, 3rd GER 88, 4th Kilian König & Johannes Brack - GER 113, 5th GER 199, 6th Jan Lechler & Jens Salow - GER 100.
At the finish the order of the first four boats remained unchanged. Most of the boats finished in foggy conditions.
As the last boats returned to the harbour the fog lifted and the sun shone!
Once ashore competitors and volunteers enjoyed a tasty snack and a glass of beer in the Regatta marquee.
Race 7 Results: (top six)
1st Szabolcs Majthényi & András Domokos - HUN 70
2nd Andrew McKee & Mathew Bismark - NZL 111
3rd Enno Krammer & Ard Geelkerken - NED 26
4th Kay-Uwe Lüdtke/Kai Schäfers - GER 88
5th Paul Scoffin & Pavel Ruzicka - NZL 145
6th Kilian König & Johannes Brack - GER 113
Race 8 Results: (top six)
1st Enno Krammer & Ard Geelkerken - NED 26
2nd Szabolcs Majthényi & András Domokos - HUN 70
3rd Kay-Uwe Lüdtke/Kai Schäfers - GER 88
4th Kilian König & Johannes Brack - GER 113
5th Jan Lechler & Jens Salow - GER 100
6th Andrew McKee & Mathew Bismark - NZL 111
Provisional Results after Day 7: (eight races, 2 discards)
1st HUN 70 - 12 pts
2nd GER 88 - 16 pts
3rd NED 26 - 17 pts
4th ITA 4 - 28 pts
5th GER 19 - 39 pts
6th GER 135 - 45 pts
The ninth and last race is scheduled for 1200hrs on Sunday 30 September. For more information and full provisional results see www.fdworlds2012.org