Tornado World Championships at La Rochelle, France - Overall

Controversy on final day of the 2005 Tornado World Championships

Controversy surrounded the final day of the 2005 Tornado World Championships in La Rochelle France. The disqualification of Spanish sailors Echavarri and Paz in what proved to be the final race of the day left Team GBR sailors Leigh McMillan and Will Howden taking the gold.

However, three hours of deliberation by the International Jury, including the review of video evidence saw the Spaniards reinstated to take the gold, McMillan and Howden taking the silver and French sailors Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon taking the bronze.

The controversy centred on Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz’s protest against their disqualification due to a Black Flag in Race 9. Race 10 was cancelled due to a lack of wind.

A small amount of current at the start line had led to 2 general recalls, followed by two Black Flags. The Black Flags caught 21 boats in total over the line including, Revil and Espagnon and the Spanish sailors and both were disqualified from the race as a consequence.

However, Echavarri and Paz lodged a protest, which was backed by video evidence, claiming that they were not over the line at the start and that they should not therefore have been disqualified from the race. After three hours the International Jury decided to uphold the Spaniards protest and reinstate them for Race 9. This put them firmly in first position overall with 43.90 points, and McMillan and Howden in second position with 48.00 points.

La Rochelle, the proposed venue for the Paris 2012 Olympic bid, had challenged the competitors with some tricky sailing conditions. Winds were light to medium throughout the week but proved to be shifty across the course and tested the competitors’ ability to respond swiftly to the changing conditions.

Coach Rob Andrews said that the key to McMillan and Howden’s success “was their ability to sail consistently throughout the Championship despite the changing conditions”. He added that the conditions meant that competitors were forced to push the start harder in order to get that all important good position and that this had contributed to the problems in the final race.

McMillan and Howden were “very pleased with their overall performance throughout the Championship despite the tricky conditions and were happy to be bringing back a silver medal”.

Andrews added that Team GBR sailors Andrew Walsh and Edward Barney had sailed well throughout the Championship gaining 15th.position.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented “after a bronze in the Star Worlds, to gain silver in the Tornado Worlds, which is a rapidly developing class, is a great start to the Beijing campaign”.

Overall Results:

1, ECHAVARRI Fernando/ PAZ Anton ESP (1,4,2,2,17,6,RDG) 43.90 pts
2, MCMILLAN Leigh/ HOWDEN William GBR (10,1,10,5,3,2,15,2) 48 pts
3, REVIL Xavier/ESPAGNON Christophe FRA (7,7,17,8,3,9,3,22) 76 pts
Other GBR
12, STYLES Hugh/ VIALS Graham GBR (14,2,16,17,26,11,19,3) 108 pts
15, WALSH Andrew/ BARNEY Edward (16,15,6,16,16,25,8,19) 121 pts
21, WILSON Rob/BULKELEY Mark (13,10,18,7,27,23,24,26) 148 pts
42, HUTCHCROFT Jonathan/ GARCKA ROBBIE JOHN (47,34,36,38,45,33,50,22) 305 pts
44, FARROW Leo/LAMB Tristan (41,48,41,46,24,34,46,33) 313 pts
50, WILSON Brian/JONES Sam (38,40,48,45,54,43,49,31) 348 pts
53, LEATT Kym/GREENSTREET Chris (46,43,46,54,51,57,54,41) 392 pts
54, NORTHROP Simon/YOUNG Matt (55,45,45,39,54,51,57,54) 400 pts
55, PAYNE John/HUNT Mathew (58,49,57,50,48,,55,56,35) 408 pts
58, LLOYD David/MC QUEEN Andrew (51,53,51,53,59,52,56,35) 430 pts
59, BARNES Nick/SMITH Stuart (56,58,50,55,57,58,59,38) 431 pts
62, MINES Paul/BORLEY Martyn (62,DNF,60,DNF,62,62,61,DNF) 496 pts