World Championships

Port Elizabeth, 30 March 2015 – Two races were sailed on the third day of the 60th SAP 5O5 World Championships bringing the total sailed to 5 in the series and with a discard kicking in the results just got interesting.

Sailors sailed an average of 40 kilometers on course today and will be looking forward to the lay day break to-morrow with racing to resume on Wednesday which is expected to present Port Elizabeth’s famous west wind of over 20 knots which will make for fast and flat sailing.

In the first race Ian Pennel and Johannes Tellen were dominant. Starting in 11 knots of east breeze the first leg saw many first position changes between Pinnell and Tellen with the boats of Quirk and Payne, Higgins and Marsh. But, it was the British pairing of Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen who rounded the top mark first and remained dominant throughout the race to finish first.

Top of the leaderboard and pathfinder for Race 4, Mike Holt, sailed on the non favoured side and had a lot of catching up to do – something which he could only do when the wind started increasing in intensity to the 15 knot mark on Leg 4 of this 11 leg race, eventually finishing in number 3 spot behind Australians Sandy Higgens and Paul Marsh.

Howard Hamlin who, along with help from local sailors Jim Foot and Andrew Blaine put in 200 man hours earlier last week to get his bare boat ready to sail in these World Championships made a welcome return to form with a decent top 10 finish in 6th place in Race 4.

The SAP Sailing Analtytics revealed some interesting statistics around the Top 3 finishers in Race 4:

1. Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen sailed 18 876 metres at an average speed of 8.85 knots
2. Sandy Higgens and Paul Marsh sailed 18 628 metres at an average speed of 8.73 knots
3. Mike Holt and Carl Smit sailed 19 202 metres at an average of 9.07 knots

• The South African boat with the highest average speed was that of Tina Plattner and Daniel Shelton at 8.49 knots
• The boat that sailed the furthest was that of Roger and Nigel Deane from Great Britain at 19 998 metres.

Race 5 was sailed in a rising east which topped out at 21 knots in the final leg – conditions well suited to current World Champions, Mike Holt and Carl Smit who sailed to their third bullet of the regatta to retain top spot on the leaderboard.

Sailing stats from Race 5’s Top 3 finishers reveals:

1. Mike Holt and Carl Smit sailed 20 743 metres at an average of 9.95 knots
2. Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen sailed 20 280 metres at an average speed of 9.55 knots
3. Ted Conrads and Brian Haines sailed 20 928 metres at an average speed of 9.82 knots

• The South African boat with the highest average speed was that of the Funke brothers – Peter and Thomas at 9.34 knots
• The boat that sailed the furthest was that of Bronwen Klaas and Aron Tellen from South Africa at 19 998 metres.

Sailing is a delicate balancing act between boat speed, distance and the least number of tacks and gybes.

The youngest team sailing in the World Championships is the South African Team of Jonathan Ham (17) and Micaela Robinson (14) are currently lying in 31st place overall.

At the end of Race 5 with one discard the Top 3 overall are:

1. Mike Holt and Carl Smit – USA on 6 points
2. Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen – GBR on 9 points
3. Michael Quirk and Luke Payne – AUS on 12 points

The Top 3 South Africans overall are:

• Peter and Thomas Funke on 31 points in 7th place
• James Largier and Richard Hutton-Squire on 43 points in 12th place
• Ricky and Brennan Robinson on 44 points in 13th place

CLICK HERE for the Overall Results after 5 Races.

Michael Quirk and Luke Payne moved to within a point of the overall lead after winning race 3 of the SAP 505 World Championships in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Algoa Bay brought lighter conditions on Sunday, and after a postponement waiting for the wind to settle, the race got underway in 7 knots of breeze from the south-east. Ted Conrads and Brian Haines from the USA were the pathfinders, and opened up the gate for the fleet as they sailed out to the right-hand side of the course

There were many leaders up the first leg, as the breeze pulsed gently from one side of the course to the other. But by the first turning mark, Quirk and Payne had eked out a small lead, with Conrad and Haines not far behind.

While Quirk extended his lead, fellow Australians Sandy Higgins and Paul Marsh were enjoying a good race in third place. However, with the British/German team of Ian Pinnell/ Johannes Tellen closing in at the final leeward gate, the Aussies were forced off to the unfavoured right-hand gate and lost out to Pinnell on the final beat to the finish.

With a slight increase in the breeze by the final lap, Holt and Smit were making small gains and started to threaten Higgins from the left-hand side of the course. The defending World Champion tacked to leeward of the Australians and it was neck and neck across the finish. While the SAP Sailing Analytics revealed that Higgins had held on to 4th place by a whisker, neither the Aussies nor Americans were sure who had gained the upper hand until they came ashore. Smit commented: “I like to think we got it at the end, but not sure. Those points can count for a lot at the end of the week. I made a couple of errors at the top of the first leg which put us back from the front pack and then we had some catching up to do after that.”

Higgins was pleased to see that Holt and Smit looked a bit more vulnerable in the lighter airs. “It tends to be a bit of a leveller, sailing in the light winds,” said the Adelaide competitor. “But Mike came back strong towards the end of the race, which seems to be a trait of his. Hopefully he gets a couple of bad spots and we get a couple of good ones, and we’ll see what we can do for the rest of the week.”

Closing to just a point of the overall lead after winning today’s race were Michael Quirk and Luke Payne, who only teamed up for the first time this week. “With the Pre-Worlds and the Worlds, we done five races together so far,” said Payne, who finished 2nd at last year’s Worlds with Pete Nicholas. “We’ve been working hard on our downwind speed and it seemed better today, and that could be crucial as we get to the back end of the week.”

Monday’s schedule has the international fleet competing in two races, which will take the SAP 505 World Championships up to the halfway point. With great weather and good winds on the forecast, the real-time tracking and live expert commentary will be following all the day’s action on SAP505Worlds.com

On Friday 20 March, with feverish building activity going on, the first 5O5 dinghy to be competing in the 60th SAP 5O5 World Championships gave the upgraded slipway a test and sailed out the channel and into the harbour.

Sail number 8584 – a South African entry by Hans Rogotski and Peter Roos from Point Yacht Club now claim the honour of being first to test the water. Click on the images to see a HUGE(ish) version.