Star Western Hemisphere Championship

John Payne Photo

Coconut Grove

Two races were held today on Biscayne Bay, in ideal conditions for Star racing.  The wind was again 8-12 knots from the South.  Blue skies, warm water and slightly warmer air temperature.

In the first race, Brian and I shook off the morning blues, or what ever it was that we had the first two days, and won the first race.  We were 5th after the first lap but sailed the second windward leg very well to round first, overlapped with Ledbetter. Ledbetter/ Revkin closed in on us at the finish and we must have beaten them by less than a foot.  Andy MacDonald and Brad Nichol sailed a good race to finish third.

In the second race, Ledbetter/Revkin led wire to wire and closed out the regatta with one race to spare.  Their total score without a discard is better than anyones score with a discard.  Congrats to them, they sailed very well.  Miami local Augie Diaz and Arnis Baltins play doth left side of the course well downwind and upwind to take second place.  Third place went to Arthur Anosov and Dave “Julius” Caesar.

Brian and I were fighting near the top the whole race.  I made a couple mistakes with the wind shifts.  Also, keeping the boat going fast all the time is not easy.  The wind is fickle so you are constantly changing gears.  In the end, five of us came to the finish line all overlapped and we  just managed to edge out the others to take 6th.

So with Ledbetter/Revkin taking first place, the battle for second is on.  Lars Grael and John MacCausland are tied on 26 points.  Brian and I have removed up nicely from 9th to 4th overall with 30 points.  Behind us in 5th is Aguie Diaz with 40 points.

The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same.  One race only tomorrow, starting at 11:00.

as usual, for complete results go to: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=1230

Paul