Star World Championship

Battling the kelp today. Marco Oquendo photo

Coconut Grove

Race 4 was held today for the 73 competitors in the Star World Championship on Biscayne Bay.  The winds were light again blowing in from the southeast at 7-8 knots.

I felt like it was going to be good on the left today so we started down the line a bit and “owned” the left.  We were in very good shape half way up the first leg and could have crossed over to the right but all that we were seeing was good on the left so we kept at it. That turned out to be a bad call.

About 5 minutes later the wind shifted 15 degrees to the right and stayed there.  Brian and I were 35th at the first mark.  Brian Ledbetter and Josh Revkin were fast and on the right and had a nice lead at the first mark.  The were followed closely by the usual suspects of Diego Negri, Augie Diaz and Lars Grael.

As the race went on, Brian and I had our ups and downs but managed to pass about half of those in front of us to finish 18th.  Negri got past Ledbetter in the final quarter of the last leg to take the win.  Augie Diaz continued his consistent performance with a third.

Things are getting tight at the top.  Diaz, Negri and Ledbetter are all within just a few points of each other.  Two races are left to finish the series.  None of those three has ever won the World Championship.  The winds are forecast to stay light for the rest of the Championship.  Should get interesting!

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

Paul