American Teams Take Top Four Places

With the title of World Champions in the hands of Morgan LARSON and Trevor BAYLIS, who sat out the day, 98 teams left the Santa Cruz Harbor under uneven gray skies to determine who would receive the remaining trophies.

One point separated the American teams of Mike MARTIN/Jeff NELSON and Howard HAMLIN/Peter ALARIE for second and third place.

Once again, the sailors waited in anticipation as the committee put up the “AP” flag signalling a postponement of the only race of the day. Just as the sequence started the rabbit was fouled, forcing a restart. The windward mark boat registered 8 knots as the gate opened a second time and in a slow low swell the fleet headed to the right or middle. Rounding the buoy, the greater part headed out left with only a couple dozen going inside. No clear advantage was seen.

At the leeward gate, somewhat wider than the previous day’s impossibly narrow slot, most of the fleet rounded quietly towards the beach (right) but stayed near the middle, working their way up the weather leg now shortened by a quarter mile. The following reach/reach legs took the 505’ers out into the larger swells of the left hand side of the course, parading in a loose almost downwind run, jibing, then tightening to a hard reach heading to the gate.

The third beat was into chop and slightly higher pressure with the boats spreading out across the course. Final downwind run was a jibe-set for the majority, hanging out inside, dumping the chute and heading upwind on the last weather leg and to the finish. The first boat crossing the line was the French-German team of Phillippe BOITE/Rainer GOERGE, in second from Denmark, Per LARSEN/Uffe ANDERSEN. Representing Great Britain for third was Ian PINNELL/Steve HUNT followed by the Germans Christian KELLNER/Martin SCHOELER, fourth. The US team of Howard HAMLIN/Peter ALARIE finished fifth giving them the contested second place in overall points.

Top Ten Overall