January 24, 2006
3 minutes reading time
Cancelled Racing Changes The Tactics
An impending storm in Perth, Australia forced the cancellation of racing at the 2006 Alcoa IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships, and has changed the tactical situation for a number of competitors at the top of the leaderboard.
An impending storm in Perth, Australia forced the cancellation of racing at the 2006 Alcoa IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships, and has changed the tactical situation for a number of competitors at the top of the leaderboard.
Probably the most dramatically effected is Britain’s Helena LUCAS, in the 2.4 Metre, who as a consequence of being disqualified from race six – Monday’s first race – has slipped from first to third place on the leaderboard.
On the other hand, Norwegian skipper Bjornar ERIKSTAD now has a five point margin at the top of the 2.4 Metre leaderboard, so his tactics can be more conservative on Wednesday, the final day.
Instead of the scheduled two races tomorrow – Wednesday – the Royal Perth Yacht Club, who are hosting the regatta, will try and run three races, to bring the event close to the eleven scheduled races.
Weather Set To Play Crucial Role
The difference between running two races or three on the final day will be critical to a number of placings, because if a third races is sailed, which would be the tenth in the series, then each competitor can discard their two worst results, whereas if only two are sailed, then only one result can be discarded from the scoreline.
The tactical battle in the three-person keelboat Sonar looks as if it will be intense, with the nuances for the two or three race scenario critical to the outcome.
Britain’s team of John ROBERTSON, Hannah STODEL and Stephen THOMAS are level on points with Germany’s Jens KROKER, Holger SCHOENBERG and Tobias SCHUETZ, but hold the lead on a countback.
Behind these two, Australia’s Jamie DUNROSS and crew, and the Norwegian team led by Jostein STORDAHL, are just four and five points respectively off the lead.
Guessing Game
The problem when the two fleets go afloat for the final day’s racing, is that no one can assume there will be three races, as the weather is very unsettled, so their tactics must reflect the possibility of only being able to discard one result.
The final day’s racing will be as much a brain game, as a sailing game, with mental calculations of points needing to be assessed at every mark of the course.
Top Tens
2.4 Metre
| Pos | Nation | Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
| 1 | NOR | Bjornar ERIKSTAD | 2 | 3 | (19) DNF | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 14 |
| 2 | GER | Heiko KRÖGER | 4 | 2 | 1 | (7) | 5 | 6 | 1 | 19 |
| 3 | GBR | Helena LUCAS | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 1 | (20) DSQ | 4 | 20 |
| 4 | CAN | Bruce MILLAR | 6 | (17) DNF | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 35 |
| 5 | CAN | Paul TINGLEY | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | (9) | 5 | 38 |
| 6 | GBR | Megan PASCOE | (13) | 8 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 40 |
| 7 | CAN | Danny MCCOY | 8 | (14) | 10 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 41 |
| 8 | NZL | Andrew MAY | (12) | 5 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 44 |
| 9 | USA | Nick SCANDONE | 9 | 9 | 8 | (18) DNF | 6 | 1 | 15 | 48 |
| 10 | USA | Roger CLEWORTH | 5 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 12 | (14) | 48 |
Sonar
| Pos | Nation | Skipper | Crew | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
| 1 | GBR | John ROBERTSON | Hannah STODEL | Stephen THOMAS | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | (9) | 6 | 17 |
| 2 | GER | Jens KROKER | Holger SCHOENBERG | Tobias SCHUETZ | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | (9) | 17 |
| 3 | AUS | Jamie DUNROSS | Colin HARRISON | Graeme MARTIN | 3 | 5 | 1 | (9) | 7 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| 4 | NOR | Jostein STORDAHL | Aleksander WANG-HANSEN | Per EUGEN KRISTIANSEN | 5 | 4 | (9) | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| 5 | ISR | Dror COHEN | Arnon EFRATI | Beni Vexler | 8 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | (8) | 30 |
| 6 | IRL | Paul MCCARTHY | Paul RYAN | Chris THOMAS | 4 | 9 | 8 | (10) | 4 | 5 | 3 | 33 |
| 7 | ISR | Shimon BEN YAKOV | Moshe ZEHAVI | Yossi Barda | 10 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 10 | (17) DSQ | 40 |
| 8 | AUS | Peter THOMSON | Keith CONDER | Barry Astwood | 2 | (12) | 10 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 45 |
| 9 | IS | Avi TZUR | Baruch PERETZMAN | Shlomo DAHAN | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | (13) | 2 | 4 | 49 |
| 10 | CAN | Ken KELLY | Brian MACKIE | Don TERLSON | 7 | 11 | 14 | 8 | 6 | (17) DSQ | 5 | 51 |
For all the news from the Alcoa IFDS World Disabled Sailing Championships CLICK HERE.