Stars at Miami
January 29, 2008 by Lynn Fitzpatrick - Boat International | 0 comments
With 70 boats registered, the Star class is split into two fleets for the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (Rolex MOCR). Both fleets are stacked deeply with talent. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL) caught the first right shift of the day and led the 35-boat blue fleet around the entire first race of the MOCR. Biscayne Bay dealt the 2006 World Champion and his crew a shifty northerly 7-8 knot breeze, a cloudless sky and flat water. Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI) had a firm lock on second throughout the race.
©Rolex/Dan Nearny
With 70 boats registered, the Star class is split into two fleets for the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (Rolex MOCR). Both fleets are stacked deeply with talent. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL) caught the first right shift of the day and led the 35-boat blue fleet around the entire first race of the MOCR. Biscayne Bay dealt the 2006 World Champion and his crew a shifty northerly 7-8 knot breeze, a cloudless sky and flat water. Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI) had a firm lock on second throughout the race.
Marazzi/de Maria popped out in the lead in the second race and finished the day with a rock solid 2/1. Melleby/Pedersen defended their second place position against Pepper/Williams, who settled for third place in the second race. The first day was especially encouraging for Marazzi/deMaria and Melleby/Pedersen because Switzerland and Norway have not yet qualified for the qualified for the Olympics.
The yellow Star fleet started racing later in the day in the same shifty conditions. Many of the top boats in both fleets found themselves heading out to either layline during the top quarter of the beat and hoping for a favorable shift.
Xavier Rohart and Philippe Rambeau (FRA) had the most convincing victory of the day in their final race. They rounded the first weather mark two boat lengths ahead of Carl and Jim Buchan, but looked as if the hooked a ride on the TGV and extended their lead to over one minute and fifteen seconds he next time around the top mark. They were hooked up to the French Federation’s new RIB by the time Hans Spitzhauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT) and Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER) crossed the finish line in second and third. It was difficult to make big gains and easy to suffer big losses in today’s conditions. The Buchans ended up eleventh in the final race.
Consistency at the top of the blue fleet put Marazzi/de Maria and Pepper/Williams at the top of the combined preliminary score sheet for the day. Merriman/Sharp and Bromby/Williams, the top North Americans, are in third and fourth.
—
Lynn Fitzpatrick – Boat International
