Star European Champions 2009 - Day Two- Triple-Tie of Olympic Stars

by Andreas Kling, Rolex Baltic Week on 8 Jul 2009
The 2009 Star European Championships at Rolex Baltic Week were always going to be a tightly fought contest, but after two days of racing the leader board is tied three ways, with all three 2008 Olympic medallists scoring one race win apiece and equal nine points.

The 'golden boys' from Qingdao last year, Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson from Great Britain are at the top followed by Swedes Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander and Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada from Brazil. Germany's rising stars Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs are ranked fourth with twelve points behind the trio.

For the second day of racing the Kiel Fjord yet again produced gusty west-south-westerly conditions which caused some gear damage on Tuesday (7 July). Although the skies were dotted with clouds, there were thankfully no signs of the thunderstorms which arrived the day before. Racing on a two-lap windward-leeward course for the day's opener, first victory went to Percy/Simpson. After a close downwind duel with rivals Scheidt/Prada, which saw Scheidt yellow-flagged by the on-the-water jury, the Olympic gold medallists added a win to the second place on the first day to top the leader board.

Behind them the Greek team of Emilios Papathansiou and Karnoutsos Apostolos took second. However, the Greek duo failed to complete the opening race on Monday and fell foul of the Black Flag in Tuesday's second, leaving them with two 88-point scores and plunging them down the overall results to 61st position. Fellow Qingdao Olympic medallist Fredrik Loof showed consistency in shifty conditions to take third, Scheidt held onto fourth after completing his 720 penalty turns, whilst fifth went to Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube (USA).

For the second race of the day Scheidt and Prada didn't put a foot wrong to take the gun, finishing first ahead of Babendererde and Jacobs, who gave the world number one a good challenge until the final leg. Third went to Alberto Barovier and Nando Colaninno (ITA), who had not previously troubled the top 15 at this year's Rolex Baltic Week - proving that the 86-boat fleet is packed with contenders who could upset the established order. In fourth place were Juan Kouyoumdjian and Alejandro Colla (ARG). The renowned yacht designer helped create the latest Mader-built Star which was sailed to Olympic gold last year by Percy/Simpson in Qingdao. In the third Rolex Baltic Week race Kouyoumdjian was followed home by Loof in fifth and Percy in sixth.

After two days of racing this leaves all three Olympians - Percy, Loof and Scheidt - tied at the top on 9 points apiece. With one win and one second place to count, it is Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) who top the leader board overnight. Percy was pleased with his win today, but admitted that they the shifting conditions at the Rolex Baltic Cup were still a challenge.

Percy said: 'We were in a hard position fight with Robert Scheidt on the downwind finish leg, but he got a yellow flag (720) and we won safely at the end. But in the last race we should have finished third. We lost three boats on the last 100 meters before the line. It was very tricky, shifty and gusty winds, and we got the tactics totally wrong. This was pretty frustrating. We still need to improve.'

In second overall is Fredrik Loof, sailing his first event with Johan Tillander. Loof commented: 'I'm happy all in all to be with the top runners again with my new crew. We need to be a little more aggressive at the start. Our upwind speed is okay and the downwind speed is already excellent. But it is still a long way to go at the Rolex Baltic Week with five races to go.'

Robert Scheidt added: 'We lost three boats when we got the penalty by the on-water jury. The decision was okay but didn't make us happy at all. The second race was easy at the end when the two young Germans [Babendererde/Jacobs] stopped attacking us to cover their second place. Before that they were only 30 meters behind us. Scoring a bullet is still a nice feeling in such a competitive fleet.'

Those young Germans - Babendererde and Jacobs - are currently lying in fourth overall after some determined sailing in Tuesday’s second race. Timo Jacobs commented: 'We were almost leading at the first mark in race two, but misjudged the tactics on the downwind leg totally, ending up 20th or so at the gate. But we fought back boat by boat into the top 10 again. On the last beat to the finish in race 3 we had five boats close behind us. Then we decided to better cover them instead of attacking Scheidt for the bullet.'

The international top 10 is made up of Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube (USA) fifth, Flavio Marazzi/Enrico de Maria (SUI) sixth, Robert Stanjek/Markus Koy (GER) in seventh place, Kunio Suzuki/Wada Daichi (JPN) eighth, Silvio Santoni/Fabio Toccoli (ITA) ninth and John Gimson/Ed Grieg (GBR) tenth.

Wednesday's (8 July) racing is scheduled to begin at 12.00 hrs (local time), with two races - the discard will come into force after five races have been completed.

Star

Place	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Sail #:	Fleet	1	2	3	Total
1	GBR 8371	Percy Iain	Simpson Andrew	GBR 8371	Sol	2.0	1.0	6.0	9
2	SWE 8387	Loof Fredrik	Tillander Johan	SWE 8387	Bk	1.0	3.0	5.0	9.0001
3	BRA 8255	SCHEIDT ROBERT	PRADA BRUNO	BRA 8255	GuB	4.0	4.0	1.0	9.0002
4	GER 8378	Babendererde Johannes	Jacobs Timo	GER 8378	Moh	12.0	7.0	2.0	21
5	USA 8267	Mendelblatt Mark	Strube Mark	USA 8267	TaB	9.0	5.0	11.0	25
6	SUI 8364	Marazzi Flavio	De Maria Enrico	SUI 8364	TB	7.0	11.0	9.0	27
7	GER 8340	Stanjek Robert	Koy Markus	GER 8340	BF	5.0	6.0	19.0	30
8	JPN 8144	SUZUKI Kunio	Daichi Wada	JPN 8144	Isol	3.0	15.0	22.0	40
9	ITA 8290	Santoni Silvio	Toccoli Fabio	ITA 8290	NG	10.0	18.0	16.0	44
10	GBR 8025	Gimson John	Greig Ed	GBR 8025	Sol	23.0	13.0	12.0	48
11	ITA 8384	Celon Nicola	Natucci Edoardo	ITA 8384	SG	14.0	21.0	13.0	48.0001
12	NZL 8187	PEPPER Hamish	Monk Craig	NZL 8187	Isol	13.0	8.0	28.0	49
13	IRL 8158	Treacy Max	Shanks Anthony	IRL 8158	Isol	15.0	26.0	8.0	49.0001
14	GER 8140	Schlonski Alexander	Kleen Frithjof	GER 8140	Lub	6.0	9.0	35.0	50
15	ITA 8390	Barovier Alberto	Colaninno Nando	ITA 8390	SG	16.0	33.0	3.0	52
16	FRA 8237	Rohart Xavier	Ponsot Pierre Alexis	FRA 8237	NI	19.0	20.0	20.0	59
17	DEN 8225	Sorensen Flemming	Hansen Thrysoe Niels	DEN 8225	DF	34.0	24.0	7.0	65
18	USA 8273	Szabo George	Peters Rick	USA 8273	SDB	22.0	25.0	21.0	68
19	USA 8156	Horton Andy	Lyne James	USA 8156	NB	18.0	12.0	39.0	69
20	GER 8109	Polgar Johannes	Kroeger Tim	GER 8109	Ess	17.0	19.0	33.0	69.0001
21	BRA 8392	GRAEL LARS	SEIFERT RONALD	BRA 8392	Par	30.0	27.0	15.0	72
22	DEN 8380	Andersen Benny	Just Mogens	DEN 8380	DF	31.0	23.0	18.0	72.0001
23	POR 8309	Domingos Afonso	Santos Bernardo	POR 8309	CF	42.0	16.5 [16.5, MAN]	14.0	72.5
24	USA 8077	Jennings Jack	Fatih Brian	USA 8077	LS	29.0	34.0	10.0	73
25	IRL 8261	O Leary Peter	Goodbody Tim	IRL 8261	Isol	21.0	16.5 [16.5, MAN]	37.0	74.5
26	ARG 8381	Kouyoumdjian Juan	Colla Alejandro	ARG 8381	Lar	24.0	47.0	4.0	75
27	CRO 8339	Lovrovic Martin	Mikulicic Sinisa	CRO 8339	Kv	11.0	43.0	30.0	84
28	GER 8256	Merkelbach Hubert	Bartel Gerrit	GER 8256	UB	20.0	45.0	26.0	91
29	GER 8213	Wilhelm Peer	Paust Stefan	GER 8213	KF	26.0	35.0	42.0	103
30	ESP 7384	Soler Fernando Garcia Lago	Alvarez De Sotomayor Juan	ESP 7384	Lar	45.0	41.0	24.0	110
31	AUS 8121	LANDENBERGER Andrew	REFFOLD Simon	AUS 8121	Isol	32.0	28.0	50.0	110
32	CAN 8143	Cramer Brian	Johnston Matt	CAN 8143	WLOC	40.0	50.0	23.0	113
33	CRO 8280	Lovrovic Dan	Lovrovic Sr Marin	CRO 8280	Kv	35.0	40.0	41.0	116
34	ITA 8266	Negri Diego	Avb Stilogiovanni	ITA 8266	VE	88.0 [BFD]	14.0	17.0	119
35	UKR 8247	GUREYEV Vasyl	Volodymyr Korotkov	UKR 8247	Dni	28.0	44.0	47.0	119
36	GER 8149	Hagen Alexander	Falkenthal Kai	GER 8149	KF	8.0	31.0	88.0 [DNF]	127
37	HUN 8166	Martin Viktor	Bezereti Miklos	HUN 8166	Ore	54.0	48.0	25.0	127
38	SWE 7712	Carlson Philip	Peterson Benjamin	SWE 7712	Katt	50.0	36.0	43.0	129
39	DEN 8066	Jensen Johnny	Kruegger Lauritsen Claus	DEN 8066	DF	38.0	29.0	65.0	132
40	SWE 8338	Johansson Mats	Moller Leif	SWE 8338	Katt	88.0 [DNC]	10.0	36.0	134
41	ITA 7556	Fornaro Andrea	Carlo Fornaro	ITA 7556	LB	43.0	59.0	32.0	134
42	HUN 8386	Tenke Tibor	Joka Gemesi	HUN 8386	Ore	27.0	22.0	88.0 [DNC]	137
43	DEN 7575	Joergensen Herluf	Wegener Lars	DEN 7575	DF	47.0	49.0	45.0	141
44	GER 7402	Von Eicken Andreas	Hobbie Dietmar	GER 7402	HF	39.0	66.0	38.0	143
45	UKR 8119	Bondar Pavlo	Shapovalov Mykola	UKR 8119	Ukr	44.0	63.0	40.0	147
46	GER 7992	Schmidt Reinhard	Meissner Dirk	GER 7992	Moh	36.0	88.0 [BFD]	27.0	151
47	SWE 8108	Dahlen Erik	Carlsson Krister	SWE 8108	BK	25.0	39.0	88.0 [BFD]	152
48	SWE 7978	Krook Ingvar	Hasselgren Henrik	SWE 7978	AR	52.0	52.0	51.0	155
49	FIN 7994	Dahlman Mathias	Leifelt Martin	FIN 7994	Fin	41.0	67.0	48.0	156
50	GBR 8316	Razmilovic Ante	Hammersley Brian	GBR 8316	NFB	37.0	32.0	88.0 [DNC]	157
51	RUS 8047	Vokhmintsev Dmitry	Lyasnikov Vladimir	RUS 8047	Vol	33.0	42.0	88.0 [DNC]	163
52	GER 8130	Voigt Henning	Struve Dirk	GER 8130	Aac	46.0	30.0	88.0 [DNC]	164
53	GER 8093	Hasche Marko A	Spehr Helge	GER 8093	HF	61.0	55.0	49.0	165
54	ITA 8370	Simeone Luca	Antar Vigna	ITA 8370	Rom	51.0	88.0 [BFD]	31.0	170
55	GER 7414	Keilwitz Lars	Munck Sebastian	GER 7414	KF	88.0 [BFD]	38.0	44.0	170
56	SUI 7854	Juchli Roman	Juchli Philipp	SUI 7854	Bod	59.0	58.0	53.0	170
57	GER 8355	Paucksch Christian	Knoll Christian	GER 8355	Sta	88.0 [DNF]	37.0	46.0	171
58	GER 7417	Schulte Gert	Schulte Gerrit	GER 7417	Moh	67.0	46.0	59.0	172
59	GER 8016	Rauch Hubert	Kling Felix	GER 8016	And	88.0 [DNC]	51.0	34.0	173
60	AUT 7846	Weinreich Gerhard	Kagl Alexander	AUT 7846	H	56.0	57.0	63.0	176
61	GRE 8138	Papathansiou Emilios	Apostolos Karnoutsos	GRE 8138	GR	88.0 [DNC]	2.0	88.0 [BFD]	178
62	POL 7858	Wierzbicki Arkadiusz	Pawlowski Krzysztof	POL 7858	Isol	64.0	65.0	55.0	184
63	RUS 8359	Berezhnoy Andrey	Masalov Sergey	RUS 8359	Vol	53.0	88.0 [DNF]	52.0	193
64	GER 7863	Meyer Klaus	Mueller Joerg	GER 7863	Bre	63.0	69.5 [69.5, MAN]	61.0	193.5
65	GER 7762	Gelsdorf Christopher	Bode Alexander	GER 7762	Aac	55.0	68.0	71.0	194
66	GER 7960	Thurner Frank	Nitsche Dr Kai	GER 7960	ZuW	58.0	75.0	62.0	195
67	GER 7837	Merk Sibylle	Merk Michael	GER 7837	Neu	60.0	69.5 [69.5, MAN]	66.0	195.5
68	GER 7794	Murek Udo	Murek Carsten	GER 7794	Ess	88.0 [DNC]	80.0	29.0	197
69	GER 7944	Tusch Frank	Winkelmann Sven	GER 7944	Moh	48.0	61.0	88.0 [DNF]	197
70	GER 8020	Ilgenstein Michael	Sradnick Paul	GER 8020	HF	88.0 [BFD]	53.0	57.0	198
71	GER 7412	Stegenwalner Nadine	Daub Ulrich	GER 7412	Ess	88.0 [DNC]	60.0	56.0	204
72	GER 8233	Pieper Josef	Huchel Martin	GER 8233	Moh	88.0 [DNC]	54.0	64.0	206
73	GER 8055	Diercks Jochen	Braasch Herbert	GER 8055	Lub	66.0	71.0	70.0	207
74	GER 7904	Gold Felix	Nolte Andre	GER 7904	Ess	49.0	72.0	88.0 [BFD]	209
75	SUI 8085	Zimmermann Lorenz	Hollweg Nils	SUI 8085	Luv	88.0 [BFD]	64.0	58.0	210
76	GER 8074	Dickow Lutz	Kramer Lutz	GER 8074	BF	68.0	73.0	69.0	210
77	GER 7866	Behn Philip Gordon	Stanjek Philipp	GER 7866	HF	62.0	76.0	73.0	211
78	GER 8147	Rupp Christian	Moessnang Joerg	GER 8147	ZuW	88.0 [DSQ]	56.0	68.0	212
79	GER 8346	Weiler Hermann	Schmid Thomas	GER 8346	Neu	73.0	79.0	60.0	212
80	SWE 7338	Carlsson Sune	Nilsson Benny	SWE 7338	RS	65.0	62.0	88.0 [BFD]	215
81	GER 7272	Petersen Reiner	Berger Oliver	GER 7272	BF	70.0	78.0	67.0	215
82	GER 8027	Westphal Sonke	Kaerger Andreas	GER 8027	HF	88.0 [DNC]	74.0	54.0	216
83	SUI 7868	Rudolf Juerg	Zimmermann Thobias	SUI 7868	Bod	71.0	77.0	72.0	220
84	GBR 8254	Tabb David	Peyton Tom	GBR 8254	Isol	57.0	88.0 [DNF]	88.0 [DNC]	233
85	RUS 7695	Budjakow Alexander	Budantcew Victor	RUS 7695	BF	69.0	88.0 [DNS]	88.0 [DNC]	245
86	GER 7672	Fallais Dominik	Fallais Simon	GER 7672	Aac	72.0	88.0 [DNC]	88.0 [DNC]	248
87	POL 8252	Grabowski Maciej	Tarnowski Pawel	POL 8252	Isol	88.0 [DSQ]	88.0 [DNC]	88.0 [DNC]	264