KINZO 2001 Star Class World Championship

	DAY 5 & OVERALL *(Source : starworlds2001.nl*)

	The weather conditions were great, a steady 3 to 4 Beaufort when at 14.30 o' clock the sixth and last race of the Kinzo Star Worlds 2001 took off in Medemblik. The teams sailed the 5th race in the morning, it was won by the Brazilian team, Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira. The Swedisch team Fredrik Lööf and Christian Finsgård ended in second position but took hold of the first place overall. In the sixth match the team from New Zealand, Brady and Iverson, lead all the way. It was their last chance for the world championship. The Swedish though finished third and consolidated their leading position overall, be it with the minimum advantage of only one point! The American team Brun and Dorgan were third overall. Reigning world champion Mike Reynolds ended sixth overall. Winner Fredrik Lööf is a relatively new face in Star sailing. After the Olympics he changed from Finn to Star. At the Olympics he won a bronze medal in Finn sailing, in which he is reigning world champion too. FINAL RANKING : 1 SWE 7650 Fredrik Lööf, Christian Finnsgård, 58 pts (2-31-5-15-2-3) 2 NED 7981 Mark Neeleman, Jos Schrier, 59 pts (14-14-10-7-8-6) 3 NZL 8065 Gavin Brady, George Iverson, 64 pts (4-9-7-36-7-1) 4 DEN 7854 Benny Andersen, Mogens Just, 101 pts (5-35-12-25-4-20) 5 USA 7829 Mark Reynolds, Magnus Liljedahl, 104 pts (1-44-1-37-17-4) 6 AUT 7567 Hans Spitzauer, Wolfgang Brenner, 106 pts (18-24-14-8-18-24) 7 ESP 7937 JM Van der Ploeg, Rafael Trujillo Villar, 111 pts (13-3-6-19-44-26) 8 POR 8053 Afonso Domingos, Bernardo P. Santos, 143 pts (26-38-51-5-12-11) 9 USA 7956 Vincent Brun, Mike Dorgan, 143 pts (8-12-3-3-11-dnc) 10 BRA 7875 Torben Grael, Marcelo Ferreira, 146 pts (dsq-27-2-1-1-9) ... 12 ITA 7906 Pietro D'Ali, Paolo Busolo, 156 pts (25-56-11-39-6-19)

	DAY 4 *(Source : starworlds2001.nl*)

	Race officer Karel Beukema decided to postpone yesterday’s race until today. With winds of 30-35 knots (windforce 7) it was not wise to send the Stars out on the water. Therefore yesterday morning the Star Fleet had to leave the harbor at 8.30 a.m. Regrettably the wind only came in the late afternoon and the start was only at 4.45 p.m.! Again the wind showed her streaks: fluky and shifty the Race Committee and Starboats had to follow her on the course, making it very difficult for them all. With a moderate Beaufort 2 the water was flat. The unstable weather gave many surprising changes in the field. However Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) were ahead of the field from the first weather mark and managed to defend their position to the end. Torben said:’ It was very difficult to predict what the wind would do, we needed a lot of luck.’ He is still disappointed that last day’s race was postponed and thinks also today the race should have been cancelled. Results (Top 10 after 4 races) : 1 USA 7956 Vincent Brun, Mike Dorgan, 26 pts (8-12-3-3) 2 ESP 7937 Jose Maria Van der Ploeg, Rafael Trujillo Villar, 41 pts (13-3-6-19) 3 NED 7981 Mark Neeleman, Jos Schrier, 45 pts (14-14-10-7) 4 SWE 7650 Fredrik Lööf, Christian Finnsgård, 53 pts (2-31-5-15) 5 NZL 8065 Gavin Brady, George Iverson, 56 pts (4-9-7-36) 6 USA 8056 John A. MacCausland, Mark Strube, 58 pts (6-20-8-24) 7 AUT 7567 Hans Spitzauer, Wolfgang Brenner, 64 pts (18-24-14-8) 8 DEN 7854 Benny Andersen, Mogens Just, 77 pts (5-35-12-25) 9 USA 7829 Mark Reynolds, Magnus Liljedahl, 83 pts (1-44-1-37) 10 DEN 8061 Christian Rasmussen, Peter Ørsted, 92 pts (7-69-4-12) ... 20 ITA 7906 Pietro D'Ali, Paolo Busolo, 131 pts (25-56-11-39) ... 23 BRA 7875 Torben Grael, Marcelo Ferreira, 136 pts (dsq-27-2-1)

	DAY 3 *(Source : starworlds2001.nl*)

	In the morning weather was unpredictably light, it looked like it would stay this way and no race could be sailed, but eventually gave perfect sailing conditions with wind force of 4 - 5 Beaufort. After one and a half hour postponement the field of more than 100 stars were off at the first attempt. The Americans Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl led the field from the first mark on, followed by a strong upcoming Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira. Mark confided us just after the race that he was not really worried after he had rounded the first mark in first place. The gap with the rest of the fleet was quite big then already! Third over the finishing line were Vince Brun and Mike Dorgan. Results (Top 10 after 3 races) : 1 NZL 8065 Gavin Brady, George Iverson, 20 pts (4-9-7) 2 ESP 7937 Jose Maria Van der Ploeg, Rafael Trujillo Villar, 22 pts (13-3-6) 3 USA 7956 Vincent Brun, Mike Dorgan, 23 pts (8-12-3) 4 USA 8056 John A. MacCausland, Mark Strube, 34 pts (6-20-8) 5 SWE 7650 Fredrik Lööf, Christian Finnsgård, 38 pts (2-31-5) 6 NED 7981 Mark Neeleman, Jos Schrier, 38 pts (14-14-10) 7 IRE 7673 Mark Mansfield, Killian Collins, 44 pts (10-15-19) 8 USA 7829 Mark Reynolds, Magnus Liljedahl, 46 pts (1-44-1) 9 DEN 7854 Benny Andersen, Mogens Just, 52 pts (5-35-12) 10 AUT 7567 Hans Spitzauer, Wolfgang Brenner, 56 pts (18-24-14) ... 21 ITA 7906 Pietro D'Ali, Paolo Busolo, 92 pts (25-56-11) ... 41 BRA 7875 Torben Grael, Marcelo Ferreira, 135 pts (dsq-27-2)

	DAY 2 *(Source : starworlds2001.nl*)

	At 13.25 p.m. after the second attempt the 105 starboats were off. Winds were light and shifty when the starboats from 26 countries started their race, of which 11 competitors come from the Netherlands. Large windshifts in the first beat gave a surprising outcome at the first weather mark: e.g. Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl rounded in 80th place. The Italians Andrea Racchelli and Massimiliano Ferrari took the first honour on the line, followed by the Swiss Flavio Marazzi and Kasper Harsberg. The Spanish team Jose Maria Van der Ploeg and Rafael Trujillo Villar took a third. Results (Top 10 after 2 races) : 1 NZL 8065 Gavin Brady, George Iverson, 13 pts (4-9) 2 ESP 7937 Jose Maria Van der Ploeg, Rafael Trujillo Villar, 16 pts (13-3) 3 USA 7956 Vincent Brun, Mike Dorgan, 20pts (8-12) 4 IRE 7673 Mark Mansfield, Killian Collins, 25 pts (10-15) 5 USA 8056 John A. MacCausland, Mark Strube, 26 pts (6-20) 6 NED 7981 Mark Neeleman, Jos Schrier, 28 pts (14-14) 7 GER 8016 Hubert Merkelbach, Gerrit Bartel, 31 pts (27-4) 8 SWE 7650 Fredrik Lööf, Christian Finnsgård, 33 pts (2-31) 9 DEN 7854 Benny Andersen, Mogens Just, 40 pts (5-35) 10 AUT 7567 Hans Spitzauer, Wolfgang Brenner, 42 pts (18-24) ... 35 ITA 7906 Pietro D'Ali, Paolo Busolo, 82 pts (25-57) ... 68 BRA 7875 Torben Grael, Marcelo Ferreira, 133 pts (dsq-27)

	DAY 1 *(Source : starworlds2001.nl*)

	The first race is for the reigning world champions Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl at the Star World Championships. Just after the skippers meeting at 10 a.m. thunder and lightning were hanging over Medemblik. Once it was time for starting clouds had been cleared up the Dutch way, there was a wind force of 20 to 25 knots, choppy waters: in other words promising. Only after 6 starts (the 5th and 6th with the Black Flag!) the fleet was off. Sadly 20 boat were disqualified to continue being over the line too early. The Olympic Champions and ruling World Champions won the first race of the series. Only yesterday Mark Reynolds said it would be difficult in these conditions, but this team started off with the first place. Beforehand also Magnus Liljedahl, ark's crew, did not expect they would succeed in the first race. 'In light air there are many more sailors who could win. On a day like today the top is much smaller. Anyway, this one is in the pocket, we won the first race!', the champions crew tells us. Second in this race were Fredrik Loof and Christian Finnsgard. They are the European Champions for 2001, followed in third place by Vincent Hoesch and Florian Fendt. The protest from the jury against the Brazilian team Torben Grael and Marcelo Fereira (3rd in the World's ranking) turned out disappointing to the Brazilians. They were disqualified because of hitting a mark and not doing the then required 360 properly. Results (Top 10 after 1 race) : 1 USA 7829 Mark Reynolds, 1 pts 2 SWE 7650 Fredrik Lööf, 2 pts 3 GER 8051 VincentHoesch, 3 pts 4 NZL 8065 Gavin Brady, 4 pts 5 DEN 7854 Benny Andersen, 5 pts 6 USA 8056 John A. MacCausland, 6 pts 7 DEN 8061 Christian Rasmussen, 7 pts 8 USA 7956 Vincent Brun, 8 pts 9 FRA 7947 Xavier Rohart, 9 pts 10 IRE 7673 Mark Mansfield, 10 pts ... 25 ITA 7906 Pietro D'Ali, 25 pts ... 83 BRA 7875 Torben Grael, 106 pts (dsq)

	PREVIEW *(Source : starworlds2001.nl*)

	Organizers of the upcoming KINZO 2001 Star Class World Championship, August 2-12,have set up an "Prada vs. The World" showdown on the waters of Medemblik (Holland). Leading Italian sailors will be lining up against the best international star racers including the ruling World Champions Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl . Leading the "Italian" contingent of sailors is none other than Torben Grael, the Brazilian tacticia, who became famous for his achievement with Luna Rossa in the 2000 America's Cup and is recently back to the new Prada Challenge. In addition to Grael is Gavin Brady and Pietro d'Ali. Torben Grael, second on the World rankinglist expects a very difficult series. 'The quality of sailors is exceptionally high'. But he is confident that it could be possible that he walks away with the title! But there are 30 more teams that have the same chance among the 105 teams. Water and weather conditions are rather unstable, but this is in favour of Torben Grael's abilities. He smiles confidently and points out the weather will stay like this the whole week. Obviously he is content with these conditions!