Issue date
The last day of the 21st Lexus Flying Fifteen world championship turned out to be a cliffhanger, with the British pair of Steve Goacher and Tim Harper emerging victorious after some drama in the protest room.
Goacher and Harper went into the final day with a five-point lead over Australia's Nick and Janet Jerwood and the two crews played cat and mouse from the five-minute gun. The Jerwoods finished the race in fourth with Goacher and Harper in 21st but, sadly, the final result of the championship would be decided in the protest room.
After a lengthy hearing, Nick and Janet Jerwood were disqualified from the final race, handing the title to the British team.
(Nick and Janet Jerwood)
The drama happened on the the run, when the British crew turned the spreader mark right on the stern of the Australians - both crews down in about 20th place. A collision from a luffing incident on the downwind leg ended up with a red flag on each of the lead boats along with a small hole in the Jerwood’s boat. The Jerwood’s rounded the gate in the top 10 but Goacher and Harper had dropped further back to be in the mid-20s, having done turns.
Goacher won his fourth world title nearly 20 years after his last win in 1999, but he was even more pleased for Harper, his crew of the last two years, as it was Harper's first world title. He claimed it was one of the tougher championships he had raced in 25 years or more of Flying Fifteen sailing.
Napier delivered a warm, sunny day for the final day with 9-11 knots of breeze. The last race was delayed for about an hour as the NE/E breeze kept shifting from side to side causing two general recalls but it got underway on the third attempt.
The first rounding was really crowded with a whole raft of New Zealand boats leading the field. Locals Hayden Percy and Scott Pedersen led from Murray Gilbert and Jonathan Burgess from Royal Akarana YC in Auckland. Third round was Susan Thompson sailing with crew Cameron Taylor (AUS) from Daveys Bay in Victoria.
But Jeremy Davy and Martin Huett took the lead at the gate and controlled the race to win from fellow Brits Greg Wells and Richard Rigg with David Yu and Chris Nelson (AUS) third.
Kiwis Gilbert and Burgess claimed third overall after finishing the final race in sixth.
Hayden Percy and Scott Pedersen (NZ) were the first Silver boat with an impressive sixth overall and Nicholas Heath and Philippa Noon (GBR) won the Classic division.
Results (Top 10 of 57 entries, after 7 races with 1 discard)
1 GBR 4021 Steve Goacher / Tim Harper - 19,8,1,1,2,1,(20) = 32pts
2 AUS 3986 Nick Jerwood / Janet Jerwood - 5,2,8,(20),1,2,DSQ/58 = 38pts
3 NZL 3840 Murray Gilbert / Jonathan Burgess - (32),9,6,13,5,6,5 = 44pts
4 GBR 4004 Charles Apthorp / Alan Green - 6,(53),14,2,15,3,7 = 47pts
5 AUS 3684 Matthew Owen / Andrew Reed - 2,4,7,9,12,(24),13 = 47pts
6 NZL 3091 Hayden Percy / Scott Pedersen - 1,6,22,5,(25),5,9 = 48pts
7 GBR 3760 Jeremy Davy / Martin Huett - 9,5,10,7,(16),DSQ/58,1,= 48pts
8 GBR 4030 Greg Wells / Richard Rigg - 4,14,15,(24),11,4,2 = 50pts
9 HKG 3972 Ashley Smith / Adam Kingston - 14,(35),4,6,4,16,11 = 55pts
10 NZL 3739 Aaron Goodmanson / Alister Rowlands - (18),3,13,17,7,1,6 = 57pts
For full results and more information see here
