NAUTICA 2002 STAR CLASS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
California Yacht Club/Aug. 18-23
*** Results, photos, video and more at http://www.starworlds2002.com
***
Aug. 20, 2002 For Immediate Release
ENGLAND AND FRANCE BLOW INTO THE TITLE
PICTURE
Tuesday's weather: Wind 9-15 knots,
southwest; sunny.
Wednesday's forecast: Wind 8 knots, west.
 |
| France's Xavier Rohart, with
crew Yannick Adde, leads England's Iain Percy and Steve
Mitchell at first windward mark Tuesday. Percy later took
the lead to win, with Rohart second. |
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---England's Iain
Percy and France's Xavier Rohart thrived in the best winds
of the week and survived some tough justice in the third race
of the 81st Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship Tuesday
to put themselves in rare positions. They could become the
first of their nationalities to claim the world's most prestigious
one-design sailing crown.
In fact, it's any country's regatta
at the halfway point. Five of the top six fly different flags,
led by Brazil's Torben Grael, followed by Rohart, San Francisco's
Paul Cayard, Percy, San Diego's George Szabo and Ireland's
Mark Mansfield. They have separated themselves slightly from
the other 100 boats, although that picture could change when
some established stars who are struggling discard their worst
scores after the fifth, next-to-last race Thursday.
 |
| England's Iain Percy leads France's
Xavier Rohart through leeward gate en route to their 1-2
finish Wednesday. |
Tuesday brought the strongest winds
of the week, as much as 15 knots at the end of the 10 ½-mile
race, and Percy and Rohart loved it.
"Conditions were more to our liking,"
Percy's happy crew, Steve Mitchell, said. "None of this
bloody American stuff we had earlier."
He was smiling broadly when he said
it because, Percy added, "We've always had good results
in strong winds. When we got clear we were able to pull out.
The windier the better. It's much more fun."
 |
| Regatta leader Torben Grael of
Brazil (right) approaches leeward gate pursued by Denmark's
Benny Andersen, with crew Mogens Just on foredeck. |
They finished 1 minute 44 seconds ahead
of Rohart, who was 1:18 ahead of Brazil's Alan Adler, who
had a hard-luck story to e-mail home.
The 1989 champion had to surrender his
second consecutive third-place finish because he was among
those who jumped the starting line in the third general recall
of the day when a 20 per cent penalty was in force. Adler
and everyone else got off cleanly on the fourth try, but he
still paid the price for his preceding indiscretion, which
meant 21 points tacked onto his score.
The race committee showed no favoritism.
Similar fates befell '99 champion Eric Doyle of San Diego
and Riccardo Simoneschi of Italy, who is only the Star class
president.
Cayard and Grael followed Adler across
the finish line. Along with Rohart, they are the only three
competitors with all single-digit finishes.
Following another morning mist, the
hard-chined little boats were surfing in the heavy chop under
sunny skies.
 |
| Byron Nelson and crew David Nelson
of the host L.A. Harbor fleet surf their Star in 15 knots
of breeze. |
Rohart echoed the sentiments of Percy
and Mitchell about liking strong wind. "Of course,"
he said as his wife and three children greeted him dockside.
"In the Mediterranean we have everything, but we do better
when it blows."
However, the early forecast for Wednesday
called for westerlies of only 8 knots at race time.
Nautica International, the Gold Star
Title Sponsor, is a leading global fashion and lifestyle company
with products ranging from men's, women's and children's sportswear
and accessories to a complete home collection.
 |
| England's Iain Percy (foreground)
and crew Steve Mitchell loved the wind and their win Tuesday. |
Nautica is a subsidiary of Nautica
Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAUT) which, through its subsidiaries,
designs, sources, markets and distributes apparel under the
following brands: Nautica, Nautica Competition, Nautica Jeans
Company, John Varvatos, Earl Jean, E. Magrath and Byron Nelson.
Other sponsors of the Nautica 2002 Star
Class World Championship at various levels are: Silver Star---RB
Zack and Associates and California Yacht Club; Blue Star---Bang
and Olufsen; Green Star---Samuel Adams Beer, Sea Wynde Pot
Still Rum, Quantum One-Design Sails, North One-Design Sails,
Domaine Danica Winery, Brophy Clark Cellars, Presidio Winery,
Dry Creek Vineyard, Star Frozen Foods, pyacht.com.
The leaders (after 3 of 6 races):
1. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira, Brazil,
(3-1-5) 9 points.
2. Xavier Rohart/Yannick Adde, France, (6-8-2) 16.
3. Paul Cayard/Hal Haenel, San Francisco, (7-9-4) 20.
4. Iain Percy/Steven Mitchell, UK, (19-4-1), 24.
5. George Szabo/Austin Sperry, San Diego, (1-20-10) 31.
6. Mark Mansfield/Killean Collins, Ireland, (2-13-17) 32.
7. Alan Adler/Ricardo Ermel, Brazil, (26-3-22), 51.
8. Roberto de Bermudez Castro Munoz/Domingo Menrriqque, Spain,
(27-11-19) 57. 9. Philippe Presti/Jean Philippe Saliou, France
(9-17-34) 60. 10. Gavin Brady/Rodney Keenan, New Zealand,
(11-12-41) 64.
NAUTICA STAR WORLDS GENERAL CHAIRMAN
Alex Benson
California Yacht Club (310) 823-4567
alexbenson@baywoodinn.com
PRESS RELATIONS
Frank Gleberman
(310) 823-0284
FGleberman@aol.com
PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
cell phone (310) 766-6547
richroberts@compuserve.com
NAUTICA PRESS CONTACT
Mary Ellen Barone
(212) 887-8114
maryellen.barone@nautica.com
