NAUTICA 2002 STAR CLASS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
California Yacht Club/Aug. 18-23
*** Results, photos, video and more at http://www.starworlds2002.com
***
Aug. 22, 2002 For Immediate Release
BROMBY WINS BY 1 SECOND; PERCY, GRAEL AND ROHART
IN FINAL FIGHT
Thursday's weather: Wind 10-12 knots, southwest.
Friday's forecast: Wind 12 knots, southwest.
 |
| England's Steve Mitchell and
Iain Percy push their Star to the hoist as their bid for
the Nautica Star Worlds title heats up. |
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---A one-second
win by Bermuda's Peter Bromby over England's Iain Percy Thursday
was the overture to what looms as a rousing three-way battle
Friday for the 81st Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship.
Bromby only wishes he could be a part of it.
Instead, it will be Percy and crew Steve
Mitchell fighting to hold off the relentless Brazilians, Torben
Grael and crew Marcelo Ferreira, and those persistent Frenchmen,
Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde, for the most prestigious of
one-design crowns.
Grael won it in 1990; Percy and Rohart would be the first
from their nations to win it.
After discarding his worst score---19th
in Race 1 last Sunday---Percy counts only a string of 4-1-3-2
finishes for 10 points, 4 better than Grael. He broke Grael's
three-day grip on first place Friday, but neither could shake
off Rohart, who discarded a 33 to leave him at 19 points with
a 3-1-5-5 record.
 |
| Bermuda's Peter Bromby
with crew Martin Siese leads England's Iain Percy and
Steve Mitchell on wya to their one-second 1-2 finish Thursday. |
San Francisco's Paul Cayard, with Hal
Haenel as crew, slipped off the pace with a 40th place, which
is his discard. His 28 points leave him with an outside chance
if his rivals get tangled up in the 103-boat fleet. But if
it happened to Cayard, as it has also happened to a host of
other former champions this week, it could happen to anybody.
Grael can afford to sail more aggressively
than the other two because his worst finish has been a ninth.
"He can come for us because he
has a discard to give," Mitchell said, "and if he
comes for us there isn't much we can do."
"We'll just have to sail a safe
and smart race," Percy said.
 |
| Sweden's defending champion
Fredrik Loof, with crew Anders Ekstrom, squeezes past
windward mark as Denmark's Christian Rasmussen (83) tries
to give room. |
Grael wasn't tipping his hand. "It's
different when you have three boats," he said. "If
you fight with the first guy the third boat's going to win."
Grael and Ferreira, triple Olympic medallists,
do not figure to go easily. In Thursday's solid 12 knots of
breeze they dug themselves a deep hole on the first upwind
leg when they sailed up the middle and "got passed on
both sides," Grael said. After the first 2.1 miles they
were 26th, then clawed back progressively to 14th, 10th and
seventh on ensuing mark roundings and finally to a fifth-place
finish.
"We tacked too much [upwind], but
we did well on the runs," Grael said.
Up front, Bromby and crew Martin Siese,
ranked No. 4 in the class, led convincingly at every mark
until
 |
| Bermuda's Peter Bromby
(right) beats England's Iain Percy by one second and three
feet. |
Percy/Mitchell almost ran them down
at the wire on the third beat. From 50 meters below the line,
Bromby crossed Percy on starboard and again on port, but then
tacked away for the pin end as Percy kept driving at full
speed. Bromby poked his bow across about three feet in front.
Bromby, 38 and a three-time Olympian,
started near the middle of the line, then "hit a shift
and crossed the fleet," he said.
His problem is that he's had one too
many bad races: a 32 and a 33 along with a 1, 2 and 5.
"The class is as tough as it ever
was," Bromby said. "There are a lot of young guys
coming along, and the good old guys are still around."
 |
| Brazil's Torben
Grael and Marcelo Ferreira had a wild ride from 26th to
fourth place Thursday. |
One good young guy is the hard luck
sailor of the week. New Zealand's Gavin Brady and crew Rodney
Keenan were second only to Sweden's Fredrik Loof in the Star
Worlds last year but have suffered a disabling hole in their
transom and a broken headstay in collisions on the last two
days. Loof is in 16th place this year.
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. 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.
 |
| The bulls running
at Pamplona were never like this. |
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.
The leaders (after 5 of 6 races, worst
score discarded):
1. Iain Percy/Steven Mitchell, UK, (19)-4-1-3-2,
10 points.
2. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira, Brazil, 3-1-5-(9)-5, 14.
3. Xavier Rohart/Yannick Adde, France, 6-8-2-(33)-3, 19.
4. Paul Cayard/Hal Haenel, San Francisco, 7-9-4-8-(40), 28.
5. Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett, San Diego, (53)-7-8-4-15, 34.
6. Peter Bromby/Martin Siese, Bermuda, (33)-2-32-5-1, 40.
7. Mark Mansfield/Killean Collins, Ireland, 2-13-17-(25)-7,
40.
8. Mark Reynolds/Magnus Liljedahl, San Diego, (78)-5-29-1-10,
45.
9. Colin Beashel/David Giles, Australia, (41)-19-11-2-18,
58.
10. George Szabo/Austin Sperry, San Diego, 1-20-10-(30)-27,
58.
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
NAUTICA PRESS CONTACT
Mary Ellen Barone
(212) 887-8114
maryellen.barone@nautica.com
