ADESSO VELA

Rick Merriman and Phil Trinter (GBR) snatched the lead from Lars Grael and Ronal Seifert (BRA) on the first run of Race 5 of the 2010 Star World Championship in Rio de Janeiro and followed up yesterday’s second place finish with a bullet. “We’re smoking downwind,” said Merriman. The pair watched regatta leaders Iain Percy and Andrew “Bart” Simpson (GBR) jibe of inside them during the initial part of the first run and lose boats. “That was the signal to continue on without jibing,” said Trinter.
Percy/Simpson have to wait another day to see if they will bag the 2010 Star World Championship title. The Brits had climbed into fifth place by the second weather mark and saw Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria round in ninth place. To win the World Championship title today, their job was to try to pass more boats than the Swiss, which is not an easy feat when Lars Grael and Ronald Seifert (BRA), Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) and Juan K. and Alejandro Colla (ARG) are your only options, because the Americans were far in the lead. Marazzi/DeMaria’s job was equally difficult with Olympians Marin Lovrovic and Sinisia Mikulicic (CRO), Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) and Gastao Brun and Gustavo Kunze (BRA) between them and the Brits. Olympians, World Champions and fast young Germans were immediately on their tail.
Percy commented on the point separation throughout the second half of the race, “We always had an eye on them. We knew that we could get fourth comfortably. We were going fast and they were fast on the runs, especially when the wind lightened.”
Delighted with the day, Percy said, “I haven’t thought about tomorrow’s strategy. We hold all of the cards and will decide how to approach it. If the breeze is up, we’ll probably yacht around and try to win the race.” It’s up to Marazzi/DeMaria to win or take second and be eight points ahead of the 2002 Star World Champion and his partner in winning the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal.
To celebrate the special holiday in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Star teams put on a dazzling show on the water. There were five Brazilians in the top 10. Lars Grael and Ronald Seifert, who finished second, led the Brazilians. Toben Grael and Marcello Ferreira were third, Scheidt/Prada were fifth, Brun/Kunze were eighth and Alan Adler and Guilherme de Alemeida finished tenth.
Lars Grael remarked, “With Torben and Marcello right behind us, I knew that I had to push hard all of the time.” He took special pride in his and Torben’s consecutive finishes. “When we crossed the line, I saw both of my uncles (Axel and Erik Schmidt Grael) watching us from their boat and they were crying. They taught us how to sail and won the Snipe Worlds together three times, won a Gold and Silver medal in the Pan Am Games and represented Brazil in the Soling and the Star in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.”
Marazzi/DeMaria pulled into second place overall in the regatta and are the only team who have a chance to beat Percy/Simpson. Adler/de Alemeida are in third place, 14 points behind the Swiss with . Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs (GER) are tied with Scheidt/Prada, the 2007 Star World Champions, just one point behind. Rounding out the top ten are the Grael teams, Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR), Kouyoumdjian/Colla and Diego Negri and Nando Colaninno (ITA). You can bet everyone will have their decks marked with grease pencils to help them with quick calculations during Race 6, the final, race of the 2010 Star World Championship in Rio de Janeiro.
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Overall results – after five races, discarding the worst result
1- Iain Percy / Andrew Simpson (GBR) – 9 (2+11+2+1+4)
2- Flavio Marazzi / Enrico De Maria (SUI) – 17 (30+1+6+4+6)
3- Alan Adler / Guilherme de Almeida (BRA) – 31 (6+5+11+13+9)
4- Johannes Babendererde / Timo Jacobs (GER) – 32 (1+8+39+8+15)
5- Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada (BRA) – 32 (3+19+50+5+5)
6- Torben Grael / Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) – 36 (5+25+21+7+3)
7- Lars Grael / Ronald Seifert (BRA) – 39 (35+15+12+10+2)
8- Eivind Melleby / Petter Pedersen (NOR) – 39 (9+10+4+16+16)
9- Juan Kouyoumdjian / Alejandro Colla (ARG) – 41 (4+30+8+22+7)
10- Diego Negri / Fernando Colaninno (ITA) – 42 (23+18+5+6+13)
...
12- Loof Fredrik / Tillander Johan (SWE) - 46 (19+8+9+18+19+11)
28- Poggi Giampiero / Corsi Manlio (ITA) - 99 (38+22+23+20+38+34)
33- Szabo George / Peters Rick (USA) - 113 (53+53+39+10+42+22)
34- Celon Nicola / Natucci Edoardo (ITA) - 114 (43+41+21+43+21+31)
40- Boggi Lucio / Lambertenghi Sergio (ITA) - 141 (74+43+BFD+28+32+38)
46- Santoni Silvio / Toccoli Fabio (ITA) - 157 (74+32+43+BFD+35+47)
48- Augelli Marco / Rocca Leone (ITA) - 163 (74+DSQ+42+49+29+43)
53- Simeone Luca / La Porta Manuele (ITA) - 190 (62+42+62+36+60+52)
55- Fornaro Andrea / Tarabella Andrea (ITA) - 196 (63+48+35+63+63+50)