Mike Holt and Carl Smit maintain lead at 5O5 Worlds

Port Elizabeth, South Africa (March 30, 2015) – Two races were sailed on the third day of the 60th SAP 5O5 World Championships bringing the total sailed to five races in the series. With a discard now kicking in the results just got interesting.

Sailors sailed an average of 40 kilometers on course today and will be looking forward to the lay day break tomorrow with racing to resume on Wednesday which is expected to present Port Elizabeth’s famous west wind of over 20 knots which will make for fast and flat sailing.

In the first race Ian Pennel and Johannes Tellen were dominant. Starting in 11 knots of east breeze the first leg saw many first position changes between Pinnell and Tellen with the boats of Quirk and Payne, Higgins and Marsh. But, it was the British pairing of Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen who rounded the top mark first and remained dominant throughout the race to finish first.

Top of the leaderboard and pathfinder for Race 4, Mike Holt, sailed on the non favoured side and had a lot of catching up to do – something which he could only do when the wind started increasing in intensity to the 15 knot mark on Leg 4 of this 11 leg race, eventually finishing in number 3 spot behind Australians Sandy Higgens and Paul Marsh.

Howard Hamlin who, along with help from local sailors Jim Foot and Andrew Blaine, put in 200 man hours earlier last week to get his bare boat ready to sail in these World Championships, made a welcome return to form with a decent top 10 finish in 6th place in Race 4.

The SAP Sailing Analtytics revealed some interesting statistics around the Top 3 finishers in Race 4:

Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen sailed 18 876 metres at an average speed of 8.85 knots.
Sandy Higgens and Paul Marsh sailed 18 628 metres at an average speed of 8.73 knots.
Mike Holt and Carl Smit sailed 19 202 metres at an average of 9.07 knots.

The South African boat with the highest average speed was that of Tina Plattner and Daniel Shelton at 8.49 knots.
The boat that sailed the furthest was that of Roger and Nigel Deane from Great Britain at 19 998 metres.

Race 5 was sailed in a rising east which topped out at 21 knots in the final leg – conditions well suited to current World Champions, Mike Holt and Carl Smit, who sailed to their third bullet of the regatta to retain top spot on the leaderboard.

Sailing stats from Race 5’s Top 3 finishers reveals:

Mike Holt and Carl Smit sailed 20 743 metres at an average of 9.95 knots.
Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen sailed 20 280 metres at an average speed of 9.55 knots.
Ted Conrads and Brian Haines sailed 20 928 metres at an average speed of 9.82 knots.

The South African boat with the highest average speed was that of the Funke brothers – Peter and Thomas at 9.34 knots.
The boat that sailed the furthest was that of Bronwen Klaas and Aron Tellen from South Africa at 19 998 metres.

Sailing is a delicate balancing act between boat speed, distance, and the least number of tacks and gybes.

The youngest team sailing in the World Championships is the South African Team of Jonathan Ham (17) and Micaela Robinson (14) are currently lying in 31st place overall.

Nine races are scheduled. Racing concludes on April 3.

Day Three Standings (Top 3 of 36; 5 races, 1 discard)
1. Mike Holt and Carl Smit – USA on 6 points
2. Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen – GBR on 9 points
3. Michael Quirk and Luke Payne – AUS on 12 points

Event website – Full results – SAP Analytics

Report by Alan W. Straton