Jody Starck marches closer to Lightning World title

Published on July 23rd, 2015

Ridgeway, Ontario (July 23, 2015) – It was another big breeze day at the Lightning World Championship, with the 63 teams posting two more scores in winds reaching 18 knots. Holding the lead since day one, Jody Starck with crew Ian Jones and Skip Dieball (USA) posted a 13-4 to maintain their position at the front, holding an 11 point margin over David Dellenbaugh/ Jeff Eiber/ Jay Lurie (USA). After three days of racing, the fleet now with six races and a discard on the scoreboard, with three races to get completed in the next two days.

Full report by Lightning class:
Tito Gonzalez from Chile sailing with his daughter Trini Gonzalez and longtime crew of Cristian Herman won the day with an impressive 1-1. After having a tough first day of racing, the team got together and realized they needed to calm down and relax in the boat. They have sailed many races together and they knew they could sail better. They went back to the basics, focus on a good start, where is the wind, are we lifted or headed, get the boat moving, focus on speed… Their self imposed pep-talk worked.

Team Gonzalez – Bow 66

Race 5 began in a nice 8-10 knot breeze from 255. There were about 10 OCS boats called at the start, all but one went back and re-started. The race was similar to Race 4 yesterday, good pressure on the far left side, but the top right came in once again at the top of the beat. Raul Rios from Puerto Rico and his team of BCC local, Kathryn Moloney and Jason Bemis from Sheboygan, WI lead around the top mark and for most of Race 1. On the final leg, Team Gonzalez was able to pull ahead and get the race win.

Rios is new to the Lightning Class. He is a very successful sailor in many other classes and was invited to attend the World Championship under a development slot for encouraging growth in areas not currently sailing Lightnings. Rios just won the gold medal in the Snipe Class at the Pan American Games in Toronto. Rios says, “The Lighting is just like a larger Snipe, except it sounds a little different going up wind.” With a second in Race 5 today, it appears that he is getting use to a hard chine. Matt Fisher and his team finished third, followed by Teams Wake and Dellenbaugh.

The RC finished the fleet and then held them at the top mark to leap frog the course for Race 6. The breeze picked up to a solid 15-18 knots from 250 and the waves began to get a little bigger about 1-3 feet. The start of Race 6 was really clean, only one boat was called over early – the junior team of Tanner Probst, Maya Weber and Jenna Probst. They were very close to glory.

Rob Crane, Larry MacDonald, Terhune, Matt Fisher, Dellenbaugh and Zonnenberg all started near the pin end of the line. Their appeared to be a little more pressure on the left side of the course but Gonzalez ended up rounding first with a bit of a lead coming from the right side of the course. He was followed by R. Crane, Dellenbaugh, Santos, Becker, J Starck, D Starck, Wake and Matt Fisher. Crane and Jody Starck separated and went low, Dellenbaugh, Santos, Becker and David Starck went high. Gonzalez sailed the rum line. At the bottom gate, RC called for a course change to 240.

Gonzalez put a little distance on the fleet and rounded the left gate to head back up course side right. Team Wake continued behind them while David Starck rounded the right gate and headed course left. Becker rounded the left gate, then Dellenbaugh and Crane followed behind David Starck. Santos, Huntsman and Jody Starck rounded the left gate and headed right.

Race 6 just before the first leeward gate

At each mark rounding the top 10-14 boats round and then there seems to be a large pack that has to carefully navigate the rounding Gonzalez, Wake and Becker held on to their positions and rounded the 2nd windward mark 1, 2, 3. At the second bottom gate, Gonzalez had a 47 second lead on the Wake and Becker teams. Jody Starck, Huntsman, and Santos followed behind them. RC called for a course change back to 250. Gonzalez maintained the lead and got their second race win of the day. Geoff Becker from Annapolis, MD with his team of Jimmy Barnash and Laura Beigel finished 2nd followed by Todd Wake, his wife Kristine Wake and Neal Fowler finished 3rd. Jody Starck and her team finished 4th and Jack Huntsman, Dave Watts and Robert Watts finished 5th.

Jody Starck, Ian Jones and Skip Dieball continue to sail clean and consistent. The Team is currently 9 points ahead of a tight race for 2nd through 5th. Just four points separate Teams Dellenbaugh, Becker, Terhune and M. Fisher.