New leader at Lightning Worlds

Salinas, Ecuador (November 23, 2017) – International Masters’ Champion Ched Proctor continued his reign of consistency to grab the lead on the second day of the 2017 Lightning World Championship.

Proctor and his team of son Charlie and longtime crew Meredith Killion opened with a 2, being beat by only 2013 World Champion David Starck with an all star team of Ian Jones, and wife Jody Starck.

Longtime Lightning sailor Gary Hurban found the lead around mark 1, and held on to the gates, but after Starck split at the gate and found pressure and shift on the right side, both Hurban and Proctor were passed.

The sailors faced challenging 5-6 knot breezes with minimal oscillations to start the first race, but as the day went on, the breeze built to 12-14 knots, settling in to a direction of 230 degrees.

In the second race, Justin Coplan with Bill Wiggins and Danielle Prior worked their way up the middle of the course to lead at the first mark, but the young team of Billy Martin, Janel Zarkowsky, and Isabelle Ruiz de Luzuriaga ground down Coplan and passed him to lead around the third and fourth marks, as well as at the finish.

It was Javier Conte, however, who won the day, scoring a 3 in each race. While Conte is scoring an OCS right now, when a throwout comes into play, he will shoot up the leaderboard.

But, for now, Nick Sertl with John Mastrandrea and Dylan Farrell kept all of their scores in the top 11 to move into second, two points back of the much more senior team Proctor. Dave Starck, after winning the first race today, moved into third, seven points back of the lead.

Three races are scheduled for tomorrow, leaving the final two for Saturday. A throwout comes into effect after six races, so positions may become jumbled after racing tomorrow. The championship is still anybody’s game and forecasted conditions for tomorrow should allow for more steady, fair, and top-level racing.

The Lightning World Championship are scheduled for November 22-25.

Day Two Results (Top 10 of 56; 4 races)
1. USA15507, Ched Proctor / Meredith Killion / Charlie Proctor – 9 -5 -2 -12 ; 28
2. USA14298, Nick Sertl / Dylan Farrell / John Mastrandrea – 1 -10 -11 -8 ; 30
3. TUSA15577, David Starck / Jody Starck / Ian Jones – 8 -8 -1 -17 ; 34
4. CHI11011, Alberto Gonzalez / Alberto Gonzalez / Cristian Herman – 7 -4 -18 -9 ; 38
5. USA15586, Mark Sertl / Cory Sertl / Katja Sertl – 14 -15 -9 -7 ; 45
6. USA15536, Justin Coplan / Danielle Prior / Bill Wiggins – 15 -24 -7 -2 ; 48
7. PUR14677, Raul Rios / Sebastian Higuera / Nicolas Deeb – 2 -2 -33 -13 ; 50
8. ECU14673, Juan Santos / Leonardo Santos / Juan Jose Ferretti – 4 -20 -22 -4 ; 50
9. USA15496, Marvin Beckmann / James Barnash / Monica Morgan – 5 -11 -12 -24 ; 52
10. USA15412, Tim Scanlon / Sam Williams / Bernie Roesler – 16 -18 -16 -4 ; 54

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: ILCA