1999 World Championship, Neustadt/Holstein, Germany

August 14th – 20th, Neustadt i.H, Germany

Invitation Race

Report by Adrian Mannering

Conditions:

15-22 knots of wind, choppy seas, offshore breeze, very shifty.

A shift to port on the start plus a very long start line gave a large bias to the port end starters. The boats on the right hand side of the course were best at the mark.

At Mark 3: A Mannering(NZL), Olle Albrektson(SWE), Antoni Pawlowski(POL). After a shifty 2nd beat in windy conditions most boats pulled out of the race, saving there sails + energy for tomorrow.

The results:

Karsten Hitz with superior boatspeed and knowledge of the shifty conditions came throug to win the last beat. Only 13 boats finished.

Top 10 Invitation race:

1. Karsten Hitz GER727
2. Olle Albrektsson SWE 2747
3. Adrian Mannering NZL 504
4. Oliver Gronholz GER 679
5. Robert Davis AUS 706
6. Mark Jackson AUS 708
7. Soenke Behrens GER449
8. Rob Hengst NZL 505
9. Ingo Ballerstein GER 607
10. Gavin Waldron GBR 2080

Day One Report

Report from Jörn Richter (on the jury for the race):

In the first race we had really good wind, the second race started after 2 general recalls due to windshifts and during racing we had still have had windshifts of 30 degrees but with enough wind to finish the race.

Day Two Report

Report from Jörn Richter (on the jury for the race):

No racing for today due to low to no wind. The competitors were forced to stay ashore until 12:00. Then there was one tiny little try to start a race, but already on the way out to the course the raceofficer made a wise decision to cancel racing for today. The big guys stayed ashore and grinned, hoping for more wind tomorrow.

At 1900 all competitors will been driven to a local waterski school to have some fun.

Day 3 Reports

Race 3: Russell Woods (finished 3rd in race 3)

After a general recall the race committe did the black flag. I started near the middle. The first beat was fairly even with no particular side favoured. I arrived at the top mark in 4th behind Michael from Switzerland. I passed him. I was’d 6th across the line, but three boats in front became BFD (out of 10, even the first 2 of the race).

Race 4: Peter Scheuerl (GER)

Very shifty conditions, gusty between 5 and 20 knots. the first beat saw the guys from the left in front, not much changed on the reaches due to decreasing winds. After a 30 degree shift at the beginning of the second beat, with no change of course, the middle was favoured, while on the final beat the left was favoured again. 7 boats got OCS in that race which kicked some favorites out of the series.

Day 4 Report

by Jörn Richter

Today we had 2 races in almost survival conditions. Windspeed between 10 to 13 m/sec.

For the whole day, some rain and really not much sun. The first race started without a general recall, with a good starting line.The beating today was for real men only. I wished I could do the reaches, but being a member of the jury I could only watch. We saw some great surfing, some nice capsizes and 2 people had to go to hosptial. Jan Erik Nysted finished today’s racing and afterwards got 8 stiches on his head due to a bad gybe. The boom hit his head.. same happened to the old man Mr. Jørgen Linhardsen (age 52 and currently no. 2). he has only 4 stiches.

The current leader is Aussie Peter Milne. He won today’s first race with a good lead.

Tomorrow we will have one race only, the last of the championship. They predict again strong winds…

Day 5 FINAL Report

by Jörn Richter

Today was the final day of competition. The start went right on time at the first try with a good line. Wind conditions where about 5-6 m/sec with clouds and some rain. Peter Milne (AUS) the current leader of the gang started close to the old man Jorgen Lindhardsen (DEN) the current second. The Dane had to put about 20 boats between him and the Aussie to win the championship. First windward mark saw them rounding in position 25-30, only separated by one place. Leading was the Swede Jan Erik Nysted (the one who got eight stitches on his head due to an injury yesterday…) followed by the Brit David Carrol.

David overtook the Swede with much faster downwindspeed. While the Swede made the straight course David took every wave and steered big curves downwind. On the final beat the wind dropped with a shift to the right. The race was won by David Carrol with a comfortable margin, followed by Jan Erik and then Adrian Mannering (nzl). The old man Jorgen form Denmark finished well ahead of Peter. But was it enough? After peter finished I asked him who won the championship. All he answered was: “I am not good in mathematics …”

Finally jorgen finished 15th and Peter finished 21th. This means the new world champion comes from Australia. It is Peter Milne, AUS 694. Congratulations!

Before the first day of racing we all made a bet who will win the championship. Nobody bet on Peter!

Point System: “Olympic”: 1st=0; 2nd=3; 3rd=5,7; 4th=8; 5th=10; 6th=11,7; place+6