2001 World Championships

McKee brothers take 49er World Championships

(From Yachts and Yachting)

Securing the regatta on the final day with a 1st and a 2nd place, Jonathan and Charlie McKee from the United States won the 49er World Championships from Irer Martinez and Xabier Fernandez of Spain. Racing has been very close with the top 25 49er sailors in the World fighting it out over the last three days.

Two races were sailed this morning in the light, shifty breeze that Lake Garda has been known for this week. Racing was then postponed to wait for the wind to fill in and when it looked like it would not materialize racing was cancelled for the day, concluding the World Championships and announcing the McKee brothers as the World Champions.

Paul Brotherton and Simon Hiscocks were the highest placed British sailors, sailing consistently in the challenging fleet and finishing up in 7th place overall. A slightly disappointing result for fellow RYA Team GBR sailors Alister Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh, who started off the regatta so promising and qualified in second place, then went on to finish 16th overall. Olympic Silver Medallist Ian Barker sailing with Harvey Hilary finished in 19th position after scoring a number of results in the late teens.

“This Gold fleet has been more competitive than ever before, with any of the 25 sailors capable of winning the Championships. It has been a difficult regatta and the RYA Team GBR sailors have not performed as well as they would have liked. On the positive side the sailors have learnt a lot, it has been a regatta where there has been a huge tactical element and also a little bit of luck has been needed in the light, shifty conditions” commented Olympic Development SquadManager Stephen Park.

One interesting area for discussion that has come out of the Championships is that of sails. From the results the old sails which are made by North, will be out of date by 2002, have proved to be quicker in the lighter conditions, but after this date they will be replaced by Neil Pryde sails. Paul Brotherton and Simon Hiscocks were the top boat with this new generation of sail and it will be interesting to see in the future how the developments proceed.

Gold Series Final Results: (9 races, 2 discards)

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