South American Championship Regatta - 27th/11/2009

By Lynn Fitzpatrick

November 28, 2009 (Rio de Janerio, Brazil) – Results are provisional, and it looks as if Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria (SUI) amassed a nearly unassailable lead today at the Star South American Championship. The ISAF ranked #1 team posted a 7, 2 to their score while Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira (BRA), who were ahead of them by one point going into the day, had two double-digit scores and slipped to third place overall.

Past Star World Champion skipper, Alan Adler, sailing with Guilherme Almeida (BRA) also passed Grael and Ferreira with their low point score for the day. They sailed a remarkable 3,4 in the 70-boat fleet.

By discarding a deep 23rd place, two-time Star World Champion, Freddy Loof, sailing with Johann Tillander (SWE) moved up to fourth.

Fewer than 20 points separate 2nd through 10th place. Six Star world championship winning skippers are included in the lot.

Marrazzi and De Maria are the only team that has posted single digit scores in each race. Expect them to remain consistent.

If the final day of racing is in light air, watch out for Lars Grael and Ronald Seifert (BRA), who are sitting in fifth place, with 31 points following the discard. They are also on a roll after having placed third at the 2009 Star World Championship and winning last week’s warm up regatta, the 2009 Taca Royal Thames. The rest of the Brazilians and a number of other teams savor heavy air, so anything can happen during the final day of racing on Sunday.

Scores and information posted at http://www.icrj.com.br/site/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=205 and www.StarClass.org