Sailing Magazine
Funke Brothers – Thomas & Peter
pic by Christophe Favreau
The breeze increased in strength and with that it brought along a big sea that provided excellent sailing conditions in races 4 & 5
Two races were sailed in 13 – 17 knots of south-easterly breeze and the battle for the top position, was yet again, hot and fast.
In race 4 Ian Pinnell and Johannes Tellen showed the fleet what sailing was all about and led the fleet around the course in style. Sandy Higgins and Luke Payne chased hard to catch the leaders, but with steady conditions and very small shifts in the wind, opportunities to pass came in the form of boat handling errors or boat speed. The gains that could be made from choosing other sides of the course were minimal.
Race 5 saw even stronger wind conditions and with that there was little doubt that the defending world champion team of Mike Holt and Carl Smit would lead the team around the course. After an excellent start, the top 8 boats got clear away from the rest of the fleet and raced around the course. Holt and Smit managed to build up a lead, but with Pinnell and Tellen just having won a race, competition was going to be tough.
Again, the conditions were of such a nature that no major gains could be made due to windshifts. The battle for the top 10 positions was fierce with teams regularly swopping places and making gains or having losses as a result of boat speed and handling errors.
In race 5 Holt and Smit came out smiling in first followed up Pinnell and Tellen in second and Conrads and Haines in third.
The top South Africans were the Funke brothers in 8th overall.
