HI State Championship Pursuit Race 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Andy Bates

I14 PAC RIM Regatta Chair

avbates@att.net

+1 808-630-0224

2012 International 14 PAC RIM Day Two Recap

            Junior Sailing Program and the Hawaii State Championship Pursuit Race  

Kaneohe, H.I. (Oct 14, 2012) – The Trade Winds picked up for day two of the Pacific Rim Championships being sailed on Kaneohe Bay. The Junior sailors got an on the land debrief from seasoned I-14 sailors Patrick Murray and Joe Bersch. Then seven I-14 sailors took the 18 young sailors for rides in a building Trade Wind breeze. Lots of fun was had by all. The Junior Sailors had large grins as they came off the water from their first I-14 ride. Special Thanks goes to Horizon Lines whose sponsorship of Junior Sailing and the Global Sports Alliance movement made this of unique community-based event possible. This year one of the competitors had their first ride on a high-performance sailing dingy at this event ten years ago. So the process has come full cycle thanks to Horizon Lines dedication and support of local community activities.    

The winds were a steady 10-14 kts for most of the day as the competitors returned to shore and started the Pursuit race. The race starts in the reverse order of the finishers from the PAC RIM series sailed the day before. There was a three-minute interval between each starter for the 13 mile race out in to the ocean and back down to a turning mark just off the Kaneohe Bay sandbar.

There were numerous lead changes as the fleet made their way around the course. As the boats emerged back in to the Bay Alan Laflin and Lawrence Henderson from San Francisco led the fleet. They were able to lengthen their lead and finish first. Alan is the senior active I-14 sailor in the world ay age 72. He is an inspiration to young and older sailors alike. He and Lawrence made no mistakes in the ocean portion of the race and sailed a smart portion to win the race by seven minutes over prior winner Chris Henderson and Ian Andrews from Seattle who finished in second place. Ken Hey and Brian Keeffe from Seattle were third, Ted Rogers and Tim Burks from San Francisco were fourth and Local Hawaii I-14 sailors Elise Leroux and Doug Gorden took fifth place.

The fastest elapse time ward went to Australians Dave Hayter and Trent Neighbour. They sailed a very strong race and finished one minute and thirty-five seconds faster than second place finishers Axel Reinsch from Germany and Leith Shenstone from Canada.

 Results for the Hawaii State Championship Pursuit Race:

Top 5 Results:

1  Laflin/ Henderson         1           

2  Henderson/Andrews     2

3  Hey/Keefe                   3

4  Rogers/Burk               4

5  Lerouix/Gordon        5

Full Day 2 results: http://bit.ly/dvouHX

Daily video coverage by Sailgroove: http://www.sailgroove.org/coverage/237703-I14-Pacific-Rims

More info about Kaneohe YC: http://www.kaneoheyachtclub.com/