Laser Senior Worlds 12 - 20 September 2006

Report:  Day 1

The first morning of Jeju Laser World Championships started slowly for the 130
sailors representing 40 nations as they were held ashore by the race committee
waiting for suitable sailing conditions. They did not have to wait long for the
influence of typhoon Shanshan, 800 miles south of Korea, to overcome the shoreline
calm.

By the time racing began, after 90 minute delay, a fifteen knot easterly with steep
choppy seas prevailed.

In the first of two fleets to start the bulk of the fleet chose to sail the left hand side of
the course to try and get out of a strong west going current. At the first mark Tom
Slingsby AUS led by 20 sec from a group including current European Champion Paul
Goodison GBR. Goodison, fresh from victory at the pre Olympic event at nearby
Qingdao, hit the first mark and had to do a penalty turn. On the first downwind leg
Slingsby extended his lead over Mate Arapov CRO who consolidated second place on
the same downwind leg. Goodison recoverved by the end of the first downwind only
to capsize in the building seas a fate suffered by a number of sailors in both fleets.
For the next lap the breeze continued to increase in strength to a consistent 25 knots.,
enjoyed by Slingsby as he increased his led to win comfortably from the Croatian pair
of Arapov and Milan Vujasinovic CRO.

The blue fleet race was closer than the yellow fleet race with another strong
Australian performance from Michael Blackburn AUS who like Slingsby, led at the
halfway point. He said "most of the competitors had misjudged the strength of the
current on the starting line and as a result of his start he was able to round the first
mark second narrowly behind Adonis Bougiouris GRE." Adonis held his lead until
the second upwind beat when at the start of the leg he hit a few large waves badly to
allow Blackburn through. Blackburn described the second work " as a hard slog I just
went to the left as tacking in these conditions is very slow ". He held the lead to the
end with Bougiouris GRE finishing second and Michael Leigh CAN taking third.

Conditions had continued to strengthen during the racing until as a complete reversal
to the start of the day the second race was abandoned with the wind gusting to 29
knots and a forecast of increasing wind.

The championship lasts for 8 days with 4 days of qualifiers before the fleet is split
into gold and silver fleets for three days and a final 'medal race' on the last day. Each
stage of the competition may be extended if a minimum number of races are not
completed. Typhoon Shanshan is currently forecast to change course to the north
towards the island of Jeju on the southern tip of Korea and then veer to the west
decreasing on route. The 15 race programme was planned to include the possibility of
typhoon influences.

Results after one race:

1 AUS 190003 Blackburn, Michael 1,0
1 AUS 190007 Slingsby, Tom 1,0
3 CRO 190030 Arapov, Mate 2,0
3 GRE 190076 Bougiouris, Adonis 2,0
5 CAN 190019 Leigh, Michael 3,0
5 CRO 190036 Vujasinovic, Milan 3,0
7 NED 190095 Bouwmeester, Roelof 4,0
7 NZL 190101 Murdoch, Andrew 4,0
9 CHI 190024 Del Solar, Matias 5,0
9 FRA 190050 Le Breton, Thomas 5,0

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