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Fickle winds upset Star champs

Unpredictable winds forced the sailors to work hard to cross the finish line

MARINA DEL REY, California -- George Szabo and crew Austin Sperry from San Diego solved the weather riddles of Santa Monica Bay to win the first race of the Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship on Sunday.

The light, shifty winds meant that Szabo had to work hard in the 105-strong fleet to avoid missing the 3-1/2-hour time limit for the race.

In the end the Americans crossed the finish line with just 3 minutes 21 seconds to spare.

Szabo's finish time meant that the race was classed as an official race, leaving nine former Star world champions with placings of 22nd or worse.

Second across the line were Mark Mansfield and Killean Collins of Ireland, 2 minutes 53 seconds behind, followed by 1990 winner Torben Grael of Brazil.

"This is my eleventh Worlds," Szabo said. "The first one I was in at Cannes we won a race but not since then. It's been a long time."

Illustrating the unpredictable and difficult conditions, Spain's Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg, the top-ranked Star sailor in the world, could only manage 91st place.

Grael, on leave from the Prada's America's Cup campaign, said, "It's not that there are so many big shifts but that the course is very long because there are so many boats, so even a 10-degree shift does a lot of damage."

Nautica Star Worlds results after first race