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Britons win Star championship

Precy and Mitchell led all the way

MARINA DEL REY, California -- Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell won the final race of the 81st Nautica 2002 Star World Championship to give Britain its first title in the venerable class.

Neither Percy, 26, the 2000 Olympic Finn gold medallist, nor Mitchell, 32, had sailed a Star until 10 months ago.

They entered the sixth and final race at Marina del Rey, California, on Friday with a four-point lead over 1990 champions Torben Grael and Marcelo Ferreira of Brazil and nine points over France's Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde.

Although Grael finished fourth and Rohart 10th, neither seriously threatened Percy and Mitchell, who led at every mark.

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The British pair finished 41 seconds ahead of 1998 winner Colin Beashel of Australia. Three-time winner Bill Buchan, 67, of Seattle, was third -- by far his best performance of the week for one of the class's enduring icons.

At the start Percy and Mitchell tried to hide in the 103-boat fleet near the left end of the 1,000-metre line to avoid being drawn into a confrontation with their nearest rivals, Grael and Ferreira.

"They never really got to us," Percy said. "We were keeping our heads down before the start. But we had really good speed on the first beat, really good speed.

"Steve was giving me a running commentary on where Xavier and Torben were. We stayed on top of it. He's one of the best crews around. We complement each other's strengths."

Now the pair aim to represent Britain in the 2004 Olympics at Athens. Their chief competition could be Ian Walker, the head of the UK's GBR Challenge for the America's Cup and a silver medallist at Sydney in 2000.

Nautica Star World Championship six races with one discard

1. Iain Percy/Steven Mitchell UK (19)-4-1-3-2-1, 11 points.

2. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira Brazil 3-1-5-(9)-5-4, 18 points

3. Xavier Rohart/Yannick Adde France 6-8-2-(33)-3-10, 29 points

4. Paul Cayard/Hal Haenel USA 7-9-4-8-(40)-5, 33 points

5. Rick Merriman/Bill Bennett USA (53)-7-8-4-15-12, 46 points

6. Peter Bromby/Martin Siese Bermuda (33)-2-32-5-1-9, 49 points

7. Colin Beashel/David Giles Australia (41)-19-11-2-18-2, 52 points

8. Mark Mansfield/Killean Collins Ireland 2-13-17-25-7-(104), 65 points

9. Mark Reynolds/Magnus Liljedahl USA (78)-5-29-1-10-22, 67 points

10. Howie Shiebler/Rick Peters USA (70)-21-30-6-4-6, 67 points