Star North Americans - Clarke and Bjorn and the P Star surf ahead

9:05 AM Thu 17 Sep 2009 GMT

'Richard Clark - Star North American Championship' Lynn Fitzpatrick

Star North American Championships day two report.

Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn (CAN) surfed their way to two bullets in an easterly that swept swells and saturated rain clouds down Long Island Sound.

Andy Horton and Stevie Erikson (USA) went down the run neck and neck with Clarke/Bjorn, during the first race and finished overlapped, yet a couple of feet behind the Canadians. The second race was a different story; Clarke pulled out all of the stops that he used to use in the Finn and crossed the finish line over a minute ahead of the George Szabo and Rick Peters and Horton/Erikson teams.

According to Bjorn, 'Richard is a magician downwind.'

According to Clarke, 'I owe it all to Tyler and the P Star. The P Star is an awesome platform. Tyler tells me what to pull, and there isn't a lot for me to pull back there. The P Stars are fast downwind and we had a great time.'

Clarke sailed the Finn in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens for Canada and has been on Finn racecourses with Star World Champions, Xavier Rohart, Freddie Loof and Iain Percy, all too often. Bjorn persuaded Clarke to sail the Star in this year's North Americans and made all of the arrangements for the team to participate. The pair sailed together for the first time in six years on Monday, the day before the Star North Americans began. Clarke has no idea what the tuning numbers are for the Star and left pulling the strings to Bjorn. 'What can I say, ignorance is bliss,' said Clarke.

Clarke and Bjorn are sticking to the party line, 'We're on vacation and we're just having fun,' but experience tells me that Star sailors will be seeing a lot more of that combination.'

Star Class President, Bill Allen, had quite a thrill. He survived three general recalls, a start under the black flag, big swells and rain to round the first weather mark of today's second race in the lead. 'It was fun, but the professionals passed us on the first run and things went downhill from there. We even lost Brad overboard at one point.'

There were a number of casualties today. A handful of teams returned to shore shortly after peaking their bows outside of the cover of Saugatuck Island and the channel. Slam jibes and stressed parts took down masts and disabled boats. More than one crew went overboard.

A word of caution, wear your PFD's, check the CO2 cartridges if you prefer wearing inflatable PFD's and if you see anyone in distress, stand by to render assistance.

Results are Preliminary until all requests for redress and protests have been heard.

1	28	George Szabo & Rick Peters		SDB	2	4	4	2	12
2	64	Richard Clarke & Tyler Bjorn		ISO	16	3	1	1	21
3	52	Andy Horton & Steve Erickson		NB	5	13	2	3	23
4	48	John MacCausland & Kevin Murphy		CR	11	7	5	4	27
5	18	Peter McChesney & Shane Zwingelberg		A	12	1	3	17	33
6	63	Eivind Melleby & Petrus Eide		NOR	19	5	6	5	35
7	45	Jud Smith & Stuart Delisser		CA	1	17	10	10	38
8	43	Andre Mirsky & Marcelo Jordao		RJ	17	2	9	13	41
9	34	Brian Cramer & Matt Johnston	M	WLOC	7	10	17	11	45
10	44	Jim Buckingham & Austin Sperry	M	NH	15	21	8	7	51
11	46	John Bainton, Jr. & Will Christiansen		NB	18	14	21	6	59
12	57	Oskar Johansson & Jeffrey Imai		LO	8	18	14	23	63
13	56	Fotis Boliakis & Roman Gotsulyak		CLIS	10	23	22	12	67
14	22	Tomas Hornos & Luis Hornos	J	BH	6	42	16	9	73
15	23	Alberto Zanetti & Gustavo Warburg	M	OL	28	15	7	25	75
16	49	Jock Kohlhas & Witold Gessing	M	CLIS	13	28	20	15	76
17	25	William Watson & Roger Sharp	GM	CLIS	30	6	27	18	81
18	54	Derek DeCouteau & Stuart Frost	M	BI	9	20	31	22	82
19	19	Mark Passmore & Brad Anderson		WLOC	27	26	12	19	84
20	17	Jon VanderMolen & Geoff Ewenson		GL	25	34	15	16	90
21	13	Joe Zambella & Bill Gottling	GM	BH	26	19	28	21	94
22	15	Dave Watt & Mike Thompson		PS	4	40	34	20	98
23	33	Bill Allen & Brad Lichter	GM	WH	20	43	11	24	98
24	14	Larry Whipple & Mark Strube	GM	PS	36	44	13	8	101
25	24	Jack Rickard & Sam Eadie	GM	WH	41	12	25	26	104
26	26	Daniel Coughlin III & Brad Balmert		HB	14	22	24	48\BFD	108
27	51	John Finch & Ivan Bunner	M	WLOC	32	41	23	14	110
28	36	Peter Brzechffa, MD & Richard Burgess		LH	22	27	40	28	117
29	50	Richard Dhein & Clark Dhein	M	LG	23	11	37	48\DNS	119
30	41	Doug Folsetter & Larry Scott		WLOC	21	25	26	48\BFD	120
31	31	Kenneth Woods & Jim Pickering	M	CA	45	9	19	48\BFD	121
32	37	Arthur Anosov & Michael Nichol		SL	24	31	18	48\DNS	121
33	29	John Vanderhoff & Adam Dolezal	GM	NCB	3	24	48\DNS	48\DNS	123
34	47	Jack Button & Bud Converse	EGM	MID	38	29	29	27	123
35	53	David Cutler & Nelson Stephenson		CLIS	39	8	39	48\DNS	134
36	35	John Chiarella & Bob Carlston	EGM	SU	29	46	38	29	142
37	40	William Swigart & Carroll McCallum	M	CLIS	34	16	48\OCS	48\DNS	146
38	27	John O'Donnell & Huy Nguyen	M	LB	35	32	32	48\DNE	147
39	39	James Babel & T.C. Belco	M	GL	31	39	33	48\BFD	151
40	21	Jack Jennings & Brian Sharp		SU	42	33	30	48\BFD	153
41	38	Douglas Steele & Barton Jahncke	EGM	LH	33	36	36	48\DNE	153
42	60	Thorsten Cook & Mike Young	EGM	CLIS	37	35	35	48\DNF	155
43	12	Joe McCorkell & Brent Ostbye		A	43	37	48\DNS	30	158
44	11	Barbara B-Vosbury & Tom White	M	A	40	30	48\DNS	48\DNS	166
45	55	Stuart Miller & Jack Winthrop		LH	46	38	48\DNC	48\DNC	180
46	68	Lou Roberts & Kevin Elterman	M	MID	47	47	41	48\DNF	183
47	30	Vadim Panna & Neil Gibb		WLOC	44	45	48\DNC	48\DNC	185