2008 Sunfish Worlds report

By Brian McGinnis

The final day of sailing at the 2008 Sunfish World Championship was physically and mentally grueling. It was by far the breeziest day; the wind was from the southeast at 15-20 kts. With everything on the line, the skippers were extremely aggressive starting, and several found themselves over the line early.

Paul Foerster (Rockwall, TX) continued to sail a consistent series and won the 2008 Sunfish World Championship with a race to spare and elected to not sail the final race of the regatta. This was the second major title Foerster won in the month of August. About one month prior he captured the US Single-handed Championship.

The regatta was hosted by the Buffalo Canoe Club in Crystal Beach, Ontario, Canada from August 23-28, 2008. On day one of the championship, 72 sailors from 12 countries were treated to excellent racing conditions, with northerly winds of 8-15 kts. Three races were sailed. Paul Foerster led the way with a 1-7-1, followed by former world champion Paul-Jon Patin (NY, NY) 6-6-5. Greg Gust (Rockwall, TX), Juan Jose Delgado (Guatemala), and Malcolm Smith (Bermuda) rounded out the top five.

The second day of racing at the Sunfish World Championship brought another unusual wind direction to Buffalo CC. The international contingent of sailors arrived at the club to find an 8-12 kt easterly breeze. In anticipation of the scheduled 11a.m. first warning signal, the fleet rigged their boats and began the two-mile sail from the club to the racing area in the middle of Lake Erie. Once offshore, there were two-foot waves and the breeze was a shifty 10-15 kts.
During the second day of sailing, the fleet continued to separate the contenders from the pretenders. However, one sailor clearly established himself as the man to beat. Foerster, the 2004 Olympic 470 Gold Medalist, posted consistent scores of 3-1-2. Foerster’s eight points coming in to day 2 left him 19 points clear of his nearest competitor at the regatta’s halfway point.

While there is no denying Foerster’s enormous talent, his success is also a tribute to the level of competition in his local
Sunfish fleet at Rush Creek Yacht Club in Texas. Every week, Foerster is pushed to remain sharp and improve by his fellow club members. Among them is Greg Gust. Gust continued to sail a consistent series with second day scores of 6-2-13. His 27 points at day’s end left the RCYC sparring partners with the top two overall spots in the regatta.

Behind the RCYC dynamic duo were four sailors separated by only four points. In third was 2008 Sunfish North American Champion Doug Kaukeinen, who sailed to finishes of 1-3-10. Malcolm Smith kept himself in striking distance with finishes of 5-4-30 and sat in fourth overall. Venezuela’s Victor Diaz De Leon had a consistent day (4-7-7) and was in fifth overall. Although he struggled relative to his first day’s scores, former World Champion Paul-Jon Patin kept himself in the hunt with finishes of 11-11-19.

There were several notable big movers in the second day. Youth sailor Alexander Zimmerman of Peru displayed skill and experience far beyond his years. Zimmerman had the second best result of the day with a 7-6-1. After taking the first day to get acclimated to his first Sunfish regatta, the 2008 CORK Laser Standard Champion,
Lee Parkhill of Canada sailed a 2-8-21 and leaped into the top 20.

Coming into the final race of the regatta, places two through six were separated by six points. Foerster continued to sail flawlessly and won the regatta. After a great week of sailing at Buffalo Canoe Club, 72 tired sailors returned to shore after finishing the final three races of the 12-race series in a 15-20 knot southeast breeze. Parkhill found the breezy conditions to his liking and won races 10 and 11. Patin had finishes of 3-3 in the same two races.

Paul Foerster shined throughout the regatta. He sailed a consistent, smart series and never finished outside the top 10.
Foerster is a well respected sportsman and competitor in the Sunfish Class. After winning the 2004 470 Olympic Gold Medal in Greece, Foerster began exclusively racing Sunfish at RCYC. Since that time, he won the 2006 Sunfish North American Championship, a bronze medal in the 2007 Pan Am Games in Sunfish and in August of 2008, won the 2008 US Sailing Single-handed Championship. For years Foerster has been an ambassador to the sport of sailing, and the Sunfish Class is thrilled that he is a member of our family.

In addition to the race winners, special trophies were awarded to: