It was another tricky day on San Francisco Bay with light winds and shifty conditions. Today we decided it was worth starting at the pin because it was fifteen degrees favored. We were the second boat from the pin, just over fellow America’s Cup (Luna Rosa) teammate Torben Grail (BRA). We paced the Athens Gold Medalist for five minutes before tacking out to the right.

Having to tack and cross the fleet from the pin is a curious thing; either you are very fast, very lucky, very well liked, or shot out the back. We crossed eight boats (to whom we now owe crossings in the future) and made it to the right side of the course. The right paid off well, allowing us to round the weather mark in the top ten.

We held our position on the run and then next weather leg, playing the shifts and maximizing boatspeed. On the second run we held on starboard for a long time out from the mark before making two jibes on small shifts. We decided to hold course as we were on lay-line (the shortest course to the mark), but we watch as a pack of fifteen boats caught up to us to leeward and five boats caught up to us from weather.

We rounded the leeward in about 15th place, depending on how you count the huge overlaps of so many boats, and we were forced to round away from the pressure on the left side. It looked dismal for a while but we kept working the shifts on our side of the course and passed enough boats to finish ninth.

The ninth place finish puts us in fourth overall, 10 points out of first, and three points out of second. Tomorrow we expect some real San Fran wind to end what was a very unusual week. We will try to get a notice out on our finish as quickly as possible and to a full recap by Monday (you really don’t have anything to do at work anyway!).

Cheers!

Andy & Brad

Tip of the Day: Be a good citizen. Star World Champion Paul Elvstrom said “Winning is no victory if, in doing so, you lose the respect of your competitors.” You can not be everyone’s friend but if you are generally a good clean competitor you will get the “cross” when you need it and you return the favor when you can.

Standings after five races (one discard) -- 66 boats
1. Hamish Pepper/ Carl Williams (NZL) 11 pts
2. Robert Scheidt/ Bruno Prada (BRA) 18 pts
3. Xavier Rohart/ Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 20 pts
4. Andy Horton/ Brad Nichol (USA) 21 pts
5. Rohan Lord/ Miles Addy (NZL) 26 pts
6. Flavio Marazzi/ Martin Kozaczek (SUI) 31 pts
7. Jim Buckingham/ Mike Dorgan (USA) 38 pts
8. Fredrik Loof/ Anders Ekstrom (SWE) 39 pts
9. Mateusz Kusznierewicz/ Dominik Zycki (POL) 52 pts
10. Daniel Stegmeier/ Beat Stegmeier (SUI) 58 pts

PEPPER/WILLIAMS LEAD WORLDS GOING INTO FINALE
San Francisco, California – Positions in the fleet begun to take final shape on Day 5 of the Wells Fargo Private Bank Star World Championships, hosted by the St Francis Yacht Club. However, it’s still tight at the head with the top four having a realistic chance of winning. The breeze today was light and shifty as it’s been all week, from the west 8-9 knots, smooth water and a slight ebb tide.

Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom (SWE), took first place today, ahead of Jim Buckingham and Mike Dorgan (USA). Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) took third, while Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) took fourth. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZ) were in fifth place.

Commented defending champion Xavier Rohart, "It's really tough racing. We missed a small wind shift on the second beat and dropped a few places. Everyone is working hard to be tighter. It’s so difficult to be clever all the time here. Guys like Robert, Hamish and Andy (Horton), are really clever with what's going on with the wind here. I'm impressed with the level. We’re starting well, our speed is average and our downwind is really nice. The week's not finished."

Pepper and Williams are putting on an excellent performance, and look hard to beat, showing great skill at emerging from deep to lead. It’s an exciting time for New Zealand, a country just now delivering up Star sailors and already with two teams sitting in the top five places overall in the best show down of Star sailors that many present at this international regatta have ever witnessed.

Pepper said, "It's been our week. Carl’s doing a great job downwind. We may not be in the best place at each mark but we’re focused on being consistent. In tricky conditions there are always options which we've been looking for. We’ve not made any big mistakes mind you, the top guys seldom make mistakes so it's hard to put too much time on them. We’re just working at being conservative at the start and not too aggressive and slowly chip at it, working on speed and going the right way. Our boat speed’s as good as anyone's." – Michelle Slade, for full story & results: http://www.stfyc.com