Yachts and Yachting Online

Just six of a maximum scheduled fifteen races remain in the ultra-competitive PUMA Moth World Championship 2010, and 2006 Moth World Champion Simon Payne (GBR) retains a slim lead over Brad Funk (USA) and Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI). Light and twitchy breeze only allowed starts for two of the scheduled three races today, the first of which started after a short onshore delay to allow the light sea breeze to stabilize - somewhat.

The first race started in 6-7 knots of wind, and Payne won going away over Australian Master Andrew McDougall. European champ Arnaud Psarofaghis continued his run at the top with a third place. Current Moth World Champ Bora Gulari grabbed fourth and Top US Laser sailor Brad Funk crossed in fifth place, his worst finish since day one. "I still feel fast, but I had a lot of trouble getting off the starting line today," said Funk. "But my US team mates gave me some good tips this afternoon on how to power up more quickly and get off the line quicker, and I think tomorrow will be a better day."

Psarofaghis led nearly the entire way around the course on the second race, with McDougall using his dominating light-air downwind style to take the bullet after rounding the final mark in third. "I'm in a much better mood today," said McDougall after scoring a 2 and a 1, the best score line on the day. "Last night I did everything I possible could to add power to my sail, as in this wind it is all about grunt, as you saw when I took the lead during the second race by staying up on my foils while everyone else was low-riding."

Psarofaghis crossed the line in second, and is now tied for second overall with Funk, who duplicated his race 1 performance with a fifth. Payne scored third, displaying his incredible mental toughness by coming back from an over-early call which called him back to the start line. The Championship leader overhauled most of the fleet by the first bottom mark, and held off Michael Lennon (GBR) for the rest of the race, who finished fourth, moving him into eighth overall. World Champion Gulari (USA) finished tenth after a trying downwind run to the finish, giving him control of sixth place and showing the struggle the champ is facing to match the pace of the lighter sailors ahead of him. "Had I realized how light the wind would be here in Dubai, I would have likely trained much differently than i did," said Gulari, "I definitely wouldn't have eaten for the past two months!"

Three more races are scheduled for Saturday in predicted conditions similar to today's. Hot and sunny with light sea breezes.

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Boat Type	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	GBR5	Simon Payne	Mach 2	UK	5	2	1	41	3	4	3	1	3	17
2	USA3451	Brad Funk	Mach 2	USA	3	11	10	1	1	3	2	5	5	20
3	SUI3	Arnaud Psarofaghis	Mach 2	SUI	17	9	3	3	2	6	1	3	2	20
4	AUS3380	Andrew McDougall	Mach 2	AUS	1	1	11	2	13	8	11	2	1	26
5	USA4	Dalton Bergan	Mach 2	USA	10	20	4	4	4	1	4	8	6	31
6	USA1	Bora Gulari	Mach 2	USA	12	10	2	7	6	5	5	4	10	39
7	AUS7	Scott Babbage	Mach 2	AUS	8	4	9	5	10	2	9	6	44	43
8	GBR3708	Michael Lennon	Mach 2	GBR	2	8	8	6	8	9	10	7	4	43
9	UAE3679	Chris Graham	Mach2	UAE	4	7	7	10	5	7	7	14	7	44
10	GBR3604	Adam May	Mach 2	GBR	6	5	6	16	9	14	18	13	15	68
11	SLO3712	Tomaz Copi	Mach 2	SVN	7	3	41	11	19	10	19	10	9	69
12	AUS9	Rob Gough	Mach 2	AUS	11	18	12	12	12	12	8	11	14	78
13	SIN3700	Mark Robinson	Mach 2	SGP	16	23	5	14	11	15	6	15	20	82
14	GBR3594	Ricky Tagg	Mach 2	GBR	9	17	15	13	14	11	13	43	19	92
15	SUI3392	Jean-Pierre Ziegert	Mach 2	SUI	19	16	13	9	7	19	15	17	17	94
16	USA3683	Zack Maxam	Mach 2	USA	14	15	14	15	16	17	14	12	16	100
17	USA3615	George Peet	Mach 2	USA	23	14	16	18	17	18	26	9	11	103
18	SWE3666	Martin Gravare	Mach 2	SWE	13	19	44	8	18	13	12	44	21	104
19	SUI3623	Mikis Psarofaghis	Mach 2	SUI	15	28	20	19	15	16	16	16	8	105
20	SIN3711	James Cole	Bladerider	AUS	21	6	21	20	25	21	21	19	12	120
21	GBR4082	Alex Adams	Full Force	GBR	18	24	17	17	21	20	17	18	18	125
22	UAE3276	Alex Buerger	Bladerider	UAE	22	12	24	28	23	27	22	22	13	138
23	UAE3231	Marcel Herrera	Bladerider	UAE	24	13	26	22	26	23	20	25	24	151
24	GBR3632	Paul Hayden	Mach 2	GBR	20	22	23	24	27	30	29	21	23	160
25	GBR3607	Tim Penfold	Mach 2		38	42	19	33	20	22	27	20	22	163
26	UAE3680	Glenn Raphael	Mach 2	UAE	35	35	18	21	22	29	25	23	38	173
27	GBR3713	James Phare	Mach 2	GBR	26	21	41	23	24	24	24	43	44	183
28	SWE3125	Emma Aspington	Bladerider	SWE	29	30	28	27	33	25	23	30	25	187
29	AUS3262	Ben Crocker	Prowler Zero	AUS	32	27	25	29	28	28	31	24	28	189
30	UAE3300	Kerstin Sommer	Bladerider	UAE	28	25	29	30	30	26	28	31	31	196
31	GBR3335	Dougie Imrie	Bladerider	GBR	27	26	41	26	31	34	33	29	26	198
32	UAE3357	Simon Savage	Bladerider	UAE	33	36	22	25	34	31	34	32	29	206
33	UAE3647	Rob Fordyce	Assassin	UAE	30	29	31	35	35	32	32	28	30	212
34	SWE3279	Magnus Gravare	Bladerider	SWE	36	33	30	32	29	36	37	27	33	220
35	HKG3672	Dion Houghton	Mach 2	HKG	34	32	27	31	36	37	38	43	34	231
36	SUI3250	Philip Kasermann	Bladerider	SUI	37	31	32	39	32	33	36	44	44	240
37	UAE3665	Marc Bruegger	Fastacraft	UAE	31	37	33	34	39	39	39	36	32	242
38	GBR3431	Richard Davies	Bladerider X8	UK	39	34	34	37	37	35	35	33	35	243
39	SWE3140	Per Eskilson	Bladerider X8	SWE	40	42	36	36	38	38	30	35	37	250
40	USA3592	Lindsey Bergan	Mach 2	USA	25	44	44	44	44	44	44	26	27	254
41	CHN3637	Dirk Weiblen	Mach 2	CHN	42	38	37	38	41	41	41	34	36	265
42	GBR3495	Jonathan Peats	Bladerider	GBR	41	42	35	44	40	40	40	37	39	272
43	UAE3278	Jeroen Leenen	Bladerider	UAE	44	44	44	44	43	44	44	43	44	306