Well-known Sunfish sailor James Liebl loves it down under. He just won the World Masters Championship in the Laser (Apprentice; 35-44 years of age) Radial division. There were about 40 competitors in this division.
The event was held in Terrigal in Australia. James' scores were super fantastic (10 races): 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 1.
The following is taken from a press release:
James Liebl takes home first Apprentice Radial world title
An excited James Liebl (USA) has won the Apprentice Radial word title on his first attempt at Terrigal today.
From the Florida east coast town of Titusville, the likeable Liebl won the last Race 10 of the series for a final tally of 12 points, beating second placegetter John Jagger (AUS) by a massive 18 points following two race drops. Richard Bott (AUS) was third on 41 points.
“This is fantastic. It’s a great place to sail and I want to come back! I didn’t think I’d win; I actually came out here to work on my heavy air sailing, we don’t get much of that where I come from. In retrospect, I’m glad it was mostly light, otherwise I know I wouldn’t have won,” he said.
“I rounded the weather mark in eight position and I saw Richard Bott (the leader) carve his way upwind. I happened to be behind him, because none of us could see the mark, but Richard did and I followed him up and came back to fourth place (his worst race of the series), so you just say thank you and realise how lucky you are,” said Liebl who sailed so consistently he won five of the 10 races sailed. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone involved for making this such a fantastic regatta. I got lucky a lot of times and I want to come back here and sail again,” he said.
PS: James finished 6th at the 2007 Sunfish North Americans.
The event was held in Terrigal in Australia. James' scores were super fantastic (10 races): 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 1.
The following is taken from a press release:
James Liebl takes home first Apprentice Radial world title
An excited James Liebl (USA) has won the Apprentice Radial word title on his first attempt at Terrigal today.
From the Florida east coast town of Titusville, the likeable Liebl won the last Race 10 of the series for a final tally of 12 points, beating second placegetter John Jagger (AUS) by a massive 18 points following two race drops. Richard Bott (AUS) was third on 41 points.
“This is fantastic. It’s a great place to sail and I want to come back! I didn’t think I’d win; I actually came out here to work on my heavy air sailing, we don’t get much of that where I come from. In retrospect, I’m glad it was mostly light, otherwise I know I wouldn’t have won,” he said.
“I rounded the weather mark in eight position and I saw Richard Bott (the leader) carve his way upwind. I happened to be behind him, because none of us could see the mark, but Richard did and I followed him up and came back to fourth place (his worst race of the series), so you just say thank you and realise how lucky you are,” said Liebl who sailed so consistently he won five of the 10 races sailed. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone involved for making this such a fantastic regatta. I got lucky a lot of times and I want to come back here and sail again,” he said.
PS: James finished 6th at the 2007 Sunfish North Americans.