the main payne
45 year-old Simon Payne takes a nine-point lead and a 5 throwout into the final day of the PUMA Moth World Championships today, making it seem near-impossible for Brad Funk or Andrew McDougall to catch him in his quest to repeat his 2006 Worlds victory. Funk has been the surprise of the regatta, with bullet after bullet coming to the young American as he has repeatedly sailed right around Payne on numerous occasions, but the Brit’s consistency has been scary. Other than one DNF from a broken mast (imagine if it had been the first race of the day instead of the last!), Payne’s highest finish has been a five. You can see Clean’s interview with Payne after yesterday’s racing right here.
Sure, the light airs have relegated anyone over 75 kg to the back of the bus, eliminating the current world champ and some of the other powerhouses from the running, but by anyone’s standard, Payne, Funk, and McDougall have rocked this championship house down. Current World Champ Gulari is already mentally gone, thinking about the Belmont Worlds in 2011 (no light air there!) and training partner Bear hit the airport last night, saying, "I am SO glad to be out of this place."
Results are here, the live feed, which starts at 1100 AM local/2300 PST is right over here, today’s forum is right here (join to win very cool Worlds t-shirts), and don’t forget tonight’s live Cocktail Hour, with the top 5 finishers on to answer our, and your, questions at 1630 local. Thanks again to PUMA, Puma Ocean Racing and CST Composites for everything, and enjoy another beautiful Meredith Block slideshow that captures the feel of this light air, mellow-attitude event.
