For Klein, Worst Can’t Prevent First : He Finishes Back in Etchells Finale but Wins Anyway

It is like having a baseball game in which you can throw out your worst inning, basketball when a bad quarter doesn’t count.

Before Thursday’s sixth and deciding race of the International Etchells 22 world sailing championships off Point Loma, Larry Klein of San Diego and Dave Curtis of Marblehead, Mass., were one-two in the overall standings.

Both then went out and had bad days on the 13-mile course. James Wilmot of Sydney, Australia, got off to a quick start and led comfortably during each leg, taking first and moving up to seventh overall.

Klein and Curtis, on the other hand, drifted far back into the pack. Curtis wound up dropping out, Klein finishing 16th. But because this is a best-five-of-six series, with each skipper allowed to throw out his worst finish, the final order remained the same. Klein was the champion.

Jim Buckingham of Newport Beach placed third overall, and Don Jesberg of San Francisco was fourth. Other San Diego skippers included Bruce Nelson (sixth in the series) and Norm Reynolds (15th).

Klein, who was tied for first with Curtis after the fourth race, said his strategy was to get rid of Curtis as a contender in the final race by pushing him toward the back of the pack.

“We had to keep Dave Curtis out of the top five or beat him,” Klein said. “We had a good start and were able to push him way back.”

This was Klein’s second major victory this year, which he said has been his best in 25 years of sailing. He won the J-24 world championships in Canada earlier. Klein is now preparing for the Ficker’s regatta match race at Newport Beach next month; it is the qualifier for the Congressional Cup in Long Beach.

In advance of the Etchells 22 championships, Klein and his crew--Butch Richardson and Ron Rosenberg--spent a lot of time preparing the boat, then sailed every one of the 10 days leading up to it.

Richardson, who owns the Etchells, began sailing only a year ago after taking a class from Klein at his business, the J World Sailing School. Rosenberg, who has 13 years of sailing experience, sails with Klein on the J-24. Klein has been sailing Js for 10 years but only began sailing the Etchells this year.

Klein said his boat won despite that fact that it was full of lightweights, a disadvantage in the Etchells.

“We’re a little light, which is probably not good. It would be better if we were each 20-30 pounds heavier,” Klein said. “If you look at the Aussies here, they’re all pretty big, like 240 pounds.”

The winds were a little lighter Thursday, which Klein says was an advantage.

“In the second race, there were harder winds, which is uncharacteristic for San Diego, and we placed seventh,” Klein said. “When the winds got lighter, I felt we had a speed advantage.”