208 Champions Racing in the
2008 Star World Championship
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Every time I attend a Star regatta I am impressed with the accomplishments of virtually everyone involved with the Star class.  With each regatta I learn more about the achievements of yet another team, coach, retired Star sailor or class officer.  The sailors who get today's fanfare in the Star may have been making headlines for years not just because of their prowess as a skipper or crew in a Star, but also because they have established themselves as national or continental champions in other classes.  Many are heroes on the world, Olympic and America's Cup stage.

It's a quick list, but it highlights 27 of the 208 luminaries who are racing in the 2008 Star World Championships and their World Championship, Olympic and America's Cup accomplishments.  Among the 26 skippers and crews listed, there are world champions in 18 different international classes and disciplines and Americas Cup finalist skippers and tacticians, not to mention all of the crews who are competing on America's Cup teams.  The Olympic medal haul in five disciplines is unapproachable at any Olympic Class world championship.

Sitting on the side lines coaching are world champions and Olympic medalists Rod Davis, Stevie Erikson, David Giles, Magnus Liljedahl and Mike Wolfs.  Sir Durward Knowles, Ding Schoonmaker, Alexander Hagen and Vince Brun have also graced the fleet with their presence during this world championship regatta being sailed by 104 boats from 31 countries.

As for class protocol, the Star has undergone continual modification and improvement since its inception nearly 100 years ago.  The class has documented and practical procedures for adopting changes to the boat, rigging and sail design as well as to regatta, district and class governance.  Changes to class rules must be introduced by one of over 150 fleets in 21 districts in 42 countries.  Proposals are debated by the class' Management and its International Governing Committee, introduced at an annual meeting held during the world championship so that a broad representation of nations, districts, fleets and active sailors can discuss and debate the issues before they are placed on a ballot on which the entire class membership can vote.

If you sail in the Star Class, the rules are clear, the boats are within the tolerances of the Star class one design rule; the camaraderie is deep and the competition is fierce all over the world.

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Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson rounding alone.

Diego Negri and Luigi Viale celebrate their second place finish, their second place position in the regatta and Diego’s birthday.

Iain, Bart, Diego and Charlie
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Iain Percy and Andrew (Bart) Simpson (GBR) anticipated the changes in the wind direction better than anyone today, including the team that hoisted the Charlie flag at three of the marks.  The Brits, who have been struggling with their speed all season, relied on a good start and being on top of some big shifts to take the lead at the first weather mark and hold on.  Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) almost leapt off the boat when they crossed the finish line in second place.  Not only were they celebrating their finish and a nice lock on second place in the regatta, but it's Diego Negri's birthday.  The leaderboard is like the UN with each of the eleven leading teams from a different nation and Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) are at the top of the chart with 9 points following five races in the 104-boat fleet at the 2008 Star World Championships.

The boat yards and the dumpsters were piled high with shrapnel, bent whisker poles, torn sails, and punctured sections of transoms on Wednesday morning as a ridden hard and put away wet fleet left the docks for the fifth race of the 2008 Star World Championships.  Everybody had at least on extra layer of gear on to stave off a recurrence of yesterday's wet shivers.  When the protests, requests for redress and withdrawals were resolved and factored into Race 4's results some of the teams that have been making it to all of the regattas over the past year and a half moved up in the rankings and are sitting close together in the point standings.  All of these teams have had the opportunity to practice reaching during windy days on Biscayne Bay this season and they have raced triangular and Olympic courses.  Their efforts showed on Tuesday.

Wednesday's forecast was for more of the same, but from the north.  The helicopter flying overhead had ample opportunity to take photo shoots of starts, because the RC went into sequence five times while waiting for the light winds to settle in.  It was only after the RC moved to the south and west toward the center of Biscayne Bay that the fleet got off to a start... under the black flag.  Percy/Simpson started a little to the left of the middle of the line and favored the left up the beat.  They were part of a small band of boats that found a big left shift with pressure at the top of the beat. 

Alan Adler and Ronald Seifert (BRA) were the first to round the weather mark, but they were also the first to see the writing on the board telling them to go home.  Percy/Simpson were in second with Prof O'Connell and Ben Cooke (IRL) following.  The good news for Percy/Simpson was that not only was the boat ahead of them blackflagged but the one behind them was also blackflagged.  From then on, it was clear sailing for Team Skandia GBR.  Among those who were sent home who have chalked up two BDF's in there scoreline — Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR) and O'Connell/Cooke. 

Percy/Simpson broke ahead by going low.  No one gybed because they could see the pressure building from up high.  By the time they reached the gate, a new breeze had filled from the left.  The new course, indicated below this Charlie flag, indicated a course that put all but the leaders who rounded the left gate heading directly into the rest of the fleet that had approached the left gate from the left.

The fickle breeze that had hovered between 5 and 10 knots during the early afternoon and had bounced between 45 degrees and 355 degrees, swooped in from NNE like an arctic blast.  Once it arrived, everyone flopped on to starboard with their bows pointing toward the mainland.  Percy/Simpson reached the shift ahead of the others and were able to maintain the lead.  The news when they reached the top was that the course to the next gate was 215 degrees.

The changes in positions during the race were enormous.  It was amazing to watch Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), Hans Spitzauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT) and Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL) pass scores of boats on the final run by sailing along the eastern edge of the fleet in the big breeze.  By the time they reached the final leeward gate, there were white streaks of foam on the water. 

Percy/Simpson rounded the bottom gate with a 30-second lead on Negri/Viale and John Dane and Austin Sperry (USA) had a solid clutch on third place.  The leaders' positions held but the rest of the deck of cards was reshuffled.

This fifth race of the 2008 Star World Championship hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club enabled the fleet to drop their lowest score and with BFD's, DNF's, DNS's, and DSQ's in many score lines, overall positions changed.

Scores following the fifth race of the 2008 Star World Championships:

1. Kusnierewicz/Zycki (POL) 1,1,(44),3,4,9
2. Negri/Viale (ITA) 3,3,(25),9,2,17
3. Scheidt/Prada (BRA) (37), 12,2,1,14,29
4. Pepper/Williams (NZL) 12, (BFD),3,2,15,32
5. Pickel/Borkowski (GER) 5,(BFD),6,18,5,34
6. Mendelblatt/Strube (USA) 2,6,(32)17,11,36
7. Marazzi/DeMaria (SUI) 6,14,(47)10,8,38
8. Rohart/Rambeau (FRA) (26),21,1,4,20,46
9. Loof/Ekstrom (SWE) 27,8,9,5,(49),49
10. Murray/Palfrey (AUS) 11,11,5,24,(31),51
11. Suzuki/Wada (IRL) 7,(BDF),17,15,26,65

18. Spitzauer/Nehammer (AUT) 14,18,(23), 19 AVG,21,72
20. Lovrovic Jr./Mikulicic (CRO) 29,2,(64),21,25,77

For more regatta details and complete scores for the entire fleet, please visit www.WorldRegattas.com, www.StarClass.org or www.StarWorlds2008.com

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Scheidt and Prada Pour It On!
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Hold on cowboys!  If you can stay on your mount for an Olympic course and lots of black whammies you are better off than one third of the fleet during the fourth race of the 2008 Star World Championships.  Brazilians Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, who stunned everyone with their heavy air speed during the windiest day of the BACARDI Cup, turned on their jets after missing a 15 degree shift at the top of the first leg and rounding the weather mark in 13th.  One of their secrets to success was having their mast back on the run and retracting their spinnaker pole before a monster of a puff took out the likes of Peter Bromby and Lee White and Luca Modena and Sergio Lambertenghi.  Although the race started in 12-13 knots with puffs up to 17 knots, the whammy that took out Star veterans was up over 27 knots.  Scheidt summed up the race for all of those who made it around the course, "EXHAUSTING!"

It was truly and expensive day for everybody.  Sails flogged for quite a while as the RC reset the line and sent the 2008 Star World Championship fleet off on the ride of their lives.  With the wind out of the NE, the air temperature was a brisk 60 degrees, the Star fleet had flat seas leaving the harbor, but by the time it neared Stiltsville the wind and waves were enough to launch boats into the air. 

Some boats elected not to start and many of those who ended up with twisted rigs, holes in boats, blistered hands and sore muscles (everywhere), wished that they hadn't.  Wing marks and bottom marks were absolute spectacles.  The leaders were lucky because they were in a spaced far enough apart from one another that they could leave each other room as one after the other tried a gybe.  Many boom tips hit the water and some of the boats rounded up.  The first rig came down at the first bottom mark.  2006 Etchells World Champion turned Star sailor this year, Jud Smith and Terry Yuill's (USA) rig collapsed during a puff that hit during their approach to the bottom mark.  Kostya Datsenko and Olexandr Yevseyenko (UKR) had theirs come crashing down at about the same time.

It looked as if Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) were going to get their third bullet of the regatta, because they led around each mark of the course.  However, it was not to be.  Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada clawed their way back from 13th at the first weather mark to challenge Kusnierwicz/Zycki on the top of the final beat by going left along with Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA).  Scheidt/Prada got the gun.  Kusnierewicz/Zycki and Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL) had a photo finish that went to Pepper/Williams.  (The real photo, however, was of Kusnierewicz falling out of the boat on the final tack to the finish).  Rohart/Rambeau were fourth and many of the next several boats to cross the finish line have either qualified for the Olympics or are among the top teams trying to qualify through this championship.  John Dane III and Austin Sperry (USA) were the top North Americans.

Broken forestays took out the likes of past Olympic gold medalists Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel (USA).  A broken cap stay took out Olympians Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR).  A broken mast probably broke four-time Olympian Peter Bromby and crew Lee White's (BER) heart as their bid for the 2008 Games looks doomed.  Hans Spitzauer and Christian Nehammer (AUS) were T-boned. 

Everyone held on for dear life throughout the day.  Sergio Lambertehghi (ITA) said, as he was being towed in under a tangled mess of shrouds and a top section with the top panel of their sail flogging upside down, "I told Luca (Modena) to watch out because a big gust was coming down on us along with Peter Bromby's mast.  It was too late.  We couldn't pull enough on to keep our mast from inverting."

Everyone has at least 'one deer in the headlamps' story to tell from today's fourth race of the 2008 Star World Championships hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club.  Comparing tales will help them to pass the time in the boatyard while they re-rig and make sure that everything will withstand the final two races of the series.

It looks more and more as if the following countries will have Olympians rather than Olympic hopefuls:  Japan, Switzerland and Austria.  Scores are sure to change following the resolution of today's protests and after a race is discarded later in the series.  For more information on the final four to make the cut for the Olympics, please see the Olympic Profiles section of www.WorldRegattas.com.

One of only thee teams with three out of four finishes in the top ten, Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) are leading the regatta as we await the fifth race of the six-race series.

Scores following the fourth race of the 2008 Star World Championships:

1. Negri/Viale - 3,3,25,9,40
2. Kusnierewicz/Zycki - 1,1,44,3,49
3. Loof/Ekstrom - 27,8,9,5,49
4. Murray/Palfrey - 11,11,5,25, 51
5. Scheidt/Prada - 37,12,2,1,52
6. Rohart/Rambeau - 26,21,1,4,52
7. MacCausland/Murphy - 15,4,8,28, 54
8. Mendelblatt/Strube - 2,6,32,17,57
9. Buchan/Buchan - 31,7,12,16,66
10. Spitzauer/Nehammer - 14, 18, 23, 18.3(AVG.), 73.3
11. Marazzi/deMaria - 6, 14,47,10,77

16. Lovrovic Jr./Kikulicic - 34, 37, 11, 38, 12

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Japanese Star sailors Kunio Suzuki and Daichi Wada leading the sail off for the final country berths in the 2008 Olympic Men's Keelboat discipline.

Who are Kunio Suzuki and Daichi Wada?
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Kunio Suzuki is not unlike many of the Star sailors at the 2008 Star World Championship.  He sailed Lasers for years.  He has participated in a number of world championships.  He has represented his country in the Olympics, not once, but twice in the Laser.  However, one of the unusual things about Suzuki is that if he holds it together, this could be the best performance that he has ever had in a Laser or Star World Championship regatta and it could win him a ticket to the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao. 

Suzuki, Wakayama Sailing Club's hero and harbor master, started sailing Lasers at ISAF Grade 1 and Grade 2 regattas such as Sail Melbourne, Sail Auckland and Spa over ten years ago.  He persistence on the Laser circuit enabled him to represent Japan at the Olympics in Sydney and in Athens where he was 27th and 35th, respectively.  He's had some coaching along the way from the likes of Rodney Hagebols, one of the coaches of the Dane/Sperry Olympic campaign effort.  He also sails on the Japanese IMS circuit... as a grinder.  (He's no Lilliputian, but he wouldn't be considered grinder material elsewhere in the world).

Suzuki and crew, Daichi Wada, jumped into the Star at the 2005 Rolex Miami OCR.  Their next big Star regatta was the 2006 Star North Americans where they ended up mid-fleet. At last year's ISAF World Championships, they mustered up a 50th place finish.  Here's an interesting thought.  Over 60 of the 104 boats that are sailing in the 2008 Star World Championship are from countries that already have qualified for the Olympics.  A mid-fleet finish at this World Championship may just be enough to qualify for the Olympics.  It's unlikely, but possible.

It takes two to sail a Star and Daichi Wada, Suzuki's crew is no new comer to sailing either.  Wada is a big boat sailor who, like many of the top level crews at the 2008 Star World Championships had done a fair amount of match racing before trying on a harness and droop hiking from a Star.  During the most recent part of his 23 years of sailing, Wada has been ...the bowman for Team Siesta, the Japanese J/24 National champions.  Wada is also a Snipe helmsman and does the bow when he match races.  (He's no Lilliputian).

Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey on Sunday’s first run.

John MacCausland and Kevin Murphy on Sunday’s second run when the winds kicked up.

Biscayne Bay Kicks up and the French Win the Race
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA) won the day with a clean start at the boat and by going right up the second beat.  John MacCausland and Kevin Murphy, with an average of seven points and an eighth in today's race, the third race of the 2008 Star World Championships, now lead the six race regatta as we go into a lay day. 

The 104-boat fleet and its floating entourage drifted on a glassy Biscayne Bay for a little over an hour in singing heat.  It was so hot that the Star sailors stripped off their neoprene and tried to hide below decks and in the shade of their sails.  The sea breeze started to fill and the sailors hoisted their sails and slowly sailed downwind toward Coco Plum. 

After yesterday's harsh punishment for being over early, more boats hung back at the start.  For the first time in the regatta, an individual recall flag went up.  A couple of boats ducked back below the line, but the flag remained standing.    Those who had clear air and played the middle and the right rounded in the top of the fleet, while those who fought valiantly for the pin at the start and went left struggled to weave their way through the fleet as it bore away toward a leeward mark that had been shifted right to 330 degrees.  Kostya Datsenko and Olexandr Yevseyenko (UKR) were punched out so far ahead of everybody coming in from the right that it looked as if they must have been OCSed, but they weren't and they rounded the first weather mark in the lead with Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) and Kunio Suzuki and Daichi Wada (JPN) in pursuit.

By going low on the run, Scheidt/Prada scooped the lead and were the first to round the right gate.  The Ukrainians were second and Hamish Pepper and Carl Willams (NZL) came out of the gate right on their hip.  Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey (AUS) and the Japanese paraded behind them.  The key to the second beat was to go right as the wind built and continued to clock toward the south.  By the time the leaders reached the second weather mark, the wind was blowing 12.5 - 14 knots and everyone was wishing that they had set up for heavier winds.

Positions changed considerably during the run with the breeze on and waves to surf.  Four Olympians pulled into the top positions.  Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA), Pepper/Williams, Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey (AUS) and Scheidt/Prada headed out toward the right hand side of the course for a final leg with the breeze on and the waves kicking up.  The French won the race.  Scheidt/Prada were second and Pepper/Williams were third.  Xavier Rohart looked down at his blistering hands following the race and said, "Whew, they hurt.  I wish that I had put my gloves on and set up for heavy air."

Kunio Suzuki and Diachi Wada (JPN), with their tenth place finish today are the top contenders for the final four country berths at the Olympics in Qingdao.  Others in good stead going into the second half of the regatta are Hans Spitzhauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT), Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL) and Flavio Marazzi and Enrico deMaria (SUI). 

MacCausland/Murphy are winning the regatta on a tie breaker with Murray/Palfrey.  Both Iain Murray and Pascal Rambeau have something more to celebrate than their race results, tomorrow is the Australian skipper's and the French crew's birthday.  Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) the winners of the first two races had a mid-fleet finish and slipped to ninth in the standings, but like many they've had at least one race that they'd really like to discard.

1. MacCausland/Murphy (USA) 15, 4, 8, 27
2. Murray/Palfrey (AUS) 11, 11, 5, 27
3. Negri/Viale (ITA) 3, 3, 25, 31
4. Suzkui/Wada (JAP) 9, 15, 10, 34
5. Mendelblatt/Strube (USA) 2, 6, 32, 40
6. Macdonald/Mitchell (CAN) 25, 9, 7, 41
7. Loof/Ekstrom (SWE) 27, 8, 9, 44
8. Kusnierewicz/Zycki (POL) 1, 1, 44, 46
9. Rohart/Rambeau (FRA) 26, 21, 1, 48
10. Buchan/Buchan (USA) 31, 7, 12 50

For more coverage of the regatta, please see www.WorldRegattas.com, www.StarClass.org or www.StarWorlds2008.com.

Olympic hopefuls Bromby/White, O'Connell/Cooke and Melleby/Pedersen head home after being black flagged.

Kusnierewicz the Crusher
By Lynn Fitzpatrick
08-04-12

It was all grins for Polish heartthrobs Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) as they crushed the rest of the fleet during the second race of the 2008 Star World Championship.  Marin Lovrovic Jr. and Sinsa Mikulicic (CRO) approached the weather mark from the middle left with a nice lead over Kusnierewicz/Zycki.  As they bore off for the offset mark, they took a peak at the board to see if their bow number was among the 25 boats that were black flagged.  Relieved that they were not among the nearly quarter of the fleet sent marching home, they got down to business.  Lovrovic/Mikulicic went high and Kusnierewicz/Zycki went low and 2.1 miles later Kusnierewicz/Zycki had a three boat length lead as they rounded the leeward gate and headed back up wind.

Call it Black Saturday for many who had hoped to win the 2008 Star Worlds or go to the Olympics.  Among the twenty five crews who have already qualified for the Olympics John Dane III and Austin Sperry (USA), Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski (GER), Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) and Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL) were black flagged.  Among the teams who have mounted quadrennium long campaigns from countries that are still trying to qualify for the Olympics and who were also black flagged were Rodrigo Zuazola and Robert Riegel (CHI), Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen (NOR), Maurice O'Connell and Ben Cooke (IRL), Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks (IRL) and Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER).  Thankfully, the Irish can breath a sigh of relief, because the young lads who came onto the scene this season Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL) carried the baton for their county.  There were many other very talented crews who were tagged after the race committee went to the black flag following the first general recall.  The second starting sequence ended with the AP going up, and many aggressive competitors charged the line during the third attempt at the start.

With the fleet thinned out immediately behind them, Kusnierewicz/Zycki and Lovrovic/Mikulicic pulled away and Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) followed around the left gate while John MacCausland and Kevin Murphy (USA) and Freddy Loof and Anders Ekstrom (SWE) tried to make up ground by rounding the right gate.  Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL) executed a picture perfect left gate rounding inside the father and son team of Carl and Jamie Buchan (USA) to snag sixth.

The sun came out for the final beat as Kusnierewicz/Zycki sailed their final beat alone for the second day in a row.  Having to defend against some formidable veterans, Lovrovic/Sinsa slipped back in the 8-10 knot breeze from the SE, but were able to cover Negri/Viale and cross the finish line in second place.  MacCausland/Murphy, who showed off their starts and speed in the practice race, finished fourth.  The Irish youth, O'Leary/Milne posted yet another impressive finish in Miami and took fifth.

If anybody is interested, Kusnierewicz/Zycki are sailing a Folli that is the sister ship to Dane/Sperry's trial horse, 8230.  It's likely that both teams are shipping their trusty steeds to Qingdao shortly after the 2008 Star Worlds hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club.  Countries that are leading the charge toward qualifying for the 2008 Olympics are Switzerland, Ireland, Japan and Croatia.

Provisional Results following the second race of the 2008 Star World Championship:

1. Kusnierewicz/Zycki — 1,1,2
2. Negri/Viale — 3,3, 6
3. Mendelblatt/Strube — 2,6, 8
4. MacCausland/Murphy — 15, 4, 19
5. Marazzi/DeMaria — 6, 14, 20
6. Murray/Palfrey — 11, 11, 22
7. O'Leary/Milne  — 19, 5, 24
8. Suzuki/Wada — 9, 15, 24
9. Lovrovic Jr./Mikulicic — 29, 2, 31
10. Domingos/Santos — 21, 10, 31

Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) approach the finish line of the 1st race of the 2008 Star World Championship.

The Poles get the Pole Start
By Lynn Fitzpatrick
08-04-11

Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) had a game plan and they stuck to it.  During each of the starts before the black flag went up during the first race of the 2008 Star World Championships hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club, they were right near the boat.  As they set up for the start under the black flag, Kusnierewicz/Zycki timed it perfectly so that they were right on the money.  The Polish team took a quick hitch onto port, realized that they were in control of the right side and flipped back onto starboard to head for the left side of the course.  Their game plan put them in third around the top mark behind Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski (GER) and Kunio Suzuki and Daichi Wada (JPN).  It was only a matter of time before the Polish team was able to reel in the Japanese on the 10.5 mile course.

The race started under mostly sunny skies with clouds building over the mainland.  Winds were out of the southeast at 130 degrees at 10-12 knots.  The 104-boat fleet looked spectacular as it lined up for the start.  The top guns were fairly evenly dispersed down the line, but those who could keep clear air in such a large fleet and get left were rewarded on the first beat.  The fleet was all too eager to make sashimi out of the Japanese leaders.  Although they held the lead to the first leeward gate, they chose the right hand gate.  As Mateusz Kusnierewicz put it, "we had a smile on our face as we set up to round the left gate.  They were dead at the mark."  Mark Mendleblatt and Mark Strube (USA) rounded the left gate just behind Kusnierewicz/Zycki while Pickel/Borkowski, Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) went to the right gate.  The leaders played the left and middle left up the second beat. 

Kusnierewicz/Zycki rounded the second weather mark a couple of boat lengths ahead of Mendleblatt/Strube and Pickel/Borkowski trailed by the distance between the weather mark and the offset mark.  Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI), in fourth, were the first among the teams and countries that have not yet qualified for the Olympics.  While the teams set off on the second run, the wind had shifted to 120 degrees and had slackened off to 8.5 to 9 knots with white caps here and there and nothing to surf.

Kusnierewicz/Zycki went into the left gate ahead of Mendleblatt/Strube by six boat lengths The Americans had extended their lead on the Germans by eight boat lengths.  Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI) had closed the gap on Pickel/Borkowski to be within two boat lengths, Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) and Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) were nipping at the heels of the Swiss. 

Kusnierewicz/Zycki got to sail their own race all the way up the final beat.  They played the middle of the course and kept an eye on Mendleblatt/Strube and Pickel/Borkowski who were slightly to the right of them during the leg.  It's difficult to claw your way back in this fleet, just ask reigning World Champion, Robert Scheidt or the 2003/05 World Champions Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau.  That said, there was some excitement to the finish as Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA) and Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski (GER) shot the pin end of the finish line together (and finished in that order).

There are five more races to go before we find out which countries will be the final four to win the right to go to the Olympics, but after today's results, Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER), Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI), Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks (IRL) and Kunio Suzuki and Daichi Wada must be happy with their top ten performances.

2008 Star World Championships — Results following the completion of one race:

1. Kusnierewicz/Zycki (POL)
2. Mendelblatt/Strube (USA)
3. Negri/Viale (ITA)
4. Bromby/White (BER)
5. Pickel/Borkowski (GER)
6. Marazzi/De Maria (SUI)
7. Treacy/Shanks (IRL)
8. Percy/Simpson (GBR)
9. Kunio/Wada (JAP)
10. Dane/Sperry (USA)

www.WorldRegattas.com is up and running.  Lynn Fitzpatrick, whose tag line is "Raising the Profile of Sailing and Sailors", has unveiled a website that highlights international championship regattas, Olympic class regattas, inspirational sailing programs and profiles sailing's personalities.  Her comprehensive and timely coverage of the 2008 Star World Championships will be posted first to the www.WorldRegattas.com website.  If you are looking for fresh up to date content for your readers, please link to www.WorldRegattas.com.  In the meantime, you will receive regatta preparation updates via e-mail and will find new material on the Star Class and regatta website.

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Johnny Mac is Back!
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

It was like clockwork, until we got to the end of the starting sequence for the Practice Race of the 2008 Star World Championships, hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club.  Under sunny skies sprinkled with some puffy cumulous clouds a building 6-8 knot breeze out of the east and flat waters, the fleet left Coconut Grove's launching areas and set out on Biscayne Bay on Thursday morning. 

As the breeze built and tried to settle down, the wind back a little bit at a time.  Most of the fleet favored the pin during the first abandoned start.  By the time the fleet returned to the starting area and went through the next sequence the wind had backed a little further and once again, the fleet favored the pin.  The Olympians, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL), Mateusz Kusnierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL), Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos (POR) and Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) were all gunning for pin end starts during the third attempt at a start. 

The wind had shifted enough that the race committee reset the starting line. 
This time, the fleet spread out much more evenly across the starting line and set off on starboard tack toward the Miami shore.  John MacCauland and Kevin Murphy (USA) played the left and got a nice shift to reach the top of the beat before Rick Merriman and
Brian Sharp (USA), Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey (AUS), Robert Stanjek and Marcus Koy(GER), Lars Grael and Marcelo Jordao (BRA), who were just a bit more to the right at the top of the beat tan MacCausland/Murphy, approached from the starboard layline.  MacCausland/Muphy extended their lead on the run as some of the fleet peeled off and headed back to the barn.

MacCausland/Muphy were the first to take the right hand gate and head upwind for the second beat.  Murray/Palfrey rounded close behind the Aussies, and there was a big gap before Merriman/Sharpe and Grael/Jordao rounded the gate.  Most of the leaders spent the first part of the beat heading toward Coconut Grove, and that's where the Practice Race broke down.  Satisfied that equipment was in order, the shore tempted many.  In the end, Grael/Jordao were the first across the finish line.  Scheidt/Prada, Chieffi and Nando Colonnino (ITA), Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER) and Ross MacDonald and Steve Mitchell (CAN) crossed the finish line behind Brazilians who also had a great start at the recent Bacardi Cup.  Enrico Chieffi, the 1996 Star World Champion, who seems to have found his groove in light to moderate conditions on Biscayne Bay, commented on his race, "when you are young, you think that you are smart, but when you are older, you realize that it takes some luck."

Measured In and Off to the Races!
By Lynn Fitzpatrick
08-04-10

Measurement is done.  Chief Star Class Measurer, John Koopman led an eager band of helpers of all ages in doing a complete measurement of over 100 Star boats, equipment and crews from over 30 countries.  The final bell tolled late in the afternoon and skippers and crews who had resorted to making weight by subsisting on green tea and salad greens had to face the facts.  As they gingerly stepped on the scale and the register settled down they had to decide weather the exhale of their sigh of relief would be enough to tip the scale in their favor or whether they would have to shed some more clothing.
 
When asked how many teams measured in the sunburned and scrapped up Koopman, who had been clambering in and out of every boat at the venue said, "I don't know, I'll add the measurement sheets up in the morning, but it sure was nice to have so much help and have measurement so organized.  It really sets the tone of the regatta for everyone, especially the sailors."  Koopman, who had scrapes and bruises on his shins and his forearms from climbing up on the trailers, reaching into inspection ports and squeezing into tight spots under the decks of the Star was also impressed with his youngest helpers, 11-year old Ian and his sister, Abbey Rafael.  "They were small enough to crawl up under the deck and turn around without having to back out and they were quick learners."

Sharon Bivens, who organized Coral Reef Yacht Club's measurement crew, said of the Rafael helpers, "They're my new heroes.  They worked tirelessly."

Electricity was in the air as all of the amply fed teams rushed to get into racing mode and lined up to launch their boats from three adjacent facilities, the US Sailing Center, Coral Reef Yacht Club and Biscayne Bay Yacht Club.  We had sunny skies sprinkled with some puffy cumulous clouds a building 6-8 knot breeze out of the east as the fleet set out for the practice race for the 2008 Star World Championships on Biscayne Bay.

Who is Going to Join the Club?
By Lynn Fitzpatrick
08-04-05

Iselin, Knapp, Beardsley, Burnham, Lippincott, Etchells, Straulino, North, Buchan, Elvstrom, Petterson, Conner, Blackaller, Melges, Brun, Adams, Cayard, Grael, Reynolds, and Scheidt.  Is that a Who's Who list of sailing legends or what?  They are just some of sailing's most acclaimed skippers who have their names etched at the base of the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association (ISCYRA) World Championship Trophy.  Contested annually since 1923, the handsome trophy arguably has more history and prestige associated with it than any other in sailing. 

Last year, in Cascais, Portugal, while the winds blasted down from the mountain tops and whipped the coastal waters up into a caldron, modern sailing's legends waited.  They waited from mid-morning through the afternoon and into the early evening to see which team would be crowned the 2007 Star World Champion and which countries would gain the first ten berths in the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao, China.  The crane operated throughout the day and one by one, boats were hoisted out of the water.  First it was the Silver fleet boats and gradually the Gold fleet boats who didn't think that they had a chance of qualifying their country for the Olympics started to haul out.  The television helicopter was in the air ready to film exciting races in survival conditions while the regatta organizers tried to work through all of the scheduling complications that excessive wind had wrought.  Press conferences were called at regular intervals, and competitors and media alike watched the signal flags and awaited news.

Some of the sailors on the Star pier in Cascais were freshly released from their America's Cup duties and excited to get back into the pinnacle of one-design fleet racing, others were on hand to coach and still others had been campaigning throughout this quadrennium for the glory of winning the Star World Championship and the added perk of qualifying their country for the Olympics.  One of the welcomed distractions during the long hours of waiting was to assemble past Star World Champions together for a photo.  With the probability that the wind was not going to abate and that the scores from the previous day were going to stand, Robert Scheidt, who was leading the regatta by four points going into the Medal Round was asked if he would pose with the group.  Whether he was superstitious or did not want to be presumptuous, the eight-time Laser World Champion declined and paced around in circles while Xavier Rohart, Iain Percy, Hamish Pepper, Torben Grael, Ross Macdonald, Vince Brun, Carl Williams, Steve Mitchell, Pascal Rambeau, Marcello Ferreira, Hal Haenel, Mark Reynolds, Magnus Liljedahl, Freddie Loof and Anders Ekstrom gathered round the towering trophy.  Later that evening, after returning from an aborted Medal Round, Brazilians Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada were greeted at the dock by Alexander Hagen, a two-time Star World Champion, and informally welcomed to The Club when Hagen presented each of them with a gold star.

Many of the coveted gold stars are being proudly displayed on Biscayne Bay while over 110 teams from 30 countries tune up for the 2008 Star World Championships.  With four country berths for the 2008 Olympics up for grabs, some sailing federation's Olympic trials being decided, and a gold star for the winning skipper and crew there is sure to be a ton of excitement on Biscayne Bay once the regatta starts on Friday, April 11th.  The entire fleet will race six challenging full length races before we see who will be welcomed to The Club and whose names will be engraved at the base of an impressive trophy that lists an extraordinary fraternity of sailors.  Follow the racing at www.StarClass.org, www.StarWorlds2008.com and www.WorldRegattas.com.

On their way to Qingdao

Eleven countries have qualified teams for the 2008 Olympics.  They are Brazil, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Italy, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Portugal and the United States.  China, as the host country, automatically qualifies for the Men's Keelboat event.

All of these countries have completed their Olympic Trials with the exception of Germany.  These teams are more concerned about training for the fifteen-boat Olympic Regatta than a regatta with nearly ten times as many teams competing.  The men who have already made their shipping arrangements for Qingdao are:

BRA
Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada

FRA
Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau

GBR
Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson

NZL
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams

ITA
Diego Negri and Luigi Viale

Diego Negri and Luigi Viale just punched their ticket to the Olympics during the Bacardi Cup.  While they were the top placing team at the first Olympic qualifier, the 2007 ISAF World Championships, they have been in a multi-regatta sail off against the other Italian teams.  No longer concerned about their cumulative points vis a vis all of their countrymen, the pair can focus on sailing well.  A strong performance at the Worlds will give them a nice start on the road to Qingdao.


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POL
Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki

They have their ups and downs during regattas, but they are on the leader board so often that I can spell their names.  They went for a period of nearly two years without finishing out of the top ten at any major regatta.  They just finished fourth in the warm up regatta for the Worlds, the Bacardi Cup.





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GER
Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski and Robert Stanjek and Marcus Koy

Germany is qualified, but the Men's Keelboat Trials are not over.  To meet the national qualifying criteria to be considered for the Olympic Team, the German Star sailors must have a top 6 finish in a Grade 1 event or finish in the top 5 at the European Championships and they must have a top 10 finish in a World Championship.  The German qualification calendar started ticking last year at the World Championships.   Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski have met the criteria.  Robert Stanjek and Marcus Koy are still hunting for a top 10 finish at the World Championships.  If they achieve a top 10 finish at this year's World Championship, then their Trials will be in May at the Breitling Regatta.  If Stanjek and Koy don't qualify, then it's still up to the German federation to determine whether they think their Men's Keelboat candidate will have the potential to do well at the Olympics.  Pickel/Borkowski have been training as if they are going to the Olympics, having sailed the 2007 Olympic Test Event and spending a lot of energy on building their custom designed P-Star.

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SWE
Freddy Loof and Anders Ekstrom

Two-time Star World Champion, Freddy Loof, would love to three peat.  Anders Ekstrom would love to repeat.  They have been sailing well, but their efforts are so focused on the Olympics that they were home in Scandinavia during the Bacardi Cup.  They go into this World Championship ranked #2 by ISAF.





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AUS
Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey

Murray and Palfrey are rarely in the limelight, but they are usually just in the shadows.  Big Fella is training so hard that he's fitter than ever.  The pair has spent a fair amount of time in Miami this season and they seem to be happy with their boats and coaching program.  Their eyes are set on the Olympics, but Iain's upcoming birthday wish may just be to win the Star World Championship, one of the few championships this celebrated Australian sailor has yet to capture.



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POR
Afonso Domingos and Bernardo Santos

USA
John Dane III and Austin Sperry

You may have heard that John Dane III will be the oldest sailor among the 400 sailors at the 2008 Olympics.  John's seven winner take all US Olympic Trials over 40 years finally ended the way he wanted it to; with a victory.  Austin Sperry was a training partner for Paul Cayard at the Athens Olympics and his athleticism and youthful exuberance are an interesting combination with Dane's experience.  What you may not know is that they have blazing upwind speed.  They also proved that they are solid in the breeze by leapfrogging a lot of other teams with their final two finishes at the 2008 Bacardi Cup.  Their single digit races skyrocketed them to third in the regatta.  They are sailing well, but Dane is fixated steeling the show at his first and final Olympics.

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CHN
Honquan Li and He Wang

Knocking on the Door

IRL
Maurice O'Connell and Ben Cooke, Maxwell Treacy and Anthony Shanks, Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne

CRO
Marin Lovrovic Jr. and Sinisa Mikulicic and Dan Lovrovic and Marin Lovrovic Sr.

It's a family affair!  Marin Sr. started sailing with his youngest son, Dan, when the family concluded that Marin Jr. had a shot at qualifying the country for the Olympics if he had a more agile and younger crew.  The Lovrovics have a two team Olympic campaign to be proud of.  Marin Jr. and Sinisa finished 4th at the Rolex Miami OCR and 17th at the Bacardi, which would have been good enough to qualify them for the Games.


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SUI
Flavio Marazzi and Enrico deMaria

BER
Peter Bromby and Lee White

Peter Bromby and Lee White have been to the last four Olympic Game.  During the 1992 Games, White was the alternate for the Bermudian team, but since then he has been Bromby's crew.  They love Miami and pin end starts.  If everything goes their way, 65,000 people on the rock in the North Atlantic will have another reason to celebrate a holiday.




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AUT
Hans Spitzauer and Christian Nehammer

After finishing 24th at the 2007 ISAF World Championships, Hans Spitzhauer made sailing their full time jobs.  Spitzauer, who finished 4th in the Finn in Savannah and has been to the Olympics three times already, knows what it takes to campaign the right way.  Their coach, Alfred Pelinka, has dissected every aspect of their sailing and has been working closely with them since they arrived in Miami in December.  They are sailing well in Miami and recently posted a 5th place finish at the Bacardi Cup.


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NOR
Eivind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen

CAN
Brian Cramer and Tyler Bjorn and Ross MacDonald and Steve Mitchell

Only the four of them know the definitive answer, but what do you get when you put two past Star World Champions who have both been to the Olympics together?  Add this to the equation, MacDonald has been there five times and took home a Silver Medal from Athens, he's also won the Star World Championships a couple of times.  Like MacDonald, Mitchell is a member of the Star World Champion fraternity.  He's also engaged to a Canadian.  They've teamed up and are quite capable of winning the regatta especially since MacDonald and Mitchell have been coaching this season, so it's not as if they have lost touch with top level competition and... Mike Wolfs, who has been to the Olympics 3 times with MacDonald is coaching the pair.  Just how long does it take to get citizenship in Canada?

The list goes on and there are sure to be some surprises and upsets.  More importantly there is going to be great sailing and unparalleled displays of athleticism, camaraderie and sportsmanship at 2008 Star World Championships. 

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The Star and the Olympics
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

The Star made its Olympic debut in 1932. Star sailors stole the show that year at Los Angeles, three out of the four yachting events being won by Star skippers. Aside from their own series, Jacques Le Brun, of France, won the little single-handed one-design (Monotype) crown. Owen Churchill was at the helm of Babe, U.S. winner among the Eight Metres. In contrast to other yachtsmen from different countries, Star members were old friends and spent much of their time ashore together. It was the first time that the rest of the yachting world was able to witness the comradeship already developed by the I.S.C.Y.R.A.

Originally scheduled as an exhibition, a sort of unofficial test of popularity, Stars were eventually included as one of the regular classes on the Olympic program. It is doubtful if that could ever have been accomplished without the cooperation of the N.A.Y.R.U., which was recognized as the national authority of the U.S.A.

Getting back to Star competition, Gilbert Gray, of New Orleans, sailed Jupiter to a decisive victory. With Andrew Labino as crew, he won five firsts and was never seriously threatened. Gray rose to the occasion and sailed the best series of his career, giving the U.S. its first Olympic Star champion.  By coincidence, John Dane III, the US Olympic Men's Keelboat skipper for the 2008 Games hails from the same yacht club as the first Olympic Gold Medalist in the Star.

The Star Class has participated in the Olympic Games since 1932, when it was a test even.  Out of the 17 times the Star has been an Olympic Class, two skippers have won the gold medal twice.  They are Mark Reynolds of the USA and Torben Grael of Brazil.  Mark will be sailing the 2007 Star Worlds with Hal Haenel, his gold medal winning  teammate in the 1992 Olympics.  Torben Grael and crew, Marcello Ferreira of Brazil won the gold medal at the Savannah and Athens Games.

The following table is lists the Olympic Gold Medalists in the Star Class.