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FEATURED REGATTAS: May 12, 2008
The 2008 Star World Championships - The Winners
By Lynn Fitzpatrick

The 2008 Star World Championships offered the 208 competitors from 31 countries a little bit of everything. Those who mastered the sea breezes, shifty unsettled air and arctic blasts on Biscayne Bay's playing field took home trophies, fame, unforgettable experiences and the confidence that if they could succeed among such a large fleet of champions in tricky conditions, they may even have a chance at an Olympic Gold medal in Qingdao, China later this year.

As long as you weren't blackflagged at the start of the final race of the 2008 Star World Championships hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club, it almost didn't matter in what place you rounded the first weather mark. Carl and Jamie Buchan (USA) who led around the top mark got buried on the run and dropped twenty places. The Buchans weren't the only ones whose fate changed for the worse during the first run in 4-6 knots of breeze.

Those who came out of the run smelling like roses were Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), Flavio Marazzi and Enrico DeMaria (SUI), Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne (IRL), Rick Merriman and Brian Sharpe (USA) and Marin Lovrovic Jr. and Sinsa Mikuklicic (CRO). Buried so far back in the fleet that the spectators had almost cleared out by the time they approached the gate were Hans Spitzauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT) and Kunio Suzuki and Daichi Wada (JAP). With rounding in the mid-teens Maxwell Treacy and Anthony Shanks (IRL), the Irish were pretty much assured that one of their teams would qualify the country for the Olympics.

Spitzauer/Nehammer spent the rest of the race trying to push the Japanese back to the point that the Japanese would have to count a really deep race. The deeper they went the more that it affected the Japanese scoreline, because the Austrians were working with dropping a 23rd place finish from the third race or an average of greater than 23 points. In the end the Austrians crossed the line in 84th and the Japanese crossed in 85th. The average that Spitzauer/Nehammer dropped was a 32. So the Austrians beat out the Japanese for the final country spot at the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao, China. There are two protests that have yet to be heard. The first is between the Japanese and the Austrians. The result of that protest will determine whether a protest between the Austrians and the Croatians is heard. Should the protests be disallowed, then the scorelines are as listed below and the additions to the Olympic field are as follows.

Meanwhile up in the front of the fleet, Merriman/Sharpe spurted by Scheidt Prada so that the young Irish team, O'Leary/Milne won their first race of the regatta. Marazzi/DeMaria were second, Merriman/Sharpe third and Scheidt/Prada fourth. Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER) had their best race of the regatta and finished fifth.

First, second and third in the 2008 Star World Championship standings went to Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominick Zycki, Diego Negri and Luigi Viale, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, respectively.

Meet the winners.

Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL)
These sailors, already so revered in their home country, Poland, travel to regattas with an entourage of reporters who have been following them for years. Kusnierewicz was the most popular sportsman in Poland in 1999, the same year that he won the ISAF Sailor of the Year award for so clearly dominating the Finn Class over the year of nomination, August 1998 to August 1999.   He did not place below second in thirteen ISAF graded international events during that period. Mateusz adds the 2008 Star World Championship title to his coveted 1998 and 2000 Finn Gold Cup and 1996 Olympic Gold Medals.

Dominik Zycki had a strong career in the Finn class that lasted from the early to late 1990's but was overshadowed in his home country by the fame of his teammate Mateusz Kusznierewicz. Recognized has one of the country's top sailors, Zycki was a commentator for TVP during the 2004 Olympics.

1. Kusznierewicz/Zycki (POL) - 1,1,(44),3,5,3,15

Diego Negri and Luigi Viale (ITA)
Diego Negri had an exciting career in the Laser that included representing his country in the Olympics at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. His first ranking event in the Star was at a Grade 2 event in Garda, Italy in April of 2006, waters that are very familiar to him. Over the past two years, he has been a player at every major Star regatta and came into the 2008 Star World Championships ranked #2 by ISAF and having accomplished the very difficult task of winning the multi-regatta Italian Olympic Trials in the Men's Keelboat.

Luigi Viale's first major Star regatta with Diego Negri was the 2006 Star World Championships. He is strong. He is dependable and he has been an integral part of this strong Italian team.

2. Negri/Viale (ITA) - 3,3,(25),9,2,7,24

Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA)
The reigning Star World Championship skipper and crew had a tremendous year. Not only did they win the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships in the Men's Keelboat last year to be crowned the Star World Champions but they won two other tough regattas that give a clear indication of how they will perform at the Olympics — the 2007 Pre-Olympic Regatta and the Star Rio de Janeiro Championship, which doubled as the Brazilian Trials. Even though two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and past Star World Champion skipper, Torben Grael wasn't competing, the regatta was a close one, because Brazil is the home country of many Star World Champions. Robert and Bruno demonstrated their heavy air prowess this spring during the windiest days of the
BACARDI Cup and the 2008 Star World Championships.

Bruno career in the Finn was formidable, but nothing compared to the track record he and Scheidt have established in the Star.

3. Scheidt/Prada (BRA) - (37),12,2,1,14,4,33

The New Additions to the Olympic Fleet

Flavio Marazzi and Enrico DeMaria (SUI)
Not quite 30 years old, Flavio Marazzi has been competing in the Star for one third of his life. He sailed with is brother in the 2000 Olympics where he was the youngest and least experienced Star skipper. Marazzi started sailing with Enrico DeMaria fifteen months before the 2004 Olympics. They were second in the Star World Championships in 2004 and were just out of the money at the Olympics in Athens with a 4th place finish.

For Marazzi, this quadrennium has been all about an Olympic Medal. He has been working closely with Wilke to develop a boat that will go fast in all conditions, especially in the light air and swells that are expected in Qingdao, China this summer. Their disappointing 20th place finish at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships was a setback to their Olympic plans, but they showed everyone their speed in Qingdao last summer by leading the Olympic Test Event for much of the regatta, only to place 2nd following a difficult to recover start in the short course Medal Round of the regatta.

Enrico DeMaria sailed for Alinghi as a grinder through 2003 when he started training and racing with Marazzi for the 2004 Olympics. Fifteen months in the Star together resulted in a fourth place finish at the Games. DeMaria sailed with Alinghi during the most recent America's Cup. In his first ranking event with Marazzi this quadrennium, the 2007 Star European Championships, the team won. With their solid performances this year and their Olympic experience, the team was the most feared by all of the teams who had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics.

4. Marazzi/DeMaria (SUI) - 6,14,(47),10,8,2,40

Marin Lovrovic Jr. and Sinsa Mikulicic (CRO)
Marin Lovrovic Jr. is a young man who has been sailing the Star for 10 years in a country where there are not many Stars. He started sailing with his father, Marin Sr.   When the family realized that Marin Jr. had the potential to be an Olympian, Marin Sr. started sailing with his youngest son, Dan and Marin Jr. started sailing with Sinsa Mikulicic. They have done well on the European circuit and nearly qualified for the 2008 Olympics with their 15th place finish at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais. When not racing the Star at international events, Marin Jr., trained as a lawyer, but working in the family business because of the flexibility it affords him, practices at home in Croatia with Mikulicic as his crew and his father and brother as his sparring partners.

Sinsa Mikulicic is closer in age to Dan Lovrovic, his skipper's brother than he is to Marin Jr., but he's a bit heavier. The Croatian team is one big, happy family and if you didn't know it, you would think that Mikulicic is a Lovrovic.

12. Lovrovic Jr./Mikulicic (CRO) - 29,2,(64),21,25,10,87

Maxwell Treacy and Anthony Shanks (IRL)
It's by no means official that Maxwell Treacy and Anthony Shanks will be representing Ireland at the Olympics. That decision is to be made by a committee back home. Maxwell Treacy and Anthony Shanks, however, did beat the other two Irish teams in the Spring European Championships and US Sailing's Miami OCR and they finished ahead of their compatriots in the 2008 Star World Championships to qualify their country for the Olympics, delighting the Irish Sailing Federation.

Maxwell Treacy has been sailing the Star since the beginning of the decade. He has put together some top performances including a 14th place finish at the 2004 Star Olympic qualifiers in Gaeta, Italy. He and Anthony bested the silver fleet at the 2007 ISAF World Championships in the Star after coming off a 4th place finish at the Eastern Hemisphere Championships in Mallorca, Spain.

Anthony Shanks came to the Star from the Dragon and the Etchells classes. He was well aware of the pressure cooker that a lot of the sailors were under, especially the Irish, as they came into the 2008 Star World Championships. His attitude was to "have fun and make sure that we're sailing well." It worked.

14. Treacy/Shanks (IRL) - 7,(105),17,15,26,26,91

Hans Spitzauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT)
Hans Spitzauer will make is third Olympic appearance at the 2008 Games in Qingdao, China. His first bid was in 1996 in Savannah in the Finn. His 4th place finish left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. After losing a bid in the Soling for the 2000 Games, he took the helm of a Star and qualified for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. This 1996 Finn Gold Cup winner has the never say die attitude that gave him yet another chance to sail in the Olympics.

Christian Nehammer crewed for six years before becoming a helmsman. He was good enough at both for Hans Spitzauer to take note and ask him to crew in this Austrian Olympic campaign effort. His first time in the harness as a Star crew was in January 2006. After a disappointing 24th place finish at the 2007 ISAF Sailing World Championships, Hans and Christian have been dedicated to their Star Olympic campaign effort.   After spending the season in Miami, it is fitting that Christian qualify for his first Olympics on the waters that he has come to know so well during his short Star career.

Spitzauer/Nehamer (AUT) - 14, 18,23,19 AVG.,21, 84, 95

Meanwhile up in the front of the fleet, Merriman/Sharpe spurted by Scheidt Prada so that the young Irish team, O'Leary/Milne won their first race of the regatta. Marazzi/DeMaria were second, Merriman/Sharpe third and Scheidt/Prada fourth. Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER) thought they were having their best race of the regatta and crossed the line in fifth only to find out much later that they had been blackflagged. Watch for more news at www.StarClass.org or www.WorldRegattas.com.