Oxford, Maryland

One race was held today on the Choptank in 7-10 knots and rain. The wind was just as shifty as it has been all week.

Brian and I had a decent start and sailed pretty well not he first leg (and were lucky that our side worked out well) to round the first mark second to Doug Smith and Chris Rogers. We managed to pass Smith Rogers to lead at the end of lap one.

On the second upwind leg, we protected the left side as it seemed good that far in the race. This meant that we were within 10 degrees of the port lay line with 12 minutes of sailing to do. That wasn’t enough protection! 5 boats passed us to the left!

The final run was a fetch and so was the final windward leg to the finish. We managed to pass two boats to finish 4th in the race and in the regatta.

Torben Grael finished in 11th and that’s all he needed to do given that Arthur and Dave were 9th. Tomas Horno and Josh Revkin had a very good race finishing 3rd and that was enough to boost him past Aurthur and Dave for second in the regatta.

All in all, its been a fun 8 days in Maryland and we had 13 races in that time. As frustrating as it can be at times, sailing in very shifty conditions makes you sharp. You have to make so many decisions over the course of the race as compared to very steady conditions which are more about boat speed.

Next Star appointment for me and most of the boats here will be the Winter Series in Miami starting with the Schoonmaker Cup, November 22-23.

For complete results for the North American Championship, go to: www.starclass.org

Paul

Oxford, Maryland

Two races were held today on the Choptank in 5-10 knots of wind. Here it isn’t that the wind starts at 5 knots and builds to 10 or the reverse. Here the wind is 5-10 every minute of the day. And it shifts 30 degrees too.

Brian and I finished 3rd in the first race when we should have finished 8th or so and 11th in the second race when we were much closer to the front on the first leg. But that’s the nature of the racing here.

The Schofield brothers won the day with a 4, 1.

Arthur Anosov and his crew, Dave “Julius” Ceasar continue to dominate the regatta. The have great speed upwind and are sailing smart as well. They finished second in the first race today but were caught by the black flag at the start of the second race today (if u r over the start line early when the black flag is up u r disqualified) but will discard that score to to remain on top of the leader board tonight.

I am not sure how the scores work out as they haven’t been posted yet but I think Brian and I are in the top 5 and Arthur and Dave have a significant lead.

Two races are scheduled for tomorrow and one for Saturday.

For complete results go to www.starclass.org

Paul

The Battle Begins Tomorrow, Who Will Be the Last Man Standing?

Oxford, MD 07 October 2014

On Wednesday October 8, forty two Star teams representing 5 different nations will hit the race course and contest the final Silver Star Championship title of the year: the 2014 International Star Class North American Championship hosted by the Tred Avon Yacht Club in Oxford, Maryland.

As we have come to expect of International Star Class Championships, this event will be attended by a uniquely elite and diverse group of sailors with several of the top athletes not only in the Star Class, but in each of their respective regions and in the sport of Sailing in general. Among the competitors this week are 2 WINNING Volvo Ocean Race Skippers, 3 Former Americas Cup Participants, 7 Olympic Champions in the Star including 2 Olympic Medalists, 3 International Star Class World Champions, 10 International Star Class Silver Star Champions, as well as 15 International Star Class District Champions, just to name a few although this barely covers 1/4 of the Fleet’s full list of cumulative achievements.

Needless to say, the level of competition will be extremely high, the racing will be close all the way through and with the rigorous Silver Star Championship format, the Star sailors certainly have their work cut out for them. The 7 race series is scheduled across 4 days, First Warning will sound no earlier than 1100hrs EST each morning, no more than 3 races are allowed to be held in a single day and courses will be set between 5 and 7 nautical miles in length total.

Championship media coverage will be provided online via the International Star Class’s Facebook and Twitter accounts for all live updates from the race course, the International Star Class website for live race-by-race results during each day, the 2014 International Star Class North American Championship Website, and through daily press releases. All of the available websites are linked below and the remaining URL’s will be distributed as they become accessible.

Laura Beigel
Comm., Media Relations, & Marketing Director

Event Website: www.starnorthamericans.com
Current Entries: http://bit.ly/1nYdw6E
Event Sponsors: http://bit.ly/Zbp3mY