More to Winning than Winning

The Star class is rooted deep in the history of San Diego Yacht Club, with guys like Gerald Driscoll, Lowell North, Malin Burnham, and Dennis Conner paving the road. The 2012 Star World Championship were held in San Diego, but local fleet numbers aren’t what they used to be.

However, now that the Star is no longer part of the Olympics, some of the top local Star sailors are able to keep their boats at home. No longer are they traveling the globe in pursuit of fame and fortune (or at least fame), but as Paul Cayard explains, there is something even better than fame…

A fleet of 16 Stars competed on the Coronado Roads race course in San Diego for the Rollins Bowl on May 23-24. Chick Rollins was a fiery character who graced the San Diego Bay Star fleet for over 50 years.

The usual cast of characters from California were in attendance including four Gold Star winners (world champions): George Szabo, Eric Doyle, Mark Reynolds and myself. A fifth Gold Star winner, Vince Brun, was also in attendance as crew for Ben Mitchell. That’s right, Vince Brun crewed!

The winds on Saturday were perfect, 6-8 knots and “fairly” steady. Sunday was significantly lighter and more challenging.

While George Szabo and Craig Moss won the regatta, I was winning before counting any points. I was sailing with my son Danny, his first time in a Star. We didn’t do badly in the points category either, missing out on first by just one point. We’ll have to wait for the competitive win on another day, but for sure, nothing is better than sailing a Star with my son!