Field Forming for Star Sailors League Finals

The 4th edition of the Star Sailors League (SSL) Finals 2016 is scheduled for November 28 to December 4 in Nassau, Bahamas. The top 12 skippers in the SSL Ranking for the year are invited to challenge, with the top 5 skippers in the SSL Ranking having agreed to attend the SSL Finals 2016.

The top 12 ranked skippers will join 13 VIP sailors selected for the successes achieved in their sailing career. Most of the VIPs are World or Olympic Champions, and for the SSL Finals in 2016, with the Olympic Games just closed in Rio de Janeiro, the SSL Finals will have some freshly medalled sailors.

The Top Five:
• Diego Negri (ITA) is back at the top of the ranking (after George Szabo dominated it for almost a year). Negri will be racing in Nassau with long time crew Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA), ranked No.2 in the SSL Crew Rankings. Diego is one of Italy’s top Olympic sailors, having represented Italy at three Olympic Games. The Italian team’s record in the Star is impressive, winning the European Championship on two occasions and runner up at the Star World Championship, three times. Negri and Lambertenghi have appeared at the last three SSL Finals, but have yet to win, will 2016 be their year?

• Xavier Rohart (FRA) is still grinning for winning the first SSL City Grand Slam in Hamburg, a well deserved victory in such tricky conditions. Xavier is SSL President, not only for his great career, bronze in Athens in 2004, a European title in 2015 and two World titles in 2003 and 2005, but also for the values he shares with the Star Sailors League: Born from sailors for sailors. He will be sailing in the SSL Finals with Pierre-Alexis Ponsot (FRA), his winning crew in Hamburg.

• San Diego’s George Szabo (USA) has won more SSL titles than any other skipper. George won the first 2015 SSL Lake Grand Slam in Grandson, Switzerland, and the 2015 SSL Finals. In the Star class he has won many North American Championships and sports a gold star on his main for winning the Worlds in Sweden in 2009. He has had two favourite crews since the first SSL Finals in 2013. Patrick “LeDuc” Ducommun (SUI), whom he won the SSL Lake GS with, and Edoardo Natucci (ITA), with whom he will be trying to repeat last year success in Nassau.

• The reigning Star World Champion, Miami’s Augie Diaz (USA) will be competing in Nassau but is yet to announce his crew. The SSL Ranked No.1 crew Bruno Prada (BRA) was with Augie for the world championship win. Augie’s long time crew and close friend, Arnis Baltins (USA) is also a favourite to team up with Augie. Diaz is in great shape, he’s just won the ISCYRA Eastern Hemisphere Championship in Split, Croatia, and he’s definitely one to watch this time in the Bahamas.

• Johannes Polgar (GER) and fellow German Markus Koy will be competing at their 4th SSL Finals. Johannes comes from an Olympic background representing Germany in the Tornado in Qingdao in 2008. At over two metres tall and weighing in at 112 kg, Markus Koy is one of the most powerful athletes in the sport. Markus took part in his first Star World Championship in 2001 and has won the Star European Championship on two occasions.

SSL Finals 2016 Format
After three days of racing for all 25 teams, the competition goes into the knockout stages. Single races decide who survives and who is heading for the dock. The last four teams will contest a thrilling final race, the first to finish will be the winner of the SSL Final 2016 and take home a lion’s share of the $200,000 Prize Purse.

Event details – Facebook

 
STAR SAILORS LEAGUE (SSL)
From the initiative of some of the world’s best sailors, the SSL launched an international circuit of regattas in January 2013. This new league has been built on the existing circuit of over 220 International Star regattas around the world, using a unified world ranking, created based on the ATP World Tour ™, established by tennis players in 1972. Drawing on this inspiration from tennis, the SSL also awards substantial prize money to the best-ranked sailors. In December 2015, the third edition of the SSL Finals took place in Nassau, Bahamas.

By 2020, the objective of the SSL is to organize four Grand Slams and the SSL Finals every year. The annual SSL Finals is exclusive to the top athletes and the Grand Slams will offer fierce competition. In order to create a world ranking representative of the skills of each athlete and to balance the odds for each one of them, the Grand Slams will take place at venues known for different conditions:

• “SSL LAKE GS” organized on a lake
• “SSL BAY GS” organized in a sea bay
• “SSL CITY GS” organized in an urban environment
• “SSL BREEZE GS” organized on a windy area

In September 2015, the SSL organized the first Lake Grand Slam, on lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, hosted by the Cercle de Voile de Grandson, and in May 2016 the first City Grand Slam took place in Hamburg Germany, by Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and Hamburger and Luebeck Bay Steamboat fleets. On the first week of December 2016 the 4th SSL Finals will be held in Nassau Bahamas at Nassau Yacht Club.

Source: Star Sailors League