Damage day at Star Worlds

Troense, Denmark (July 2) – The sailing conditions for the start of the Star World Championship were excellent, with light clouds and winds between 12 to 16 knots.

After a general recall of all boats, the black flag was raised to mark a new start, and all boats were heading upwind toward the top mark. Lars Grael was leading the fleet rounding the top mark.

During the second upwind leg, the wind raised to 16 to 20 knots average wind speed with boosts up to 24 knots and after three upwinds on the 2 nm leg, the load on the equipment was obvious, resulting in 7 broken masts, etc.

“The Star World Championship course is rather long with a total of 10 miles,” said American Paul Cayard, who is crewing for his son Danny. “It was pretty physical out there so everyone will sleep well tonight.”

One boat was losing its steering capability due to a rigging failure and the boat drifted to Langeland, from where it later were escorted back to Troense. In total 18 boats were unable to complete the race.

Day 1 results (Top 3 of 65; 1 race)
1. Lars Grael, Brasil
2. Hubert Merkelbach, Germany
3. Reinhard Schmidt, Germany

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: Mette Heide-Jørgensen