Reigning Champs Lead at Star Worlds

Oxford, MD (October 10, 2018) – The breeze finally made its appearance on the Choptank River on day three of the 2018 Star World Championship. The 62 boat fleet completed two races but only one can claim the traditional daily prizes.

Reigning World Champions Eivind Melleby (NOR) and Joshua Revkin (USA) took both bullets, as to let everyone know they’re not ready to hand back one of the oldest trophies in sailing.

Brazilian Olympic Finn sailor Jorge Zarif with crew Guilherme de Almeida are following the leading pair in the provisional ranking, and in third spot the 1988 Star World Champion Paul Cayard (USA) with crew Arthur ‘Tutu’ Lopes (BRA).

“We have to keep doing more of what we did today and we should be pretty good,” said Eivind Melleby. “We like the race area, it’s nice and shifty. Today a little bit stronger wind than we had expected as it was building throughout the day. It was a very tough first upwind in the last race.

“We thought we were going well off the starting line with no problems then we got caught in the middle of the race course when the others on the left hand side were having a big lefty that never made its way to us. We did most of the climbing back in the first run downwind by staying in the pressure in the middle and we were fast. It’s our downwind speed that keeps us out of trouble. We made all the gains downwind today.”

In Race one, Melleby and Revkin, after a good start, were the first to round the weather mark followed by Argentinian Hector and Hugo Longarela and by the Brazilian Olympic Finn sailor Jorge Zarif with crew Guilherme de Almeida.

The same order was seen at the leeward gate, while in the second upwind leg, Danish Jørgen Schönerr and Jan Eli Gravad made their way to third spot by staying on the left side of the racecourse, the most favorable throughout the day.

On the last long downwind leg, the top three positions were confirmed and as Melleby and Revkin could celebrate their first win, the happiest sailor was probably Brazilian Jorge Zarif, who doesn’t get to sail the Star very often due to his Olympic campaign in the Finn class.

“We managed to have two decent starts and we did well, “said Zarif. “Unfortunately we could not keep the lead in the second race but overall it was a good day and we are happy. The Star is great and the guys in the fleet also. It’s always nice to sail at this high level and it is really fun.

“The Star World Championship is six races long and has a large fleet, so our strategy is to try to be consistent and finish in the top 10 in each race. I hope we have more wind like today for the rest of the week so I can continue to work the boat in the breeze, as I feel more familiar to this condition.”

The second race started right after the finish of the first one, and the competitors had an extra element to take in consideration, the current flowing in the bay at a pace of 20 meters per minute. This tricked Diego Negri/Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA) and Jorge Zarif/Guilherme de Almeida (BRA) at the second upwind mark.

While they were high on the lay line fighting the current, perpendicular to the wind direction, Melleby/Revkin tacked earlier and could stay a little lower and take advantage of it. The Norwegian/American team kept the lead until the finish line. They were followed by Paul Cayard (USA) with Arthur Lopes (BRA) and the Brazilians Zarif/de Almeida in third place, respectively third and second overall after two races.

“Finally the event got underway and it was nice to have some breeze, everyone was getting a little antsy after a couple of days with no sailing”, said Paul Cayard. “For us it was nice to get the rudder sorted out yesterday, it was preventative maintenance, we weren’t sure it was going to break but I think it was a prudent thing to do.

“We are happy with the day, our speed is pretty good, we were fast up and down wind. We could have won the last race, we lost by a few meters to Eivind, but there’s still a long way to go and it’s certainly not over. We’ll try to stay consistent and keep our heads up as this is a very tricky place.”

Two races are scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday October 11th, with the first warning signal at 1100 local time.

Results, Top Ten (2 Races)
1 – Eivind Melleby NOR – Joshua Revkin USA, 1-1; 2 points
2 – Jorge Zarif – Guilherme de Almeida BRA, 2-3; 5 pts
3 – Paul Cayard USA – Arthur Lopes BRA, 8-2; 10 pts
4 – Diego Negri – Sergio Lambertenghi ITA, 6-6; 12 pts
5 – Jørgen Schönerr – Jan Eli Gravad DEN, 3-13; 16 pts
6 – George Szabo USA – Roger Cheer CAN, 14-4; 18 pts
7 – Peter Vessela – Phil Trinter USA, 7-11; 18 pts
8 – Andy McDonald – Brad Nichol USA, 13-7; 20 pts
9 – Augie Diaz USA – Bruno Prada BRA, 5-16; 21 pts
10 – Eric Doyle – Payson Infelise USA, 24-5; 29 pts

The 6-race series for the 62 teams is planned from October 8 to 13 with reserve days on October 14-15.

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: Rachele Vitello