Star Midwinters gets back on track

Miami, FL (January 11, 2020) – Racing resumed today at the Star Midwinter Championships after being blown out yesterday. With just one race being completed on the first day due to strong winds, the Race Committee was eager to get off three races today.

Jack Jennings (USA) and Pedro Trouche (BRA) dominated the day with a 1,2,1, and while Americans John MacCausland and Arnis Baltins won race two, they sit only in fourth place as there is a three-way tie for first place between Jørgen Schönherr/ Markus Koy, Arthur Anosov/ Andrey Shafranyuk, and Augie Diaz/ Henry Boening.

Typically in a southeast breeze Biscayne Bay, it is favored to go left, but today, with the race committee attempting to run three races, the courses were shorter at only 1.4 nautical miles.

“The races were so short, you had to be careful not getting too far to the left,” said local Diaz. “The right time to tack and cross on port was critical. It was easy to get too far left and you were inevitably overstood. I felt really lost today tactically. Usually we play the current, but it wasn’t predictable due to the big breeze been that has blowing over the last few days. I think the breeze throws off the current change.”

The first race was sailed in twelve to fifteen knots with considerable steep chop the further upwind the fleet sailed. The breeze progressively weakened throughout the day, with the final race being sailed in winds ranging from twelve to nine knots.

The winners of the day, Jennings and Trouche, attributed their domination to hiking hard and being physical on the boat. “The trick to it today was getting off the starting line with clean lane,” said Jennings. “We started at different points of the line in each race. We were really just fast and a lot of credit has to go to Pedro, who hiked super hard and worked really hard to get the boat through the ways.”

Added Trouche, “You have to have super fitness to make the boat go fast in those conditions.”

With no discard in the Star Midwinters, Jennings and Trouche will have to have another banner day to get themselves on the podium after a DNS in the first race. They sat out race one due to a broken spreader, which occurred in the the chaotic basin before even having a chance to get out to the race course. The team currently sits in twelfth place.

Racing for the Midwinters continues through January 12, with the winner from January 9-10 to be the Walker Cup, and results from both events to be the final two stages of the 2019-2020 Winter Series.

Series information – Event details – Results

Day Three Results (Top 10 of 41 teams; 4 races)
1. Jørgen Schönherr / Markus Koy , DEN – 1 -6 -5 -3 ; 15
2. Arthur Anosov / Andrey Shafranyuk , USA – 6 -2 -3 -4 ; 15
3. Augie Diaz / Henry Boening , USA – 4 -5 -4 -2 ; 15
4. John MacCausland / Arnis Baltins , USA – 2 -9 -1 -5 ; 17
5. Andrew Macdonald / Brad Nichol , USA – 11 -8 -7 -9 ; 35
6. Jim Buckingham / Phil Toth , USA – 7 -11 -8 -10 ; 36
7. William Swigart / Josh Revkin , HKG – 14 -3 -12 -8 ; 37
8. Manu Hens / Joost Houweling , BEL – 10 -7 -17 -6 ; 40
9. Ante Razmilovic / Brian Hammersley , GBR – 8 -12 -9 -11 ; 40
10. Tom Lofstedt / Johan Tillander , SWE – 3 -4 -14 -21 ; 42

2019-2020 Winter Series schedule
Nov. 9-10 – Schoonmaker Cup
Dec. 7-8 – Commodore’s Cup
Jan 9-10 – Walker Cup
Jan 9-12 – Star Midwinters

Scoring: Only the best three Winter Series weekend regattas will count toward the SWS Championship. The Star Winter Series Champion will be the skipper with the lowest total score to be calculated as follows: The sum of your overall place in the Star Midwinters multiplied by 2, plus your lowest three scores from the four SWS weekend regattas. Series Championship ties will be decided by your place in Midwinters.

Source: Kathleen Tocke