Star Sailors League Final team introduction #7: French Olympic medalists

by Alex D'Agosta 3 Dec 2013 10:17 NZDT 3-8 December 2013

Jonathan Lobert © Star Sailors League

France is going to be very well represented in the first edition of the Star Sailors League Final that will begin on December 3rd at the Nassau Yacht Club, with two teams representing their country: veteran Xavier Rohart, who won the latest bronze medal in the Star Class for his country, and young Jonathan Lobert, who was also able to conquer the bronze in London 2012 sailing the Finn.

Early in his career, Rohart sailed both the Finn and the Laser, but settled on the Finn, first qualifying for the Olympic team in 1992. At the 2000 Games, he just missed out on a medal, finishing fifth. In 2001, Rohart began sailing Star class boats for fun, while continuing to train in the Finn. But a 12th place finish at the 2001 Worlds prompted him to switch to the Star for the Athens Games. At the 2003 Worlds, Rohart and his crew, Pascal Rambeau, won the gold, and went on to win a bronze in the Athens Olympics. Since the 2004 Games, he hasn't finished out of the top ten at a Star Worlds. In 2005, he won the gold, a year later he won the bronze. In 2008 he finished ninth, but won the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta. Xavier Rohart competed in his fourth Olympic Games in 2008, skippering the Star class, and his fifth in London 2012. In 2013 he came in fourth at the Star Worlds in San Diego.

His crew Pierre-Alexis Ponsot is now Rohart's colleague, as he too teaches for the French's Ecole Nationale de Voile.

As one of the founders of the SSL he is very committed to the movement's goals: "Since the Star boat lost its olympic status I'm looking to sail at a pro level against the best of the best. I think that creating a movement that will push the athletes and their skills forward is better for sailing on the future. SSL has the goal to make races between the best sailors in the world". Regarding the event, he has no doubt of his target for this race: "Winning! Maybe I'm not prepared enough for that but with Pierre-Alexis we have a good chance to get in the front part of the fleet and get our chance."

The unexpected second French skipper is another new entry for the Star Class. We are talking about the famous Jonathan Lobert, an olympic sailor since 2002. He started sailing in the Optimist, then he moved to the Europe class and after 2 years he start his olympic quest in the Laser class. In 2007 he jumped into the Finn: he really enjoyed sailing the boat and in 2010 finished 2nd in the ISAF world cup. With the Finn he earned his best result, with the bronze medal in London 2012. His crew is Pascal Rambeau, an expert French sailor that won the bronze medal in Athens and two World Championship with Rohart.

His thoughts about the SSL: "I think this a great way to keep the Star alive even if it's out of the olympics for now. It's incredible to see all those sailing legends so happy to be back and sailing together on this boat. I think it's also very interesting to try this kind of Tennis world tour format; sailing is a fantastic sport and it's very important to try to get the public more and more into it."

As newcomer he's also very excited for his debut: "For me it will be a great experience as I never ever sailed the Star before! I saw the guys sailing in Weymouth on the same course and I always wanted to try one day. I am very lucky to do it with the best sailors in the world!! I am very pleased to come with Pascal Rambeau, a very experienced crew, and I will have to learn a lot from him. Because of this our goal will be just to do our best on the water and enjoy the racing with the guys."