Star World Championship - Tremendous battle on Day 1

by Star Class World Championship on 1 Jul 2014 It was a long Monday at Fraglia Vela Malcesine on beautiful Lake Garda for the start of the 2014 International Star Class World Championship.

A ferocious storm during the previous night hindered the afternoon wind. After an hour and a half delay, a stable Ora developed, but the over-eager fleet of 87 teams required two general recalls and a Black Flag before the fleet got away. Even then Race 1 was festooned with disqualifications.

At the finish, the German pair of Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen took the gun after a tremendous battle with the Greek team of Emilios Papathanasiou and Antonis Tsotras. Hubert Merkelbach and Garrit Bartel sailed consistently well during the five legs to take third.

The starting signal found Greek pair Emilios Papathanasiou and Antonis Tsotras flying off the pin end. Starts are key in this championship, and their strategy was to head left up the course, which was a winning tactic all day.

Germans Hubert Merkelbach and Garrit Bartel also went left, battling with American Mark Reynolds and Italian Beppe Oggioni. The Greeks set the pace for much of the race, before being overhauled by Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen at the very last bottom mark, when Stanjek and Kleen forced Papathanasiou and Tsotras round the unfavoured gate mark.

Stanjek and Kleen reached the better pressure on left and took the lead, which they held all the way up the final beat to the finish, always under attack by the Greek pair.

This spectacular italian location, is a world class venue for sailing and paragliding, thanks to the cableway of Monte Baldo. The Star Sailors League was broadcasted live, online with race commentary and Virtual Eye’s 3D video, a first time for a Star Class World Championship.

Quotes of the day from Robert Stanjek: 'Just before the downwind gate, we took up a smart position to Emilios' and blocked him from the right mark, so we were able to round to the right and won the left side, which was more favoured. It gave us a very good lead but it became very close at the end. Emilio was underneath us, parallel with good speed and he could climb up, but at the end I think we beat him by almost two boat lengths.'

Provisional Results, Day 1

No	Numero	Nome	Punti	1
1	GER 8340	Stanjek Robert, 05-Lug-1981, Frithjof Kleen	1,0	1
2	GRE 8434	Papathanasiou Emilios, 05-Ago-1973, Antonis Tsotras, Olympiacos	2,0	2
3	GER 8450	Merkelbach Hubert, 18-Giu-1963, Gerrit Bartel, Bodensee YC Ueberlingen	3,0	3
4	NOR 8317	Melleby Eivind, 19-Apr-1972, Bruno Prada, Royal Norwegian, KNS	4,0	4
5	SUI 7854	Juchli Roman, ?, Philipp Juchli	5,0	5
6	USA 8465	Diaz Augie, 06-Giu-1954, Arnis Baltins, Coral Reef YC	6,0	6
7	CRO 8339	Lovrovic Jr Marin, 16-Giu-1973, Marin Lovrovic Sr, YC Galeb	7,0	7
8	FRA 8237	Rohart Xavier, 07-Gen-1968, Serge Pulfer, Centre Fosseen de Voile	8,0	8
9	SWE 8446	Lofstedt Tom, 18-Mag-1954, Jesper Sundman	9,0	9
10	BRA 8390	Pascolato Alessandro, 16-Mag-1943, Henry Boening, Iate Clube de Rio de Janeiro	10,0	10
11	NED 8263	Jorissen Sander, 02-Ago-1962, Erik Veldhuizen, KWVL	11,0	11
12	USA 8335	Reynolds Mark, 11-Feb-1955, Beppe Oggioni, San Diego Yacht Club	12,0	12
13	SUI 7829	Niklaus Michel, 09-Set-1962, Mark Strube	13,0	13
14	ITA 8155	Poggi Giampiero, 18-Nov-1964, Manlio Corsi, AVB	14,0	14
15	GER 8442	Polgar Johannes, 25-Ago-1977, Markus Koy, Norddeutscher	15,0	15

http://www.starworld2014.com/en/14/star-wolrd-2014-malcesine-result-list" target="_blank">Click here for full results

Racing at the Star World Championship is scheduled to resume Tuesday 1st June at 12:20 CET with more live coverage on the event website.