Star World Championship - Hard fought win on day 4 + Video

by Icarus Sailing Media on 4 Jul 2014

2014 Star Class World Championship, Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Day 4: Boat Name: Marwin Skipper: Flavio Marazzi; Boat Name: eleven fifty-nine Skipper: George Szabo; Bow n: 06; Bow n: 68; Crew: Anouk Marazzi; Crew: Edouardo Natucci; Malcesine; Sail n: SUI 8364; Sail n: USA 8320 Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League

Day four at the 2014 International Star Class World Championship will be remembered as the longer, until now, of this 92nd edition. Two races were in schedule due to the yesterday’s cancellation of the race number three in order to catch up with the program.

The first flight initially planned at 8.00 AM was delayed for two hours waiting a safe reduction of Garda’s famous southbound Peler wind. Around 10 o’clock race 3 had a great and clear start in good breeze with five Italians team among the top 10. GRE 8434 Emilios Papathanasiou and Antonis Tsotras led the fleet with an apparently safe advantage of 48' to ITA 8491 Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi, 52' on GER 8442 Johannes Polgar and Markus Koy and 55' on BRA 8474 Lars Grael with Samuel Goncalves, when the rest of the fleet rounded already after one minute and more delay. At the first downwind mark of the day position one and two were unchanged, but BRA 8210 Torben Grael overlapped GER 8442 Polgar and Koy and became third in the second leg of the race.

2014 Star Class World Championship, Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Day 4, Start race 3 © Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League

Afterwards race 3 was characterized by a thermal wind switch of 180 degrees from northerly to southerly and ended with the second Brazilian Lars Grael and Sam Goncalves wins in a row in the series only 20 minutes prior to the time limit of a Star race in a World Champion.

After a quick lunch break, race 4 start was really aggressive as needed four sequences. It was the beginning of the second half of this championship, so the the pressure was on. Recalls, postponements and black flags saw overall 17 boats out of race 4, including BRA 8474 Lars Grael, that took his second highest penalty that put him potentially off the challenge for the podium.

2014 Star Class World Championship, Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Day 4, Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen © Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League

The final race of the day, with a stable Ora until the end, shows probably one of the highest numbers of matches during this week, with several lead changes. Husband and wife team of SUI 8364 Flavio and Anouk Marazzi from Switzerland lead for most of the race: a really great performance, considering the pressure from GER 8340 Stanjek and Kleen, and USA 8320 Szabo and Natucci. A little more than one leg prior to the end, Szabo with the Italian crew Natucci took the lead and kept it until the finish line.

2014 Star Class World Championship, Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Day 4, George Szabo and Edourado Natucci © Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League

2014 International Star Class World Championship include two more races. Overall leaderboard shows USA 8465 Augie Diaz and Arni Baltins three points clear of ITA 849 Negri and Lambertenghi, followed by NOR 8317 Melleby and Prada, GER 8442 Polgar and Koy and BRA 8398 Fuchs and Seifert.

Robert Scheidt, the legendary Brazilian sailor, will be our guest tomorrow to comment the races live from the Fraglia Vela Malcesine press office.

Quote of the Day: George Szabo, winner of Race 4: 'It was a long day. We woke up at six in the morning and there was too much wind when we got to the yacht club after breakfast. A long postponement on land and then one very long race, the first race, it went close to the time limit so yeah, it’s a good feeling to have a win in the second race.'

2014 Star Class World Championship, Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Day 4, Simone Goncalves and Lars Schmidt © Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League

2014 Star Class World Championship, Fraglia Vela Malcesine - Day 4, Seebejer Uli and Reinhard Schmidt © Marc Rouiller / Star Sailors League

Provisional Results, Day 4

No	Numero	Nome	Punti	1	2	3	4
1	USA 8465	Diaz Augie, 06-Giu-1954, Arnis Baltins, Coral Reef YC	32,0	6	10	10	6
2	ITA 8491	Negri Diego, 16-Apr-1971, Sergio Lambertenghi	35,0	16	2	5	12
3	NOR 8317	Melleby Eivind, 19-Apr-1972, Bruno Prada, Royal Norwegian, KNS	36,0	4	11	7	14
4	GER 8442	Polgar Johannes, 25-Ago-1977, Markus Koy, Norddeutscher	40,0	15	8	6	11
5	BRA 8398	Fuchs Marcelo, 24-Giu-1961, Ronald Seifert, YC Santo Amaro	45,0	27	4	4	10
6	GER 8340	Stanjek Robert, 05-Lug-1981, Frithjof Kleen	52,0	1	6	43	2
7	FRA 8237	Rohart Xavier, 07-Gen-1968, Serge Pulfer, Centre Fosseen de Voile	56,0	8	12	13	23
8	BRA 8210	Grael Torben Schmidt, 22-Lug-1960, Guilherme de Almeida, Rio Yacht Club	58,0	26	19	9	4
9	GRE 8434	Papathanasiou Emilios, 05-Ago-1973, Antonis Tsotras, Olympiacos	61,0	2	24	8	27
10	CRO 7287	Arapov Mate, 25-Feb-1976, Ante Sitic, JK Mornar Split	64,0	39	3	15	7
11	SWE 8446	Lofstedt Tom, 18-Mag-1954, Jesper Sundman	76,0	9	18	25	24
12	SUI 8364	Marazzi Flavio, 02-Lug-1978, Anouk Marazzi, TYC/GYC	83,0	23	33	22	5
13	DEN 8492	Svendsen Jorgen, 18-Mag-1964, Jens Chr. Jurlander, Hellerup Sejckluy	89,0	17	34	17	21
14	HUN 8386	Tenke Tibor, 13-Gen-1953, Miklos Bezereti, Spartacus	94,0	32	17	37	8
15	CRO 8339	Lovrovic Jr Marin, 16-Giu-1973, Marin Lovrovic Sr, YC Galeb	96,0	7	13	58	18
16	SUI 8409	Gautschi Christoph, 17-Mar-1960, Dominik Schenk, Bregenz	100,0	28	25	30	17
17	USA 8320	Szabo George, 07-Giu-1970, Edouardo Natucci, San Diego Yacht Club	108,0	bfd	7	12	1
18	GER 8427	Schmidt Reinhard, 18-Ott-1964, Seeberger, MYC	122,0	bfd	29	2	3
19	SUI 7854	Juchli Roman, 05-Mar-1974, Philipp Juchli, Yatch Club Arbon	122,0	5	49	35	33
20	GER 8450	Merkelbach Hubert, 18-Giu-1963, Gerrit Bartel, Bodensee YC Ueberlingen	124,0	3	15	18	bfd
21	USA 8335	Reynolds Mark, 11-Feb-1955, Beppe Oggioni, San Diego Yacht Club	125,0	12	5	20	bfd
22	AUT 8487	Scheinecker Christian, 31-Dic-1955, Gebhard Wallinger, Union Yacht Club Attersee	131,0	bfd	23	11	9
23	SUI 7829	Niklaus Michel, 09-Set-1962, Mark Strube	138,0	13	26	71	28
24	BRA 8390	Pascolato Alessandro, 16-Mag-1943, Henry Boening, Iate Clube de Rio de Janeiro	141,0	10	9	34	bfd
25	RUS 8359	Berezhnoy Andrei, 09-Mag-1968, Sergey Masalov, SPPS	142,0	31	32	64	15