Star Sailors - It started with a kiss

by Star Sailors League on 10 Sep 2015 Challenging racing conditions produced a tactical first day of racing at the Star Sailors League Lake Grand Slam hosted by Cercle de la Voile de Grandson, Switzerland. Clouds rising above the Jura Mountains signified that the arrival of the chill northerly wind, known as La Bise, translated as 'the kiss' which funnels down the valley between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Prealps.

The first two races were held in a gusty 12-16 knots of breeze but it wasn't a lingering kiss, the last two races were fought out in a lighter flukier conditions, which tested the concentration and will power of the 68 teams from 22 different countries.

There were numerous general recalls disciplined by Black flag starts and notable offenders included Torben Grael and Guilherme De Almeida and Johannes Polgar and Markus Koy, both were adjudged to be on course side in Race two. However the Brazilian duo scored two bullets today, and after counting a discard, are placed fourth after the first days racing.

Augie Diaz and Arnis Baltins from the USA top the leaderboard after four races having scored [eight]-six-one-four. Augie and Arnie have been sailing together for about five years and consistent results in the top ten, boosted by a bullet in Race three, has propelled the Americans to the top but only just. Gold Star, George Szabo racing with local expert, Patrick 'The Duke' Ducommun, is second by a single point. Reigning Star World Champions, Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen, scored a four - one in the first two races to lead the championship but the lighter conditions did not seem to suit the German pair, scoring a eight - [thirty] in the final two races, to finish the day in third. There are 22 teams from Switzerland racing in the regatta, Henrik Dannesboe and Jan Bonhoeffer were top Swiss team today and had an epic duel with Torben Grael and Guilherme De Almeida in the last race. Dannesboe and Bonhoeffer nailed the start and held off the Brazilian team for three legs. However, Grael and De Almeida out foxed the Swiss pair at the very last mark to take the gun pushing the Swiss team into second.

The SSL Lake Grand Slam has a different format to other regattas with a knock-out stage. After the three days of racing, 11 teams will progress. There are few surprises after the first day, with Gold and Silver Stars peppering the top of the leader board. However, the Croatian pair, Marin Misura and Tonko Barac, recovered from a 24th in Race one, to post twelve – three - ten and take 10th place after four races. Croatian Ivan Gašpic racing with American Josh Revkin, had a blip in Race three but scored nine - five-[thirty-seven] - six to take seventh place after the first day.

After four races 21 teams have scored top ten finishes, showing the strength in depth of this magnificent field, up to four races are scheduled for tomorrow. Action continues tomorrow with Race five scheduled to start at 09:30 (EST). With expert commentary from special studio guests, including Dennis Conner. On the water, the latest in hi-tech camera technology, as well as Virtual Eye 3D Graphics, will provide thrilling viewing. Armchair sailors can also join the race with Virtual Regatta.

Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Museum

300 guests enjoyed last night's prestigious Opening Ceremony at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

IOC President, Thomas Bach attended the Press Conference in the presence of Olympic medallists, athletes, ISAF authorities and SSL representatives. “The Athletes and fellow Olympians in this room, are among the greatest in the sport of sailing, and have made a generous donation to the Olympic Museum that we are proud to showcase. I would like to thank SSL Honorary President, Dennis Conner, you are a true legend to sailing, not only for sharing your treasured possessions with us, but also your story and memories. A warm welcome to the Olympic family”.

Quotes of the day

Michel Niklaus, SSL Coordination and Founder

“For us, the Opening Ceremony was a significant moment for the SSL. We celebrated the sailors in their home; the house of Sport, the Olympic Museum. The presence of IOC President, Thomas Bach, in front of all of these athletes for me represented the most important moment of the week!”

Augie Diaz

“We were very, very fortunate, we had great speed and I think we were able to get off the line on all four races, which will put us in the top 15/20 boats. I think Arnie (Baltins) and I did a nice job reading the wind and positioning ourselves at the right opportunities, not only to just maintain our position but actually gain on some boats.

I like all sailing! This is a beautiful spot, today was a great day, it was challenging because there was a lot of wind shifts, but it was very good racing and yes I do love the lake.

Arnie and I have a lot of fun sailing together, at this stage and at my age I sail for fun and that’s why I sail with guys like Bruno Prada. Bruno is a lot of fun on the water, he’s always cracking jokes on how old I am and when I fall in the water and Arnie is just a similar character, both great sailors and in fact I call it Prada-Baltins team: that’s the team I’m on!”

Torben Grael

“It was a good day on the water, very tough but brilliant. The wind is not easy here, it’s very shifty, but I like it that way. We had some great starts – for the Racing Committee one was even ‘too’ great – the boat is fast. Today was one of those days where everything fell into place - Black Flag aside. Guillerme (de Almeida) and I rarely have a chance to sail together – last time we were on a Star boat was at the European Championship in Gaeta four months ago and it didn’t go well.

My wax statue at the Olympic Museum was a bit too young, I think. But jokes aside, I am incredibly proud of having my wax statue at the Museum. When I started sailing I could have never imagined one day this could have happened.”

George Gzabo

“It’s pretty neat coming here with all these good sailors, it’s awesome to see there’s not just Star sailors out there, seeing everyone else doing good as well. When it got a little lighter there are certain techniques which come into play, if you know what I mean, and when the breeze is up there are some strong guys out there!

It was a long day and a different venue, so it’s definitely unique and neat for me. It’s a little tough as you don’t know what conditions you are going to get, but this lake gave us some fantastic sailing today.

It’s even more fun if you come here on a sailboat you haven’t sailed before, with a crew you don’t know, speaking in French, and you have another chore remembering what word to use for trim and ease, but it was fantastic.'

Results:

	Sail Number	Skipper	Crew	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Total
1	USA 8465	Augie Diaz	Arnis Baltins	[8]	6	1	4	11
2	USA 8320	George Szabo	Patrick Ducommun	7	[10]	2	3	12
3	GER 8340	Robert Stanjek	Frithjof Kleen	4	1	8	[30]	13
4	BRA 8210	Torben Grael	Guilherme De Almeida	1	[69/BFD]	12	1	14
5	USA 8481	Mark Mendelblatt	Brian Fatih	3	4	9	[19]	16
6	POL 8404	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	Dominik Zycki	2	14	4	[23]	20
7	CRO 7852	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	Josh Revkin	9	5	[37]	6	20
8	GER 8450	Hubert Merkelbach	Gerrit Bartel	[22]	11	6	5	22
9	FRA 8237	Xavier Rohart	Stefano Lillia	[23]	3	11	9	23
10	CRO 8360	Marin Misura	Tonko Barac	[24]	12	3	10	25
11	FRA 8270	Jean-Baptiste Bernaz	Pascal Rambeau	11	2	13	[17]	26
12	SUI 8351	Henrik Dannesboe	Jan Bonhoeffer	[21]	16	10	2	28
13	BRA 8391	Jorge Zarif	Bruno Prada	6	9	[21]	16	31
14	UKR 8205	Denis Khashina	Dmitrio Mechetin	15	18	5	[20]	38
15	GER 8442	Johannes Polgar	Markus Koy	5	[69/BFD]	23	14	42
16	CYP 8376	Pavlos Kontides	Mark Strube	17	13	15	[21]	45
17	SUI 7925	Urs Hunkeler	Michael Mutti	16	[30]	16	13	45
18	USA 8316	Caleb Paine	Ian Colemann	14	8	25	[46]	47
19	GER 7860	Stefan Schneider	Uli Seeberger	[55]	19	7	24	50
20	CRO 8339	Marin Lovrovic	Dan Lovrovic	25	17	[45]	8	50
21	SWE 8331	Max Salminen	Steve Milne	18	26	[32]	7	51
22	CRO 7829	Tonci Stipanovic	Ante Kujundzic	[36]	15	27	15	57
23	ITA 7488	Roberto Benamati	Sergio Lambertenghi	29	7	22	[54]	58
24	SWE 8352	Lars Edwall	Stefan Fagerlund	[40]	21	14	25	60
25	NED 8334	Thomas Allart	Ben Kloos	[33]	25	24	12	61
26	SUI 8476	Juerg Ryffel	Alex Gouda	10	24	[54]	28	62
27	FRA 8274	Jonathan Lobert	Mike Maier	[69/DNF]	22	18	27	67
28	USA 8129	Mark Reynolds	Hal Haenel	13	23	33	[49]	69
29	SUI 8482	Lorenz Zimmermann	Matthias Miller	20	34	19	[39]	73
30	GER 8491	Ulrich Vater	Karsten Morf	28	20	28	[33]	76
31	SUI 8413	Christoph Burger	Renato Marazzi	27	27	[41]	22	76
32	SUI 8085	Michel Vaucher	Massimo Canali	12	[69/BFD]	39	26	77
33	SUI 8457	Hans Stockli	Urs Spahr	26	31	20	[35]	77
34	GER 7929	Heiko Winkler	Uwe Thielemann	[45]	32	36	11	79
35	GER 8407	Xaver Sollner	Bernhard Schaefer	39	33	[48]	18	90
36	SUI 8499	Christoph Gautschi	Dominik Schenk	37	28	26	[48]	91
37	ITA 8202	Paolo Nazzaro	Kilian Weise	19	[69/BFD]	38	38	95
38	SUI 7242	Bernhard Seger	Walter Oess	[49]	40	31	34	105
39	SWE 8433	Calle Schroder	Danis Carlsson	32	[69/BFD]	34	40	106
40	SUI 8329	Daniel Wyss	Urs Joss	47	[50]	17	43	107
41	SWE 7978	Ingvar Krook	Christoffer Lundgren	41	[44]	29	37	107
42	SUI 8409	Lorenz Muller	Emanuel Muller	38	37	[40]	32	107
43	FRA 823	Jean-Nicolas Bondaletoff	Olivier Terrol	44	38	[51]	31	113
44	RUS 8281	Alexey Zhivotovskiy	Lev Shnyr	[69/RET]	42	35	36	113
45	SUI 7969	Kurt Scheidegger	Markus Scheidegger	34	29	[53]	53	116
46	GER 8130	Henning Voigt	Dirk Struve	31	43	[63]	42	116
47	SUI 7252	Vincent Guidoux	Yann Dorset	35	[54]	42	41	118
48	SUI 7983	Beat Hunziker	Vincent Nagelisen	[62]	47	46	29	122
49	SUI 7854	Roman Juchli	Philipp Juchli	30	35	61	[69/BFD]	126
50	GER 8055	Jochen Diercks	Herbert Braasch	48	48	30	[56]	126
51	NED 8350	Hein Dijksterhuis	Jim Dijksterhuis	46	36	[50]	47	129
52	GER 7686	Robin Nolte	Andree Nolte	43	[53]	47	45	135
53	GER 8419	Florian von Linde	Matthias von Linde	51	41	[56]	44	136
54	GER 8122	Klaus Kappes	Steffen Rutz	42	45	[64]	51	138
55	SUI 8232	Wil Wargnier	Laurent Hayoz	53	39	49	[59]	141
56	FRA 8116	Francis Mercier	Jean-Luc Chaboud	54	[56]	43	52	149
57	GER 8483	John H. Helmsing	Marko A. Hasche	56	51	44	[60]	151
58	GER 8147	Bernd Stoll	Barbara Stoll	52	52	[57]	50	154
59	SUI 8075	François Eggenberger	Yann Bonjour	50	[69/DNS]	52	57	159
60	POL 8417	Ireneusz Stawiany	Jakub Stawiany	58	46	[69/DNS]	61	165
61	GER 7948	Alexander Tennigkeit	Alar Volmer	[59]	55	55	55	165
62	SUI 8257	Marc Trinquart	Christian Meylan	60	49	62	[64]	171
63	SUI 8160	Stephan Unger	Regina Graf	[61]	58	58	58	174
64	SUI 7167	Ueli Ammann	Christian Hehl	57	57	[65]	65	179
65	SUI 7840	Jean-Paul Hirt	François Mermod	[64]	59	60	62	181
66	SUI 8022	Chiara Waser	Urs Waser	[65]	60	59	63	182
67	SUI 8098	Rudolf Wasser	Roland Liniger	63	[69/DNS]	69/DNS	69/DNS	201
68	GRE 8434	Emilios Papathanasiou	Antonis Tsotras	[69/DNF]	69/DNS	69/DNS	69/DNS	207