Classic race five at Star World Championship on Biscayne Bay

by Paul Cayard on 16 Apr 2016 Race five was held yesterday in a light 7-8 knot breeze from the south east. The sun was out, the sea was flat and warm. It was classic Star sailing on Biscayne Bay.

After three general recalls of the start, the Black Flag came out and three teams were caught out by this. Brian and I had a decent start and got over on to port tack shortly after the start. There we had a drag race to the right with Augie Diaz, Toben Grael, George Szabo and many others. There were some subtle oscillations of the wind that needed to be played.

At the 1st Mark it was Peter Vassella and Phil Trinter leading with Brian and I right on their heels. Luke Lawrence, Diego Negri and Augie Diaz followed. Luke and Ian sailed well downwind to lead at the gate. Up the second windward leg, the left was the place to be. Fortunately we were there and stayed in the mix. Down the final run, Diego, Augie and us went all the way to the east corner while Vassella and Lawrence gybed and headed west. East was best.

Up the final leg, Brian had very good speed and closed in on Diego and Sergio. But the Italians protected the left side of the course which was still strong and won the race. I was very pleased to with the fact that we were fighting for the win all day. It has been a frustrating week at times for us. Augie and Bruno sailed a nice to finish third.

With the win for the Italians, the now hold one point lead over Augie and Bruno going in to the last race today. This will be an epic race. Neither skipper has won the Star World Championship so there is a lot at stake. The worst race so far by either of these teams is a seventh. Thats impressive given the varying conditions and the depth of the fleet.

Brian and I are now in 10th place. With a good race today we could move up another couple of positions but I don’t think we can get into the top five.