Szabo and Monroe victorious at Star North Americans

by Betsy Crowfoot on 22 Aug 2005 Despite an inauspicious beginning – when George Szabo/Eric Monroe took 42 points for an OCS (over early start) in the first race – the San Diego duo went on to win the Keane 2005 Star Class North American Championship in a tightly-fought battle.

The four-day regatta came down to the final race on the final day, and a battle between several top contenders hailing from coast to coast.

The California Yacht Club Race Committee had to wait until the fog cleared– as well as the overly-eager racers who prompted a general recall – to begin Race Six just after 1:00 p.m. PST Sunday August 21.

John Dane III, sailing with his son-in-law Austin Sperry, was in fourth place going into today’s race and noted, ‘We saw on the way out that the wind was shifting 20 to 25 degrees and decided that, instead of picking one side, we would play the shifts.’

Dane said they were following frontrunners like Olympic Medalists Mark Reynolds/Hal Haenel, and regatta leader Szabo/Monroe, when they tacked out on a lift. ‘The others kept going right, because the thought is, ‘You go right here.’ But we sailed on starboard away from them, then got a big header and a puff, and the next thing we knew we were in first place.’

Dane/Sperry’s only heat on the 10.5 nm course came from Argentines Julio Labandeira and Enrique de la Torre, who caught up on the runs. ‘But we were much quicker upwind,’ Dane told, and he triumphed to win Race Five, as well as the Masters Champion trophy for sailors age 50-59.

Szabo was still in contention for first overall though, and he admitted to ‘a bit of math and discussion’ throughout the race.

With a slight three-point lead over world-class competitors, Szabo conceded, ‘The weather was pretty shifty and that made it even more stressful.’ Adding to that, on the last downwind run the fitting that held the lower shroud on, broke. ‘We had to jury rig something for the last beat [to the finish] to hold it together. A broken mast isn’t going to come down right away – but we had to figure out how to fix it and get some speed.’ On the last beat Szabo noted that rivals Merriman/Peters took ‘a huge flyer to the left.’

‘We considered covering him but we had to keep this race … if it didn’t work, we had to worry about our place in the regatta as well, about the fleet,’ Szabo said. ‘It could have worked for him … but fortunately not quite well enough.’

Merriman/Peters finished third and Szabo/Monroe sixth. With equal points – 16 – it came down to Szabo/Monroe’s two bullet record of 1-2-1-6-6, over Merriman/Peters’ 3-3-4-3-3.

Szabo/Monroe were named Star Class North American Champions for 2005 at the Sunday evening prize-giving at California Yacht Club. Dane/Sperry’s first place finish in Race Six shot them to third overall in the 41-boat fleet, acing out close contenders Eric Lidecis/Michael Marzahl, who earned fourth place with 29 points; and Iain Murray/Andrew Palfrey -- fifth, with 39 points.

The regatta was sponsored by Keane, Inc., a premier business and IT services firm and decade-long sponsor of yachting events. Said President and CEO Brian Keane, ‘There are striking similarities between competitive sailing and the values we at Keane try to embody: a passion for challenge, a love of competition, and driving commitment to achieve world-class performance. The level of performance that racing inspires, combined with the teamwork required to win, creates an experience that is second to none.’


1 George Szabo Star [ 42] 1 2 1 6 6 16
/Eric Monroe SDYC OCS

2 Rick Merriman Star 3 3 4 3 [ 10] 3 16.1
/Rick Peters SDYC

3 John Dane III Star 5 2 7 [ 7] 4 1 19
/Austin Sperry PCYC

4 Eric Lidecis Star 1 12 1 2 [ 20] 13 29
/Michael Marzahl BCYC

5 Iain Murray Star 2 6 9 17 5 [ 22] 39
/Andrew Palfrey Royal Prince Alfred YC

6 Mark Reynolds Star 15 4 10 4 [ 22] 7 40
/Hal Haenel SDYC

7 Eric Doyle Star 10 11 3 6 [ 17] 11 41
/Brian Sharp SDYC

8 Arthur Anosov Star 12 7 5 [ 18] 7 10 41.1
/Dave Caesar TSS

9 John MacCausland Star 4 9 [ 24] 13 9 9 44
/Robert Schofield Cooper River YC

10 Fabian MacGowan Star 13 [ 21] 6 15 3 8 45
/Valentin Thompson Olivos YC

11 Andy Macdonald Star 11 5 12 [ 27] 2 16 46
/Anders Ekstrom NHYC

12 Steve Gould Star [ 42] 19 11 5 1 12 48
/Greg Sieck StFYC OCS

13 Ben Mitchell Star 7 [ 18] 17 10 13 4 51
/Will Stout CYC

14 Julio Labandeira Star 6 [ 23] 14 19 12 2 53
/Enrigue De La Torre Olivos YC

15 Bill Buchan Star 9 [ 15] 8 12 14 14 57
/Mark Brink CYC

16 Steven Kelly Star 8 13 18 9 15 [ 20] 63
/Darin Jensen None

17 Aaron Serinis Star [ 42] 14 19 8 11 17 69
/Will Wagner None OCS

18 Foss Miller Star [ 42] 24 15 14 18 5 76
/Greg Newhall Corinthian YC/Seattle OCS

19 Brian Cramer Star 16 17 16 11 16 [ 18] 76.1
/Steve Cutting Royal Hamilton YC

20 Peter Conde Star [ 42] 10 13 16 21 21 81
/Andrew Hunn Royal Queensland YC OCS

21 Jim Buckingham Star 17 20 22 [ 26] 8 24 91
/Philip Sinner NHYC

22 Michael Jones Star 20 8 20 25 19 [ 28] 92
/Simon Reffold MHYC

23 Argyle Campbell Star 19 16 21 22 [ 24] 19 97
/Guy Avellon NHYC

24 Bill Fields Star 14 22 25 20 [ 25] 23 104
/Magnus Liljedahl NHYC

25 Richard Schmidt Star 21 28 31 23 [ 31] 15 118
/Ralph Peck CYC

26 Claude Bonanni Star 22 27 [ 30] 21 23 25 118.1
/Rick Burgess Davis Island YC

27 Craig Wilshire Star 18 25 27 31 [ 32] 27 128
/Emmanuel Cointois Kitsilano YC

28 Jed Miller Star 23 26 23 28 29 [ 29] 129
/Scott Wielbicky Corinthian YC/Seattle

29 S. Brooks Sperry Star 25 31 28 24 30 [ 42] 138
/Sally Sperry StFYC DNS

30 Alejandro Bugacov Star [ 42] 29 26 32 26 30 143
/Jorge Benedid SMWYC OCS

31 Doug Steele Star 28 30 [ 32] 29 28 31 146
/Martin Kozaczek CYC

32 Marc Skipwith Star 27 32 [ 42] 30 27 32 148
/TBA CYC DNS

33 Steve Johnson Star 26 34 29 [ 36] 35 33 157
/Roman Gotsulyak SCCYC

34 Charles Heimler Star 24 37 34 33 [ 42] 34 162
/Graham Heimler Richmond YC DNS

35 Jorg Westerheide Star 29 35 38 [ 38] 36 36 174
/Jim Alexander SSC

36 Stuart Rembert Star 31 36 37 37 33 [ 38] 174.1
/Stephen Cohan CYC

37 Mike Kennedy Star [ 42] 33 36 34 34 37 174.2
/Lukas Kennedy SMWYC OCS

38 Conrad Brown Star 42 [ 42] 35 35 37 26 175
/Crystal Gruenwald CYC OCS DNS

39 John O' Mahony Star 30 42 33 41 [ 42] 35 181
/Brian O' Mahony CYC DNS DNF

40 Angel Lopez Star 32 38 40 [ 40] 38 39 187
/Gus Koven SCCYC

41 Scot Merrick Star 33 39 39 39 39 [ 40] 189
/C Lee StFYC