2007 North American Star Championship Report

by Andy Horton on 4 Aug 2007 Hosted by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, day one of the North American Championships kicked off with a beautiful day. Two races were sailed in 6-10 knots out of the west under perfectly sunny skies.

The freighters moored around the race course were the talk of the day as they hung like flags in the confusing English Bay current. Normally the tide comes in and the tide goes out but when 400 foot hunks of steel lay across the bay, balanced by the current and the wind, it's hard to tell which way the water is moving.

If you started and sailed straight for three minutes in either race today you would hit a freighter.

So, one of the big calls was to start at the pin and go behind the freighter or to start at the boat and go above the freighter....

Ross MacDonald continued to show the fleet how to navigate the bay posting a fourth place in the first race, followed by a commanding win in the second.

One point behind the local hero was Eric Lidecis and Mike Marzahl with a pair of third place finishes and Andy Horton and Brad Nichol in third with a 1, 6 to start the regatta.

Day 2, Race 3: Report by Peter Jefferson, Chairman, Star North Americans, Dan Sinclair and Barry Van Leeuwen

After an hour and of half of sailing in this third race of the North American Star Championships, the lead changed three times, and the top 10 finishers changed positions on the course five times.

The best in North America, from China, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA battled around this 5-mile course. Winds were shifty to start but settled into 8 to 9 knots from the northwest.

Vancouver is an amazing place to sail for 49 racers representing 5 countries. Among the group are sailors with no fewer than 4 World Championships under their belts and 7 Olympic medalists.

How close was the racing? After 1½ hours and 5 miles on the course, the top five boats were no fewer than 40 seconds apart. Leading the first of the two upwind legs was Andy MacDonald (USA).

The USA is using this regatta for its Beijing Olympic 2008 Qualifiers. The best in the U.S. changed places over the five mile course 4 times. Andy MacDonald held the lead over half way round, finally relenting to a shift that allowed Andy Horton (USA) to rocket forward and take first place.

Andy was followed by Mark Mendelblatt in 2nd (USA), Brian Ledbetter (USA) 3rd, Ross Macdonald, two-time Olympic Medallist and past World Champion, 4th (Can), Andy MacDonald 5th (USA), John MacCausland 6th (USA), Lars Grael 7th (Brazil), Karl Anderson 8th (USA), and Foss Miller 9th (USA).

Our next best Canadian after Ross Macdonald was Hunter Lowden and Tim Stamper who could be possible contenders to represent Canada in the Olympics.

Day Two Report from Horton/Nichol

In the first race of the day we raced in a light westerly with the current changing from the ebb to the flood. The pack of boats that were able to hold their lane all the way to the left rounded first including Andy Macdonald, Horton/Nichol, and Ross MacDonald. We were able to get around Andy Mac at the bottom of the run and hold off the attacks from the rest of the fleet for a win. Mark Mendleblatt made a great move on the last run to finish second followed by Brian Ledbetter.

For the second race all we could think of was our host 'Fox'. He told us all we needed to know about racing in Vancouver - when there was a flood tide was to race to the beach and when you see the kids in the water, keep going until they run away and then tack. Until today we weren't even sure which beach he was talking about. When the flood tide started and the windward mark was put in place for the second race it became quite clear which beach we would be on.

Literally at one point we were 'on' the beach. Luckily for us it was only a touch and go in the middle of a tack and it was worth it. We were in the middle of a three way tacking dual as the front pack made it up to the windward mark. Ross Macdonald was leading, we were second and Lars Grael was third.

All three of us were fighting up the shoreline trying to keep our noses out of the current, but also keeping an eye when to break out into the 'river' to get to the windward mark. We got out of phase with Ross early in the tacking dual.

This made Ross always the first boat to push out into the current as we tacked up the shore. He went out one time and took a loss so we put the bow right in on the beach scarring away a few kids and actually touching the bottom. It was just enough of a gain to lee bow Ross when he tacked back to starboard. But now we had to fight off Lars who also had pushed into the beach one extra time.

We had just enough space to cross Lars and hip up on the lay line while Ross was forced back out into the current. We were fortunate to make it out of that corner and around the mark in first, continuing on for another win. Ross finished second and Brian Ledbetter was third.

When we came in we realized our grounding was not that bad as there were a few stories of people jumping out of their boats to push them off the sand.... All in all it was a tricky day.

Light air and current are a difficult combination even without 400 foot tankers and 50 great teams. So we feel quite fortunate to have such a good day.

Race 4:

Halfway through Race 4, the tide started to come into English Bay. Racers scrambled to get to the Jericho shoreline to stay out of the current. Here is where local knowledge pays off big time.

And not to be denied, Ross Macdonald, Royal Vancouver Yacht Club’s two-time Olympic medallist and World Champion, led the fleet up the shore, flirting with the Locarno Sandbanks where numerous boats got too close and ended up on the sand.

Macdonald headed out into the middle of the current, but the current got the better of him, pushing him back to third place rounding the mark. Andy Horton (USA) rounded first, followed by Lars Grael (Brazil) and Ross Macdonald (CAN) just seconds behind. By the finish, it was Andy Horton first (USA), Ross Macdonald (CAN) second, and George Szabo (USA) third, and Brian Ledbetter (USA) in fourth.

It appears that we now have two contenders for the Beijing Canadian Olympic team with Victoria’s Alex Fox moving up the ranks to rival Hunter Lowden of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.

Star

Place	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Sail #:	Fleet	1	2	3	4	Total
1	USA 8156	Andy Horton	Brad Nichol	USA 8156	NB	1.0	6.0	1.0	1.0	9
2	CAN 8291	Ross Macdonald	Tyler Bjorn	CAN 8291	EB	4.0	1.0	4.0	2.0	11
3	USA 8203	Brian Ledbetter	Mark Brink	USA 8203	PS	2.0	8.0	3.0	3.0	16
4	USA 8157	Mark Mendelblatt	Magnus Liljedahl	USA 8157	TB	8.0	4.0	2.0	5.0	19
5	USA 8176	Erik Lidecis	Michael Marzahl	USA 8176	NH	3.0	3.0	10.0	8.0	24
6	BRA 8284	Lars Grael	Marcelo Jordao	BRA 8284	Par	12.0	5.0	7.0	6.0	30
7	USA 8195	John Maccausland	Bob Schofield	USA 8195	CR	11.0	9.0	6.0	13.0	39
8	USA 8250	Andy Macdonald	Brian Fatih	USA 8250	NH	10.0	22.0	5.0	15.0	52
9	USA 7405	Carl Buchan	Jamie Buchan	USA 7405	PS	6.0	28.0	12.0	11.0	57
10	USA 8273	George Szabo	Andrew Scott	USA 8273	SDB	5.0	2.0	50.0 [OCS]	4.0	61
11	CAN 7305	Tim Stamper	Simon Troop	CAN 7305	VI	16.0	11.0	19.0	17.0	63
12	USA 7321	Jud Smith	David Timberlake	USA 7321	BH	15.0	13.0	17.0	18.0	63.0001
13	USA 8286	Karl Anderson	Edward Morey	USA 8286	BH	13.0	24.0	8.0	19.0	64
14	CAN 7570	Hunter Lowden	Brett Wilson	CAN 7570	EB	17.0	21.0	13.0	14.0	65
15	USA 7462	Dave Watt	Dave Martin	USA 7462	PS	21.0	19.0	27.0	9.0	76
16	USA 8215	Bill Allen	Brad Lichter	USA 8215	WH	30.0	7.0	15.0	28.0	80
17	CAN 7997	Alex Fox	Dunnery Best	CAN 7997	VI	25.0	29.0	20.0	7.0	81
18	USA 7844	Foss Miller	Greg Newhall	USA 7844	PS	22.0	16.0	9.0	34.0	81.0001
19	CAN 7738	Fred J Dill	Mike Wurm	CAN 7738	EB	14.0	25.0	14.0	29.0	82
20	CAN 7014	Craig Wilshire	Emmanuel Comtois	CAN 7014	EB	19.0	15.0	21.0	31.0	86
21	USA 8043	Jock Kohlhas	Trevor Nederlof	USA 8043	BisB	18.0	38.0	24.0	10.0	90
22	USA 7899	Derek Decouteau	Joseph Donnette	USA 7899	BI	7.0	23.0	34.0	27.0	91
23	USA 8260	William Buchan	Erik Bentzen	USA 8260	PS	9.0	14.0	50.0 [OCS]	21.0	94
24	CAN 7612	Robert Britten	Ed Snyders	CAN 7612	VI	34.0	18.0	16.0	26.0	94.0001
25	USA 8189	Bill Fields	Rick Burgess	USA 8189	SMB	37.0	17.0	18.0	23.0	95
26	NZL 8061	Rohan Lord	Miles Addy	NZL 8061	Isol	28.0	12.0	50.0 [OCS]	12.0	102
27	USA 8207	Jim Buckingham	Scott Pack	USA 8207	NH	23.0	37.0	11.0	33.0	104
28	CAN 7659	Don Campbell	Garth Miller	CAN 7659	EB	39.0	20.0	29.0	16.0	104
29	USA 8235	Larry Whipple	Phil Trinter	USA 8235	PS	24.0	10.0	50.0 [OCS]	24.0	108
30	CAN 7737	Malcolm Smith	Dugald Smith	CAN 7737	VI	38.0	27.0	22.0	25.0	112
31	USA 7469	Jed Miller	Lance Mogenis	USA 7469	PS	29.0	26.0	38.0	20.0	113
32	CAN 7451	Dennis Burgess	Dave Kershaw	CAN 7451	EB	26.0	40.0	26.0	22.0	114
33	USA 7814	Keith Donald	Bill Brosius	USA 7814	AN	32.0	30.0	25.0	38.0	125
34	USA 8063	Bert Collins	Thomas Gibbs	USA 8063	AN	42.0	32.0	28.0	30.0	132
35	USA 8084	Bob Teitge	Darin Jensen	USA 8084	DR	31.0	33.0	33.0	35.0	132
36	CAN 7199	Charlie Hume	Sean Glass	CAN 7199	EB	27.0	45.0	32.0	41.0	145
37	CAN 6991	Justin Border	Dave Burden	CAN 6991	VI	20.0	43.0	40.0	45.0	148
38	CAN 7197	Laurence Warshawski	Thomas Franz	CAN 7197	EB	33.0	42.0	30.0	44.0	149
39	CAN 7264	Gennady-Henry Larkin	Andrey Gleener	CAN 7264	EB	45.0	31.0	36.0	37.0	149
40	USA 7497	Kris Wilson	Matt Freeman	USA 7497	AN	35.0	36.0	37.0	42.0	150
41	CAN 7215	Gordon Wylie	David Fell	CAN 7215	EB	43.0	35.0	39.0	36.0	153
42	CHN 7784	Hongquan Li	He WANG	CHN 7784	Isol	50.0 [DSQ]	50.0 [DSQ]	23.0	32.0	155
43	CAN 6801	Tim O'Connell	Go Nakamaru	CAN 6801	EB	44.0	44.0	31.0	40.0	159
44	USA 7425	Barbara Beigel-Vosbury	A J Jakubowska	USA 7425	AN	41.0	34.0	50.0 [OCS]	39.0	164
45	CAN 6890	Chris Dudenas	Rob Carlow	CAN 6890	VI	40.0	39.0	41.0	48.0	168
46	CAN 7988	Stephen Lees	Marko Bartulin	CAN 7988	EB	36.0	46.0	42.0	46.0	170
47	CAN 7862	Phil Lockwood	Ray Rogers	CAN 7862	EB	46.0	41.0	44.0	43.0	174
48	CAN 6420	Gordon Clay	Ian Scott	CAN 6420	EB	47.0	48.0	35.0	47.0	177
49	CAN 7256	Bob Matthews	Rob Forsyth	CAN 7256	EB	48.0	47.0	43.0	49.0	187