O’Leary and Goodbody surf into their first Silver Star Championship

by Lynn Fitzpatrick on 24 May 2009 It came down to the final set of waves during the eighth race of the 2009 Star Eastern European Championship to determine that Irishmen Peter O’Leary and Tim Goodbody would be awarded their first Silver Star.

No one could have predicted today’s interesting developments. The breeze filled in from 100º on Saturday and the Star Eastern European Championship fleet set out for the windiest races of the regatta.

It was no too windy, however, for four-time Olympian, Xavier Rohart, who suffered injuries in a cycling accident last week, to execute a perfect pin end start and hit the starboard tack layline to the first weather mark just ahead of Lars Grael and Renato Moura.

George Szabo and Rick Peters (USA) managed to keep a loose cover on Flavio Marazzi and Enrico DeMaria, who went into the seventh race one point ahead of him in the overall standings, to round the first weather mark in third place. Andy Macdonald and Brian Fatih and Marazzi/ DeMaria were in hot pursuit.

Rohart/ Ponsot took the low road with Grael/ Moura and then surfed their way up to lead O’Leary/Goodbody, Dan Lovrovic and Marin Lovrovic Jr. and Szabo/Peters around the right-hand gate at the bottom of the leg. Grael/Moura, in third, led around the left gate.

Rohart/Ponsot held their lead throughout the second beat. They bore away to take the low road while a battle for second ensued between Grael/Moura and O’Leary/Goodbody behind and to windward of them. The Irish prevailed down the run and finished second in the race.

Going into the seventh race, O’Leary/Goodbody were winning the regatta. Their second place finish had launched them four points ahead of Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, who had OCS’ed in the seventh race. Szabo/Peters had pulled ahead of Marazzi/DeMaria and Rohart/Ponsot had closed the gap, but were in a distant fifth place going into the final race.

The waves were steeper and there were more white caps for the final race in 15-18 knots. The same teams dominated the top of the fleet during the second race of the day and the deciding race of the regatta.

Going into the first leeward gate, the Brazilian coach was lamenting and the American coach complimented the PRO, 'this couldn’t be a nicer day.'

The situation that precipitated those comments was that Szabo/Peters led around the slightly favored right gate and Scheidt/Prada were giving it their all to grind through the fleet, yet rounded the left gate in third overall. Rohart/Ponsot, O’Leary/Goodbody and Marazzi/DeMaria rounded the right gate in 2, 4, 5, respectively.

Racing stayed tight all the way through the end. Scheidt/Prada surged across the finish line in first. Rohart/Ponsot won the day with their second place finish in the race and O’Leary/Goodbody nipped out Szabo/Peters. Marazzi/DeMaria followed within seconds and then came Grael/Mouro.


Sorting through the points, O’Leary/Goodbody claimed the title and their first Silver Star. Commented O’Leary on the Irish victory, 'We’re coming along. All of the work in the gym is starting to pay off and it is nice to sail at the weight as everyone.' Goodbody sailed the Finn at the Olympics and has been working out an gaining muscle weight for his
the pair’s Star efforts.

Scheidt/Prada missed out on winning their fourth Silver Star by two points and George Szabo and Rick Peters took the final rung on the podium. In addition to their keeper trophies, the podium finishers were awarded bottles of French wine. Andy Macdonald and Brian Fatih also won a trophy and a bottle of wine as the top Masters team.

Most of the sailors packed up and prepared for the dash up to Medemblik, Holland and the Delta Lloyd Regatta. COYCH, Ville D'Hyeres and the over 40 volunteers were thanked by the Star Class for their efforts and Rick Peters presented the club with a half model of a Star boat for their efforts at hosting the championship.

Star
Place Boat Skipper Crew Sail #: Fleet 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total
1 IRL 8261 O Leary Peter Goodbody Tim 8261 Isol 5.0 3.0 7.0 15.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 3.0 24
2 BRA 8255 SCHEIDT ROBERT PRADA BRUNO 8255 GuB 1.0 8.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 2.0 30.0 [OCS] 1.0 26
3 USA 8273 Szabo George Peters Rick 8273 SDB 10.0 1.0 5.0 7.0 2.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 30
4 SUI 8364 Marazzi Flavio De Maria Enrico 8364 TB 24.0 12.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 9.0 5.0 34
5 FRA 8237 Rohart Xavier Ponsot Pierre Alexis 8237 NI 6.0 10.0 10.0 11.0 8.0 4.0 1.0 2.0 41
6 BRA 8392 GRAEL LARS Moura Renato 8392 Par 17.0 2.0 12.0 5.0 23.0 9.0 3.0 6.0 54
7 FRA 8270 Bernaz Jean Baptiste Berenguier Vincent 8270 FdeM 2.0 5.0 18.0 8.0 13.0 13.0 6.0 7.0 54.0001
8 GRE 8138 Papathanasiou Aiuilios Karnoutsos Apostolos 8138 GR 3.0 21.0 8.0 2.0 12.0 21.0 7.0 8.0 61
9 USA 8250 Macdonald Andrew Fatih Brian 8250 NH 19.0 7.0 6.0 20.0 7.0 7.0 10.0 12.0 68
10 ITA 8266 Negri Diego Devoti Luca 8266 VE 16.0 17.0 9.0 9.0 4.0 30.0 [OCS] 12.0 11.0 78
11 CRO 8339 Lovurovic Jr Marin Mikulicic Sinisa 8339 KV 12.0 19.0 27.0 10.0 5.0 16.0 13.0 10.0 85
12 SUI 7990 Stegmeier Daniel Stegmeier Beat 7990 TG 9.0 4.0 17.0 19.0 16.0 5.0 17.0 18.0 86
13 AUS 8121 LANDENBERGER Andrew REFFOLD Simon 8121 Isol 20.0 28.0 2.0 6.0 14.0 17.0 15.0 16.0 90
14 GBR8025 Gimson John Greig Ed 8025 Sol 18.0 29.0 15.0 16.0 11.0 14.0 8.0 9.0 91
15 ITA 8384 Celon Nicola Natucci Edoardo 8384 SG 7.0 6.0 19.0 1.0 9.0 22.0 30.0 [OCS] 30.0 [DNF] 94
16 ESP 7384 Garcia Lago Fernando Alvarez Desotomayo Juan 7384 Lar 4.0 16.0 3.0 28.0 24.0 8.0 19.0 30.0 [DNF] 102
17 ITA 8290 Santoni Silvio Toccoli Fabio 8290 NG 27.0 14.0 25.0 21.0 10.0 11.0 11.0 13.0 105
18 HUN 8076 Litkey Arpad Monus Gyula 8076 Ore 11.0 15.0 26.0 12.0 17.0 19.0 16.0 17.0 107
19 GER 7846 Wienreich Gerhard Cuber Anton 7846 H 15.0 18.0 16.0 17.0 21.0 10.0 18.0 30.0 [DNF] 115
20 CRO 8280 Lovrovic Dan Lovrovic Sr Marin 8280 Kv 28.0 25.0 14.0 18.0 19.0 26.0 4.0 14.0 120
21 FRA 7714 Berenguier Regis Bernaz Laurent 7714 FdeM 8.0 23.0 13.0 13.0 26.0 27.0 21.0 21.0 125
22 POl 8170 Grabowski Maciej Ornowski Arek 8170 Isol 13.0 20.0 21.0 24.0 20.0 30.0 [DSQ] 14.0 15.0 127
23 HUN 8386 Tenke Tibor Gemesi Joka 8386 Ore 14.0 22.0 23.0 22.0 15.0 23.0 22.0 19.0 137
24 SUI 7969 Scheidegger Kurt Scheidegger Markus 7969 TB 29.0 26.0 22.0 14.0 22.0 12.0 20.0 24.0 140
25 FRA 8196 Dabry Raoul Cotte Tristan 8196 FdeM 26.0 11.0 28.0 25.0 18.0 20.0 24.0 20.0 144
26 RUS 8359 Berezhnoy Andrey Masalov Sergey 8359 Vol 23.0 13.0 30.0 [DSQ] 23.0 27.0 15.0 25.0 23.0 149
27 FRA 7947 MARCON LOUIS Le Contel Roc 7947 FdeM 21.0 9.0 20.0 27.0 29.0 25.0 27.0 25.0 154
28 POL 7858 Wierzbicki Arkadiusz Pawlowski Krzysztof 7858 Isol 25.0 24.0 24.0 29.0 25.0 18.0 23.0 22.0 161
29 FRA 8116 Mercier Francis BOUVET CHRISTOPHE 8116 FdeSA 22.0 27.0 11.0 26.0 28.0 24.0 26.0 30.0 [DNF] 164