Please select your home edition
Edition
Sea Sure 2025

100th Anniversary Star Class World Championship at Marblehead, USA - Day 1

by ISCYRA 11 Sep 2022 21:57 PDT 10-17 September 2022

The 2022 Star Class World Championship presented by Bacardi was officially declared open by Tom Londrigan, International Star Class President, on the morning of Sunday, September 11 accompanied by a parade of nations and gun salute at Eastern Yacht Club.

The opening day was plagued by a light and shifty breeze, with a major left shift forcing the race committee to postpone the start and reset the course, with the second attempt abandoned. At 1530 hours, race 1 got under way with a 2.2 mile upwind leg, featuring breeze of around 4 knots and big shifts. The leading pack read the course well, but it was a dice roll for many of the 84 teams in the fleet with the changing pressure, dropping to 2 knots and up to 6 knots at times, with a strong current proving tricky.

Getting settled into their lane straight away and holding the advantage skillfully to the windward mark were Paul Cayard (USA)/Frithjof Kleen (GER), with defending Star World Champion Diego Negri racing with Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA) in second, and Tonci Stipanovic/Tudor Bilic (CRO) in third. After the front third of the fleet rounded, the wind shifted and dropped leaving the rest with nowhere to hide as they struggled to make gains towards the mark.

By the second windward mark, it was the same three boats controlling the lead but a different order, with Stipanovic/Bilic gaining a critical edge in front, Negri/Lambertenghi close behind and Cayard/Kleen in third. A change of course for the final downwind leg, saw Stipanovic/Bilic remain focused with their eyes on the finish to take the first win of the Worlds.

Hugely experienced, the partnership convincingly won the 2022 Star European Championship in July, and three-time Olympian Stipanovic owns silver medals in the Laser Standard from Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016.

"It was very hard to decide where to choose to start," commented Stipanovic. "It was a really huge starting line and then the wind was changing all the time. I had some feeling that if the wind were to start to drop it would move to the left and in the end it happened like that, so we had a good start and played with the pressure all the time. It was for us just important to stay in the pressure, and then in the end on the left side there was more pressure. On the second upwind we were just a bit more patient than Diego and Paul. They tacked immediately on the first shift and we proceeded just a little bit to catch some more pressure and then it was game over".

Three-time Bacardi Cup Champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz/Bruno Prada worked hard to turn round their start, riding their luck in the unpredictable conditions to work through from around 20th to finish 10th - not a position they are used to.

Provisional Results after Day 1: (top ten, 1 race, full results here)

1. Tonci Stipanovic / Tudor Bilic (CRO 1991) - 1 pt
2. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA 2021) - 2 pts
3. Paul Cayard / Frithjof Kleen (USA 1988) - 3 pts
4. Marin Misura / Tonko Barac (CRO 1952) - 4 pts
5. Jim Buckingham / Phil Toth (USA 1958) - 5 pts
6. Augie Diaz / Brad Nichol (USA 8509) - 6 pts
7. David Watt / William Siemers (USA 1992) - 7 pts
8. Ingvar Krook / Christoffer Thunberg (SWE 1928) - 8 pts
9. Joshua Powell / Mark Strube (USA 8522) - 9 pts
10. Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Bruno Prada (POL 2019) - 10 pts

The day's racing transitioned to the Formal Opening Ceremony sponsored by North Sails at the Eastern Yacht Club. Race 2 is scheduled to get under way at 1230 hours on Monday, September 12.

Follow the Star Worlds

Eighty-four teams from thirteen nations are racing for the 2022 Star World Championship title, trophies and prizes. Daily racing continues through to Saturday, September 17, with a lay day scheduled on Wednesday, September 14.

Results, reports, live tracking, photos and video are available on the Star World Championship website at https://2022worlds.starchampionships.org as well as updates on Facebook and Instagram.

Related Articles

Bacardi Winter Series Event 2 Day 2
'Relative Obscurity' extends J/70 lead as Melges 24 fleet closes in on 'Melgina' A sunny, breezy day greeted the J/70 and Melges 24 fleets on Day 2. Overnight leaders Peter Duncan's 'Relative Obscurity' in the J/70 class and Paolo Brescia's 'Melgina' in the Melges 24 class continue to top their respective leaderboards. Posted on 26 Jan
Bacardi Winter Series Event 2 Day 1
'Relative Obscurity' and Melgina' shine on day one The opening day of the Bacardi Winter Series Event 2, January 24-26, brought puffy, shifty conditions to Biscayne Bay, rewarding those who could interpret the very nuanced racetrack. Posted on 25 Jan
SSL sailor Matteo Auguadro passes away
The entire SSL family is in mourning with the passing of Matteo Auguadro The entire SSL family is in mourning with the passing of Matteo Auguadro. The Italian bowman was part of the silver medal winning team at the SSL Gold Cup Gran Canaria 2023 and recognised as one of the best sailors in the RC44 and TP52 classes. Posted on 13 Jan
Olympic sailing videos part 2
Yachting footage from the 1970s to 1990s Games As 2024 draws to a close, we decided to look back on this Olympic year with a summary of all the oldest Olympic sailing videos we could find, from the analogue era before the year 2000. Here we cover the Seventies through to the Nineties. Posted on 1 Jan
Olympic sailing videos part 1
Yachting footage from the 1920s to 1960s Games As 2024 draws to a close, we decided to look back on this Olympic year with a summary of all the oldest Olympic sailing videos we could find, from the analogue era before the year 2000. We start with the Twenties and go through to the Sixties. Posted on 29 Dec 2024
Bacardi Winter Series Event 1 overall
J/70 and Melges 24 winners declared in Miami, USA The highly anticipated Bacardi Winter Series Event 1, held December 14-15 on Biscayne Bay, Miami, faced tough conditions as strong winds impacted the racing schedule for the 46 teams in the J/70 and Melges 24 fleets. Posted on 15 Dec 2024
NacionalGest Christmas Race at CN de Cascais
A high-level competition for the 265 sailors from eight countries Clube Naval de Cascais hosted another edition of the NacionalGest Christmas Race, which this year gathered 265 sailors of all ages, representing 34 clubs from eight countries. Posted on 3 Dec 2024
North Sails joins Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta
These renowned events celebrate the spirit of competitive one design sailing North Sails and BACARDI are excited to announce North's return as a partner for the prestigious Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta and the Bacardi Invitational Winter Series. Posted on 2 Dec 2024
2024 South American Championship overall
Paul Cayard and Pedro Trouche crowned champions Three days of excellent conditions and impeccable organization by Club Náutico Olivos made for an unforgettable championship in Buenos Aires. Posted on 23 Nov 2024
2024 South American Championship Day 2
High winds and tight competition in Buenos Aires Paul Cayard (USA) and Pedro Trouche (BRA) battle head to head with Lucas and Leandro Altolaguirre (ARG). Posted on 23 Nov 2024
Hyde Sails 2024 - One DesignZhik 2024 DecemberSelden 2020 - FOOTER