Star World Championship 2024. San Diego Yacht Club, CA. USA.
INTERNATIONAL STAR CLASS YACHT RACING ASSOCIATION
Jerelyn Biehl
Rachele Vitello
Matias Capizzano
It was an honor and a privilege for the San Diego Yacht Club and its members to have hosted the 2024 Star World Championships. We hope that the competitors, their families and friends enjoyed the event as much as we enjoyed putting it on. I know that the committee chairs, Tracy Miller and John Burnham took great pride in organizing and running the event and I believe that the outcome speaks for itself. The week of sailing was incredible, challenging conditions, excellent race committee work and truly World class sailing. No one ran away with the regatta and, as it should be, it came down to the last race and the last run to the finish in order to determine the Champion. With the top three boats only separated by 1 point, a huge congratulations go out to John Kostecki and Austin Sperry for the win, our own (SDYC) Will Stout and Danny Cayard in second and the super-fast and talented brothers from Argentenia Leandro and Lucus Altolaguirre winning the final race and third overall. Congratulations to all the competitors, what a phenomenal event.
Al Pleskus
San Diego Yacht Club Commodore
The 2024 STAR World Championship, hosted by San Diego Yacht Club, will go down in history as one of the best in the 113 years of the STAR Class. This event showcased why the Star is the Class of Sailing. I hope you enjoy this book as it memorializes one of the great events in our sport.
With 64 competitors from 15 nations competing on the Pacific Ocean for 6 days, just four points separated the top six teams going into to the final race. Special events included a fundraiser gala hosted by Dennis Conner, Opening Ceremony’s included youth sailors carrying the flags of the 15 nations and a stage of former STAR World Champions including legends Vince Brun and Mark Reynolds. The midweek party on the Midway aircraft carrier, honoring Star legend Malin Burnham, was the most unique of venues., Two other onsite events at the San Diego Yacht Club were magnificent, with food and service of the highest quality provided to the competitors.. An extraordinary STAR museum displayed Star artifacts from the early 1900’s. All 18 STAR World Championship perpetual trophies were on display throughout the week following a full refurbishment by Scott Barnard. The famous yacht “America” made a guest appearance at the dock for all competitors to visit, and was out watching the races with guests.
After previously hosting 8 STAR World Championships, San Diego Yacht Club rewrote the playbook for this event. The San Diego Bay STAR fleet has won 15 of the 102 World Championships. STAR DNA is strong in San Diego!
The consistency of John Kostecki and Austin Sperry won the title by just one point over Will Stout/Danny Cayard who were tied with the Altolaguirre brothers from Argentina. 1988 World Champion Paul Cayard and Frithjof Kleen won 3 races and ended up 4th, with 2009 World Champion George Szabo and Guy Avalon rounding out the top 5.
Thank you to the many volunteers and SDYC for hosting a most memorable GOLD STAR event!
To all of the competitors who made this championship fun, classy and competitive, thank you for being a part of one the best ever.
Next stop for the 2025 STAR World Championship, Split, Croatia, September 8-14, 2025. See you there!
Paul Cayard President, International Star Class Yacht Racing Association
San Diego Yacht Club and the bay area have always had a special place in the Star Class history. Some of the GOATs of sailing, and the Star boat, banged their first corners just off Point Loma, with 15 Star World titles won by SDYC members over the years. Lowell North, Malin Burnham, Dennis Conner are among the most successful and world-renowned Star sailors from San Diego, but the Pacific keeps on fostering talented sailors. This is what makes the 2024 Star World Championship so special, being in what is indeed one of the cradles of Star sailing in the USA. The event opened today, September 7th with an official ceremony and flag parade with the World Championship following its traditional format with one 2-mile leg race per day over six days with the names of the 2024 Star World Champions confirmed on Friday September 13th.
Day 1. Windy and tactical day one in San Diego
September 08, 2024
San Diego delivered incredible conditions on Day One of the 2024 Star World Championship. With sunshine, 12 to 15 knots of northwesterly breeze, and chop mixed with ocean swell, the 64 teams participating had it all. The eager fleet couldn’t wait to get going, and after two general recalls PRO Tom Duggan had to hoist the Black Flag to get a clean start, and they were off for the five-leg race. The wind was gusty and shifty; today was all about being in the right place while maneuvering and managing the boat in the chop and strong wind. Six teams couldn’t handle the conditions and did not finish the race.
At the first top mark, the “old newcomers” to the class, America’s Cup legend John Kostecki and Star Olympian Austin Sperry, were leading ahead of Will Stout and Danny Cayard, followed by Danny’s father, Class President, and one of the most eclectic sailors in history, Paul Cayard, with his Star World Champion and Olympian crew, Frithjof Kleen. They arrived at the top mark all very close, and by the gate, Cayard/Kleen rounded the right gate just a few seconds ahead of Kostecki/Sperry, who split and went left. A tight battle on the second upwind between the two American sailing superstars saw Kostecki/ Sperry arrive first at the second top mark, with Cayard/Kleen in second, Stout/Cayard in third, and the Altolaguirre brothers, Leandro and Lucas from Argentina, in fourth, just centimeters ahead of local legend Eric Doyle with Payson Infelise. The Altolaguirres had a great downwind leg and rounded the gate in second behind Cayard/Kleen, whose speed downwind was truly impressive with Kostecki/Sperry in third. This order was confirmed at the finish, with Cayard/Kleen conquering the first of six races to take the lead in the 2024 Star World Championship.
“It was a great race; we just kept it super simple. Although we didn’t have a great start because I had to bail out at the pin end and gybe around, that end was so favored that eventually we got through and had a decent lane. But I think mainly we were fast, and we sailed pretty smart. We were able to work our way through, so it feels good to have the speed. We’ve been training for quite a while for this race, so I think we’re in a good position for the rest of the week,” commented Paul Cayard. “We had really good speed, picked the right shifts, chose the right gates, and were always sailing in good pressure. I think we did pretty well. The Argentinians kept on pushing, and they were pretty quick, so we had to watch them and felt the pressure. Paul did a fantastic job helming the boat, always very fast. It was great and fun!” added crew Frithjof Kleen.
Tomorrow’s racing will start at 1300, and the forecast suggests it should be lighter than today, providing a nice change of scenario and opening up opportunities for light breeze enthusiasts.
Day 2.
Fickle wind hard to read for the 64 boat fleet.
September 09, 2024
It took four start attempts for Race Two to get off at the 2024 Star World Championship in San Diego, California – a frustrating beginning to a day that the fleet will remember as a very difficult one. During the two laps of the windward/leeward course, they had to keep their cool while the weather played tricks on them.
The wind off the coast of Silver Strand, just south of San Diego, was fickle and shifty. A good 10-12 knot breeze welcomed the fleet on the racecourse at around 1230, but right after the third start sequence, an hour and two general recalls later, it died within 2 minutes, leaving half of the fleet floating on the left side of the line. That same side was then the favored one in the fourth, and actual, start of Race Two. That is where local skipper Will Stout with crew Danny Cayard took off from. A good first beat playing the shifts and they were comfortably leading at the top mark, followed by local legend Eric Doyle with Payson Infelise. By the gate, their margin had at least doubled, and so on until the finish, which they crossed several minutes before Doyle and Infelise.
“We got off on the left side of the line and just had a little bit more pressure than everybody else, then we took it to the right side and then it was just about tacking left and right to stay in the pressure,” started Will Stout.
“The pressure was up and down and left and right all day today, and we really tried to keep our heads out of the boat, talking constantly with each other. It seemed to continuedly pay for us, and we were looking at our competitors, there’s no slouches out there, so we tried and use what they were doing to our advantage, and we were able to put one together today,” added Danny Cayard.
Stout and Cayard are second overall thanks to two very good days, while Doyle and Infelise are the provisional leaders of the 2024 Star World Championship, even though, like everyone cares to underline, the road is still long and the trophy far away.
“There were very trying conditions, especially for the Race Committee today, they did a fantastic job. The wind was shifting around, it was quite up and down at a lot of different wind directions from the either the pin end or the weather end,” commented Doyle. “It was very challenging, we had several recalls and a race abandoned because the wind died in our face, so basically it went from zero to 12 knots at times. You had to hook the puffs together, play the left, but watch out for big right shifts and work hard downwind. Kudos to Will and Danny, they had a big race and won, but after two days we’re happy of our performance, we’re chipping away and things are going well.”
For a handful of very happy teams, like Augie Diaz (USA) and Bruno Prada (BRA) who went from 16th place to 4th place, there were many struggling on the racecourse. Huge distances separated them and everyone was looking for that puff that just wasn’t coming, like Olympian Jon Dane III and Peter Sangmeister (USA), who finished in 9th yesterday and 35th today. Or, even worse, Continental Champion Tomas Hornos (USA) and Mauricio Bueno (BRA), who finished 10th in Race One and 56th in Race Two.
Nonetheless, no angry faces were spotted at the after-sail refreshments at the San Diego Yacht Club, the Championship is not even halfway through and after four races the throw out comes in. After a long day, competitors were welcomed to a dockside social, followed by a Gin tasting at the Club and a North Sails panel.
Day 3. A family Affair
September 10, 2024
Out of three races of the 2024 Star World Championship, two were won by the American-German team Paul Cayard and Frithjof Kleen, the other one, yesterday’s, by Will Stout and Danny Cayard, Paul’s son, so every race so far was won by a Cayard.
Family and tradition have always played an important role within the Star Class, it is not uncommon to have second, third and even fourth generation Star sailors in the same family, but here, at the 2024 Star World Championship in San Diego, California, this family is just proving to be in great form – Paul and Danny have just won the North American Championship in Newport Beach, LA, together just over a month ago.
Race Three of the 2024 Star World Championship was epic: tough and tactical at the same time. The breeze was up from 10-12 knots to gusts of 15 throughout the racecourse, then it was down in some big holes here and there, the chop was high, mixed with the ocean swell, and the left was once again favored but you could not go all in with it for there were big puffs on the right. Off the start Cayard / Kleen were already in the lead with a good margin by the top gate. That margin extended all the way to the finish and they earned in a second bullet that puts them in third overall position before the throw-out.
“We had a great start, tacked on port and got in a very good lane on the first beat. We were very fast, so fast in fact that I made a mistake and went too far, giving away some distance coming into the windward mark, but we still had a very comfortable lead and really we just managed the race from there”, commented Paul Cayard about the win. “It wasn’t straightforward, it was tricky, the wind got very light downwind, but we told ourselves that we need to sail more with our heads out of the boat. Yesterday we got caught and had a bad race because we weren’t looking around enough, so we made that improvement, and we were rewarded with the first place”.
“I think that we’re very fast in all conditions, also yesterday we were, I guess, the fastest on the racecourse, it’s key to keep our heads out of the boat. We are now looking forward to fantastic midweek Prize Giving Ceremony tonight on an aircraft carrier, San Diego yacht club is putting up a great show and the Star Class is always delivering the best Word Championship”, added crew Firthjof Kleen.
As ‘Frida’ said, the 64-boat fleet is invited to the Midweek Prize Giving Ceremony tonight at the USS Midway, a historical naval aircraft carrier museum in downtown San Diego. The Midweek Party is a long-standing tradition in the Star Class, awarding the winners of the first three race and the best team halfway through the Championship.
Race four is scheduled for tomorrow at 12.55 with forecast for lighter breeze and cooler temperatures. After tomorrow’s race the throw-out will come in place and the tight ranking might be shaken up.
“It’s tough everyday here – said Olympian crew Austin Sperry – yesterday was a grind for us, going from 23rd at the topmark to 11th, in the big picture I was pretty happy, today was hard as well”.
“Another tricky day today, every day is been not typical San Diego, lot of changes going on during the day, we had a really good last beat and we were able to pass a bunch of boats”, commented his skipper John Kostecki. “We are in the middle of the Championship, and we are right there, ready to give it all in the last three races, it’s hard, there are a lot of great teams out there!”, concluded.
Day 4.
Another beautiful day in San Diego
September 11, 2024
San Diego delivered yet another beautiful day on the water, with winds up to 12 knots, sunshine and cooler air. The 64-boat fleet was towed out on time and by 13.00 Race Four of the 2024 Star World Championship was underway with a clear start on the first attempt – first time in this Championship for the joy of PRO Tom Duggan and the excellent Race Committee team.
The top teams thought pin end was favored, but we are all becoming accustomed to the shifty race course off Silver Strand in South San Diego. It was another day of guessing and keeping your head out of the boat for the best shift, another snake and ladders day out on the water at the end of which some are really happy and others, very disappointed. Local hero George Szabo with Guy Avellon did not have the best first beat but were able to make up for it and went from twenty+ to finish 11th holding on to a four spot in the provisional overall ranking.
“After the start we found ourselves in the second row and there’s nowhere to tack out, so we just stayed in a picket fence for a while and reached behind some boats; we just kept going and kept going and tacked out of the left and the people in the right progressed, so it made for a long day. Later we noticed all our San Diego friends were out there trying to make the left work and it wasn’t working so we went down the run and we were near friends we hadn’t seen on the race course before, but in the next beat we pretty much just went south towards Mexico and played every single shift we could, and somehow we battled back.”
It is all smiles in the Cayard – Kleen team (USA/GER), after they secured their third win from four races. A win different from the others, one they didn’t just lead from the start.
“Sometimes things just go your way, and today was a very, very tricky day. The wind was all over the place and we just tried to keep our head out of the boat looking at all kinds of indications and trying to stay on the favorite tack to the mark, never afraid to change. We’re going fast all the time, so that helps, and like I said, we got lucky on the second beat, the wind went to our side instead of Jack Jennings’s side so we were first instead of third or fourth”, commented Paul Cayard, here also as Star Class President, and concluded “We just want to be close at the top and have a chance to win this.”
Two more races to go with the top four teams within 9 points, the throw out comes in after tomorrow’s race and things might change. In the meantime, all of the 64 teams went through the second general weigh-in of the Championship.
Day 5. Games
wide open going into the last day tomorrow
September 12, 2024
The conditions in San Diego have been nothing short of amazing for the 2024 Star World Championship 2024. The 64-boat fleet sailed again today in 10-12 knots breeze with gusts up to 15, slightly more southerly than the previous days. It proved to be a challenging and exciting day at the same time, and the results in this race, added to the throw-out coming in place, have opened the chances to win the Championship to at least six teams, all close in five points at the top.
Today’s winners were Will Stout and Danny Cayard (USA), the skipper is a local hero and the crew is a third generation Star sailor who has just won the North Americans with his father. In this series they had already won race two, and after throwing-out yesterday’s score, they are the provisional leaders of the Championship going into the last day tomorrow.
“Today was another tricky day like yesterday, and we really focused on being on time on the start and keeping a clear lane. We were able to make gains from there and, of course, we were able to pick and choose, and battle it out with a few teams”,commented Danny Cayard.
“We made sure we had the boat going fast and it was very difficult as it was very wavy, choppy, with fairly significant shifts and pressure changes, and just keeping the boat moving through the water proved difficult, it was a very difficult day”, added skipper Will Stout.
And talking about tomorrow’s final race Danny Cayard said: “I think everybody’s going to be pushing, and of course you have people that you have your own eyes on because there are six boats within a few points, it keeps things tight but also open, you can’t focus on just one person. I think in one way there is no better way to end a Championship”.
Six boats within five points: in second, tied on points with the first, there are America’s Cup veteran John Kostecki with Olympian Austin Sperry (USA), in third Paul Cayard (USA) with Frithjof Kleen (GER) with 18 points, same points for the Argentinians brothers Leandro and Lucas Altolaguirre, in fifth Danish Jorgen Shoenherr with American Jan Eli Gravad, and in sixth Star World Championship representing the local San Diego Yacht Club, George Szabo with Guy Avellon (USA).
The starting sequence will begin at 12,55 on the water off Point Loma, and by tomorrow September 13th, at around 3 pm we shall know the names of the 2024 Star World Champions that will get to write their names on the 100 year old trophy. But before that, San Diego Yacht Club is hosting a Progressive Dinner tonight for the teams to relax and enjoy each-others company before becoming (again) competitors on the water tomorrow.
Day 6.
John Kostecki and Austin Sperry are the 2024 Star World Champions.
September 13, 2024
The 2024 Star World Championship was one of the tightest of the last editions, with the title open until the very last leg of the very last race. The 2-mile downwind stretch of Race Six was the longest in the life of many of the teams fighting for the 2024 World Title, certainly it must have felt that way for John Kostecki and Austin Sperry (USA) who rounded first at the second top mark but saw the Argentinian brothers Leandro and Lucas Altolaguirre chasing them with great pace and eventually taking them over to finish first in the last race. But the one boat in between them, John Dane III with Peter Sangmeister (USA), was not enough for the Altolaguirres to claim the overall regatta: John Kostecki and Austin Sperry are the 2024 Star World Champions, after a tight race with lead changes.
“We won this with a lot of thirds.. still hard to process, I have to thank JK and the team for making me achieve this life dream, it’s been 30 years in the making, it just feels so special. This is for all the guys I sailed with growing up and helped me becoming the sailor and the man I am”, commented right after crossing the finish line a very emotional Austin Sperry, a 2008 Star Olympian with John Dane III. “We sailed a great race today, we needed to, we had a great start, went fast, we had some luck with the wind shifts and it all just came together, which is what you need to win a World Championship”, added America’s Cup legend, Silver medalist at the 1988 Olympics in the competitive Soling Class, Volvo Ocean Race winner in 2001/02 with Illbruck Challenge and who has won 16 World Championship titles, now 17 with his first one in the Star Class.
It all started on time, but with a General Recall and the following start with Black Flag, with 3 boats over early and had to retire, Erik Lidecis with Gregory Smith – who missed by one position the top 10 – Piet Eckert and Frederico Melo (SUI/POR), Tomas Hornos with Mauricio Bueno (USA/BRA) and local U30 team Carter Cameron with Jack Kingston (USA). 8/10 knots were blowing from Southwest so the race course could be set closer to the shore and away from the coastal current, it was another race with constant bearing adjustments due to clouds passing over the racecourse, difficult for both the 64-boat fleet and the Race Committee.
“It has been a challenge all week between the different wind directions, the current and the eagerness of the fleet at the starts. We had to stay south of Point Loma to have steadier breeze and not too far out to avoid the strong coastal current, but we are happy of the outcome”, commented PRO and Star Class Regatta Director Tom Duggan. “We had San Diego classic conditions on the last four days, the first two were affected by a heatwave, but all in all we had six challenging and fair races for everybody, mission accomplished”, added Deputy PRO and SDYC Waterfront Director Jeff Johnson.
At the first top mark Eric Doyle with Payson Infelise (USA) were leading followed by Jack Jennings and Pedro Trouche (USA/BRA), the first ones of the six engaged in the quest for the title were John Kostecki with Austin Sperry, with the Argentinians in eight. The Altolaguirre brothers rounded first at the gate with three boats between them and Kostecki/Sperry, they were winning the Championship in that very moment, but it didn’t last for long. At the second top mark the Americans were first, Dane / Sangmeister second and Altolaguirres third, with Kostecki /Sperry now first in the overall regatta. The second downwind was not for the fainted hearted, and a finish this close hadn’t happened in the Star Class for 23 years, the last time two teams ended one point apart was in 2001.
“It was a long week of challenging conditions and it came down to the last race between six boats, it was and a great way to end his championship really, open until the last leg”, said Danny Cayard, third generation Star sailor.
“It was close down until the end but we were just a little short today.. Congrats to the winners they did a great job and sailed the better race, so hats off to them. We are happy with our result, Danny and I have only sailed together for a short amount of time and so it was good for us personally and I am looking forward to the next one together”, added Will Stout from San Diego Yacht Club.
Leandro and Lucas Altolaguirre, great Argentinian sailors under 40 years old, proved incredible skills, especially downwind, and were backed up by all of the very active Argentinian Star Class, and of course Newport Harbor Star sailor Jim Buckingham who loaned them one of his boats for the Championship.
“We had a tough finish to the Championship and this race, we started well, stayed in the shifts in the first upwind and then had an excellent downwind conquering the first position, in the second upwind we lost two boats and in the last leg, we were fast and won the race, but not the Championship”, declared Lucas Altolaguirre. “We had a fantastic week here, we are very very happy, everything was just perfect”.
The pain is still stinging, and it will hurt for a while for Star Class President, Star World Champion, Louis Vuitton Cup winner and sailing international legend Paul Cayard with two time Star World Champion and Olympian Frithjof Kleen, who ended in fourth after winning three of the six races…
“It is disappointing to win three races and not the World Championship, in Race Two and Race Five I made some mistakes, just big mistakes and finishing more than tenth, you kind of need to stay in the top ten.. if you’re not having a great race like today but still sail well and are able to get back to seventh it is ok, so anyway just had too many points and the other guys sailed very consistently and I’m super happy for my son Danny who finished second”, commented Cayard. “Obviously, like Frida said, we were so close to accomplishing the goal, after race four we were really in a strong spot and so it hurts, it’s hard to think beyond that right now but we’re a good team, we sailed well, we have a fast boat and I’m sure after a few weeks we’ll digest this and we will look forward to another shot at this”.
The 2024 Star World Championship closed with the Prize Giving Ceremony at San Diego Yacht Club, with all of the 128 sailors gathered around the new Star World Champions, the ones that will get to engrave their names in the 100+ year old trophy and could lift it in front of the whole fleet tonight.
