The Virginia Sportsman

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A State of Mind ď ł A Way of Life Dec 2014/Jan 2015

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Star Class Championship

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Stars Shine on Lake Garda Star Class World Championship, Lake Garda, Italy Story by Louay Habib Photos by Carlo Borlenghi

ake Garda, located in northern Italy about halfway between Venice and Milan, is the largest of the Italian lakes. Glaciers formed this alpine region in the last ice age and the dramatic mountains that shade Lake Garda produce a wind pattern that is unique. Lake Garda is up to 700 feet deep and in the summer retains a temperature of more than 70 degrees, even at night. In addition to being a popular holiday location, the area hosts numerous world-class sailing regattas, including the 2014 International Star Class World Championship.

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In the summer months, the 10,000-foot Dolomite Mountains to the north are still capped with snow, producing a huge temperature differential. In the early morning, cool air rushes down these slopes and meets the warmer air rising above the lake. The wind accelerates, producing a north wind known as the Peler which can reach a speed of more than 30 knots. By the early afternoon, the air above the mountains heats up and rises, creating a thermal effect, which literally sucks the wind in from the south. This wind, known as the Ora, is often less fierce than the Peler. But Monto Baldi,

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to the east of the lake, together with tricky currents and back eddies, makes Lake Garda one of the most intriguing places to race anywhere in the world.

The International Star Class The first Star was designed in 1910 by Francis Sweisguth and built in Port Washington, New York. Since then, nearly 9,000 boats have been built and the Star has been an Olympic Games class since 1932 (but it has been dropped for the 2016 Olympic games, a controversial decision).

Although far from a modern design, the

December 2014/January 2015

class remains popular today with about 2,000 boats in active racing fleets in North America and Europe. The future looks bright for the class. In 2013, the Star Sailors League was formed. Star sailors gain points at international regattas and qualify for the Star Sailors League Final in Nassau, Bahamas, in December. A new knock-out format over three days of racing has a prize purse of $250,000 and the winning team takes home $40,000.

The 2014 International Star Class World Championship was hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine on the infamous waters of Lake Garda in July. Eighty-seven teams from all over the world, including seven previous world champions, took part in a six-race series, vying for one of sailing’s most prestigious world titles. After six days of intense racing, the championship was decided in dramatic style on the last leg of

Close racing at Star World Championship

Star Sailors League 2013 champions Scheidt and Prada (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi courtesy of Star Sailors League)

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December 2014/January 2015

the last race. Germans Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen led by 10 points going into the last race. They held on in a nervy final to become the new world champions and the first German victors in seventeen years.

On the final day, clouds above the Dolomites and clear blue skies above Lake Garda provided classic Ora conditions, with 12 knots of warm breeze pumping from the south. The first Saturday in July meant plenty of windsurfers and kiteboarders out on the lake and skydivers forming aerial acrobatics riding the thermal wind from Monto Baldi. Hundreds of spectators watched the drama unfold from the pristine Lake Garda beaches and thousands more watched the action via Virtual Eye, broadcasting the event live for the first time.

The final race was a tense affair.

The first start resulted in a general recall with almost 40 boats over the start line before the gun. In the restart, nine boats were disqualified for infringing a second time. The shoreline below Monto Baldi was favored water due to a back eddy in the current and the wind accelerating down the 10,00-foot mountain. The Stars were literally touching the tree-lined shore to gain a tactical advantage.

By the start of the fourth and final lap of the course, three teams were in the hunt for the world championship: Italy’s Negri and Lambertenghi, the Norwegian/ Brazilian team of Melleby and Prada and the German pairing of Stanjek and Kleen.

Leading the last race, the Italian team enjoyed free and clear air to extend their lead on the water and finished the race well ahead of the fleet. But a win in the last race was not enough. Melleby and Prada showed spectacular speed on the last downwind leg, gaining two places and dramatically took third place on the finish line by less than a boat-length. Meanwhile, Germany’s Stanjek and Kleen were in a desperate struggle to secure the world championship title and with a last-ditch effort, the German team moved up to 12th for the race, just enough to win the International Star Class

Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada won the 2013 Star Sailors League Final, earning a prize of $40,000.

Eighty-seven teams from all over the world competed at the 2014 International Star World Championship.

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The official prize ceremony was held at the Fraglia Vela Malcesine, shoreside at Lake Garda, which had provided a stunning venue for the regatta. The seven previous world champions, resplendent in their official world champion blazers, presented the cup to Stanjek and Kleen.

The 2014 event will go down in history as one of the closest contests in the 92 International Star Class World Championships.

The Malcesine and the Dolomites frame Lake Garda.

World Championship.

“We made a mistake on the first beat and put ourselves under a lot of pressure,” Kleen said. “The first downwind leg was very one-sided and we had little opportunity to make any gains but a good second beat put us back in contention. But we really didn’t know the overall position

on the final downwind leg, so we concentrated on taking the 12th position, which we thought would be enough. We dared not believe it when we crossed the line but when were told that our provisional result had been enough, we were so delighted! We came second in 2011, so to win this year has finished that feeling.”

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Louay Habib is a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in the United Kingdom who specializes in maritime topics and lifestyle features. He has more than 30 years of international yacht-racing experience in more than 40 countries and attends grand prix sailing events all over the world as a reporter for leading yacht clubs.

December 2014/January 2015