News of the Star Class

President's Message

2022 is coming to a close… and we have a lot to be thankful for, optimistic with plenty of work ahead.

Our year started with a bang when SLAM offered to provide jerseys to all Star Class members beginning in 2023 but they went further. SLAM stepped up to provide jerseys to all participants in the Eastern Hemisphere and the World Championships. Thank you SLAM and Enrico Chieffi. While we are enjoying increased participation, we need our members to renew and pay their dues. This year you will get a jersey by paying your dues, so please keep current on your dues.

We celebrated the 100^th anniversary of our World Championships in Marblehead with 85 boats. As part of that celebration, a beautiful hardbound book "100 Years of Gold Stars" was created detailing the history of our World Champions and the event. If you haven’t ordered yours, now is the time. You will not be disappointed.

Robline stepped up to sponsor our new Robline Star Class Regatta Manager position, and Tom Duggan, the PRO for the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics has accepted the position.

We formed a U-30 Committee and based upon the success in Kiel, they helped put together 12 U-30 teams for the World Championship in Marblehead with the help of reduced entry fees, free accommodations, and the Committee matched sailors with equipment. The Legacy Foundation also assisted in the reduction of fees. This initiative was helped by establishing the Borrowed Boat Insurance program (only available for events in the US).

Bacardi was a most generous sponsor of the Western Hemispheres and the World Championships this year and based on the excitement and enthusiasm of the Star U-30 program, they have created their own U-30 incentive program for the 2023 Bacardi Cup.

While getting young sailors on the racecourse is a goal itself, we have found the efforts have resulted in more participation by current members and an increase in membership in the areas where these efforts are focused. Austria has 28 U-30 members which is 22% of its membership base, Germany also has 28 U-30 members which is 11% of its members, and the United States has 34 U-30 members which is 9% of its membership. Multi-generational growth is important to our success.

As many sailors have noted, we must support all our members, not just U-30. I agree. Argentina is growing as is Portugal and we have received an inquiry from Peru. The training program at Lake Garda has been putting new members into boats for a couple years. We need to do more on this front. I encourage you all to help. I encourage you all to reach out to me or other Class officers with creative ideas to grow our Class and support our current sailors.

And finally, the Star Class office will be sending Districts/Fleets lists of inactive boats/members with the hopes that we can either encourage these members to re-engage with the Star Class either by renewing, selling their boat to get it back on the water, or loaning their boat to a deserving U-30 team or fleet. Our goal is to keep as many Stars active as possible!

Tom Londrigan
President ISCYRA

2023 Major Regatta Calendar

watch the Star Class website for updates

World Championship	GOLD	Sept 16-24	Scarlino, ITA
Eastern Hemisphere	SILVER	July 4-9	Warnemunde, GER
Western Hemisphere	SILVER	Sept 10-14	Cleveland, OH
Europeans	SILVER	Oct 24-29	Cannes, FRA
Junior Europeans	SILVER	Sept 27-Oct 1	Attersee, AUT
North American	SILVER	May 29-June 3	Vancouver, BC, CAN
South American	SILVER	spring (S.Am)	Brazil

It is not unusual to find father and son both sailing in the International Star Class. But it is also possible to have three generations of Star sailors in the family. There are a few in the United States, where the Star Class was born, and there is a fantastic one in Argentina.

It is the Calegari family, Willy, 98 years old, Memo, 71 and Fede, 44. They are grandfather, father and son, all of them Star sailors, all of them deeply passionate about it and they helped grow the Class in Argentina and have traveled to regattas all over the world.

Willy, last sailed his the Star at 81 years old, at the 2005 Worlds in Argentina “A vintage sailor sailed a vintage boat” said Fede Calegari during our chat referring to his ‘abuelo’. “That was a very windy championship, we had 18 knots average, and he sailed a wooden boat from Argentina that is now in the USA, 5235, Thomas Hornos sailed it last at the Vintage Gold Cup on Gull Lake”. Willy started sailing in the sixties, and was one of the founders of the Argentinian Star Class. “Willy was a very good friend of German Frers, they started sailing as young kids al the local club. Yacht Club Argentino bought six wooden Star boats for the youngsters, and so they did. They then moved to Club Nautico Olivos, and the Class got bigger and kept growing thanks to this group of passionate sailors”. His best sport achievement is qualifying for the Olympic Games in Kiel in 1972, after which he moved to bigger boats, like the Argentinian Navy boat, and got into offshore sailing, like Fastnet and Admiral’s Cup. He had then tried to race at the 1988 Worlds in Buenos Aires, but didn’t qualify. “Best time I crewed for Willy was in 1999, when he was 74, it was the Black Star Regatta, with all vintage boats. A fantastic event, a real show. It was fierce on the water but everyone was friends ashore. We had a tough battle with the F1 driver Bitito Mieres, he won and we finished second, but I was so happy, and it’s when I thought this is something I want to do, I am on the right track”.

Fede has sailed a lot with both of them, and Memo has also sailed often with his father, like the Rio Gold Cup, a Star regatta between Brazil and Argentina, among the best skippers of the countries. “It was then that my father got hooked!”, comments Fede.

“Memo is as steady as an oak, he doesn’t know stress, sailing with him and against him it is a real gift for me”, continued Fede. “My dad doesn’t speak at all on the boat, he moves smoothly and does everything gently. Then back ashore he is always smiling and talking to everyone, with a gin and tonic, cooking asado. He is the one who taught me to be welcoming and help my competitors, the spirit of the Star Class, a family all around the world, he loves the Elvstrom saying: “You haven't won the race, if in winning the race you have lost the respect of your competitors”. This is one thing he taught me, like never quitting”. Memo started sailing the Star in the mid seventies with regular crew Alberto Zanetti “Before he realized he was a much better skipper”, they were really close friends. They went to the Worlds in Marblehead in 1978 together but didn’t do too well “Sailing in Argentina back in those days was different from the rest of the World, it is that generation that put Argentina on the international sailing map. They granted the first Worlds in Argentina in 1988, 60 Stars attended it!” Memo’s best sailing years were the 90’s, he qualified to Barcelona 1992 but couldn’t go as he was busy with work and so his friend Alberto Zanetti went, Memo’s turn was in 1996 in Atlanta, while winning many District Championships and National titles, and he was 2021 South Hemisphere Master Champion. He attended the 2022 South Americans last week, sailing at every race at 71 years old! “Memo is the owner of the pin, he always fights with Alberto for who will start at the pin!!”

Fede's first event with his father was in 1996 in Buenos Aires, right after the Olympics. In 1997 he went as a 19 year old at the Worlds in Marblehead and he loved the spirit of that fleet and got into it to this day. They sailed a lot together until 2007, at South American Championship in Mar de Plata, but they were becoming too heavy, so they opted to buy a Star boat for Fede and he has started skippering then. “I like better helming, but the biggest events I attended, I was crewing”.

When Fede Calegari is at a Star regatta, you will not miss him, with his friendly presence, a warm smile and he is among the last ones to leave the after sailing parties, always surrounded by friends, Star friends made along the way. This is the legacy his father and grandfather left to him and this is what he would love his children to appreciate. “Families should sail together more” concludes Fede, and I think it is beautiful.

Honoring the Past, Leading the Future

President's Message

2023 Major Regatta Calendar