Luke Lawrence and Alexey Selivanov are the winners
of the inaugural Star Junior World Championship

American sailor Luke Lawrence is, with crew Alexey Selivanov, the first Star Junior World Champion Under 30 after a six race regatta in the water of Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida, successfully hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club and organized by the International Star Class.
The championship started off well for the team who won the inaugural race of the series on Monday February 4, then handed the lead on the night before the end of the event to Charlie Buckingham and Austin Sperry (USA) and even on the last day, on the last downwind they were second to Tomas Hornos (USA) and Pedro Trouche (BRA). But the finish line was upwind and they managed to pass a couple of boats, all they needed to conquer the first ever Star Junior World Championship title.
 
“We had a great time, we worked very well together and we had much fun – said an enthusiastic Luke Lawrence – We have to thank doctor Jim Revkin without whom this would not have happened if he hadn’t called me five days before the event and told me Alexey was ready to crew for me and gave us the boat 8507 and new sails. He went straight to the point of this event, he helped the new guys enter the class and keep them going. There are a lot of Star sailors who gave their boats and helped this event become possible, we have 36 boats here! I am now planning to stay in the class and race more, maybe attend the SSL Finals and I will train for that!”
 
Luke Lawrence is 28 years old and has been sailing for most of his life, first the Laser then his real passion the Finn, and in the past few years he fell for the Star attending the main events such as the Worlds and the SSL Finals in 2014. A little break from sailing in the past year or so, before the great comeback winning the first Star Junior World Championship in the familiar waters of Biscayne Bay.
 
The last day started early with a 10:30 am warning sequence and a very technical race with about 10 knots from East, some big shifts and a change of leaders. The young Italian Laser Radial Youth World Champion Guido Gallinaro with German Olympian crew Frithjof Kleen won the first race over the 35 teams racing.
Before the start of the last race the top teams were all within a few points and you could feel the tension on the race course that caused a general recall. This was a five leg race with the finish line set upwind, not an irrelevant detail because at the last downwind gate American Tomas Hornos with Brazilian crew and winner of the last SSL Finals Pedro Trouche were leading the overall ranking. Hornos and Trouche finished the race second behind the Irish brothers Robert and Peter O’Leary, but Lawrence and Selivanov managed to overtake enough boats on the last upwind leg to win the event by three points.
 
“Tricky conditions with a lot of back and forth – said Tomas Hornos with Pedro Trouche – but we are very happy with the results, it’s always good to be on the podium. We don’t know yet what is coming after this, maybe Europeans/SSL Grand Slam maybe the Worlds in Porto Cervo, surely we’ll continue sailing the Star together.”
 
“It’s been great racing this week, I was at the helm but my brother still did most of the tactics – said Robert O’Leary – and we are already looking forward to the next event in Riva del Garda next year in October, it shall be good. This was the first Junior World Championship and it’s been so successful with 36 competitive boats, it’s good to see all these young guys in the class.”

The curtains closed on the inaugural Star Junior World Championship, with huge support by the International Star Class particularly by Executive Director Jon VanderMolen, the Star Legacy Foundation officer Larry Whipple and the Secretary of District 20 Austin Sperry.
This was the first event of a series of great ones to come over the years.

Top ten teams:
 

1 -       USA     Luke Lawrence – Alexey Selivanov
2 -       USA     Tomas Hornos – Pedro Trouche
3 -       IRL      Robert O’Leary – Peter O’Leary
4 -       USA     Charlie Buckingham – Austin Sperry
5 -       BRA     Nick Pellicano Grael – Samuel Gonçalves
6 -       GBR     Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini – Brian Fatih
7 -       ITA       Guido Gallinaro – Frithjof Kleen
8 -       AUS     Jake Lilley – Lewis Brake
9 -       MEX    Juan Ignacio Perez – Mark Strube
10 -     ARG     Facundo Olezza – Frederico Melo

Full results here.

Bacardi Cup

ERIC DOYLE AND PAYSON INFELISE CLAIM OUTSTANDING WIN AT 92ND BACARDI CUP

Miami and Biscayne Bay showcased the best day of racing on the sixth and last day as this iconic racing venue said good-bye to the 500 sailors who competed at theBacardi Invitational Regatta. A great Easterly breeze of around 10 knots, sun shining warm and wave chop a lot less than the previous days made for a perfect race day. All of the classes finished their scheduled races at this the best spring sailing yacht racing event in the North Hemisphere.
 
In the Star Class, the charge for the 92^nd Bacardi Cup victory came down to an American Gold Star battle. Eric Doyle/Payson Infelise (USA) presented a flawless scorecard with results always in the top 4, but Paul Cayard/Magnus Liljedahl (USA) managed a brilliant come back from a 27^th in race 1 and earned a chance to steal the win from Doyle/Infelise. But only if they could maintain the momentum that gave them wins in Race 4 and 5. Both teams started on the right side, with Doyle keeping an eagle eye on Cayard who was almost on pin end and kept following that track. The Southern California partnership of Doyle/Infelise were first to the windward mark, whilst in a surprise turn of form North California legend Paul Cayard rounded at the back, in about 20^th position.
 
The order of play continued at the downwind gate and up the second windward leg. At this point, Doyle/Infelise realized they were safely ensconced as winners of the 92^nd Bacardi Cup and could abandon the race and head ashore! Even though Paul Cayard/Magnus Liljedal were slowly climbing back through the fleet, there was no hope of them overhauling  Doyle/Infelise’s points advantage. Then, on the second downwind, they broke their mast and were forced to be towed back in. Scoring a DNF penalty, they had to re-count their 27^th from day 1 and plummeted down the leaderboard to finish in 7^th overall.
 
Standing alongside Doyle/Infelise on the podium were Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and Frithjof Kleen (GER), who also gave themselves an uphill start after a UFD in race 1, but won two races from the remaining five and finished only 2 points behind the winners. Another two points back were bronze medalists Eivind Melleby (NOR) and Joshua Revkin (USA). In fourth were defending champions Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi of Italy and in fifth the French Xavier Rohart and Pierre-Alexis Ponsot.
 
“It’s been great, fun, fabulous weather, it all came together nicely, we had great speed, a fantastic team work, good starts and it’s great to be in this excellent field with incredible champions,” smiled a very satisfied Eric Doyle. “It is our first win even though I have sailed here for 20 times. One time we had a big fight then Ross McDonald came ahead I lost my points; it doesn’t matter now, it’s great we won it! And we are happy to win 2500 points of the Star Sailors League. We plan to go to the Europeans/SSL Breeze Grand Slam in May and then to the Worlds in Porto Cervo in June, so plenty of racing coming ahead!”

Bacardi is already planning the 2020 edition with the 93^rd Bacardi Cup for the Star class, the event that launched this all in 1927 in Havana, Cuba.