Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
The Vintage Star Family Grows
Already for the 5th time wooden starboats met for the Vintage Starboat Race, on August 26 through 28 at beautiful Zürcher Yacht Club in Zurich/Switzerland, supported by the Oldtimer Boat Club of Lake Zurich, the Swiss Star Fleets and several sponsors. The relaxed atmosphere at Zürcher Yacht Club with its professional race committee and fabulous catering team provided a feel-good weekend with high attractiveness for the class.
Due to many parallel venues and other restrictions, this year only 11 boats found the way to Zurich to sail and to meet family, as these sailors see themselves by now. Nonetheless, two new members joined: SUI 4653 ILLUSION (helmed by Balz Bruggmann with crew Martina Mittendorfer), a Portier boat built on lake Zurich in 1963, as well as SUI 4841 GLIDER IV, once the 1964 Tokyo Olympic silver medal boat of Richard „Dick“ Stearns, USA. Together with NED 1294 BEM II there are now already two Olympic celebrities in the European Vintage Fleet.
Unsteady winds resulted in more race starts and first beats than finished races. Finally on Sunday, 2 full races went through. Nonetheless, there was dynamic and tight racing action on all day, without too large gaps between the boats on the finish line. The experienced owner and helmsman of GLIDER IV Jürg Ryffel and his long-time crew Beat Heinz had already tuned the boat to perfection and won the 2022 Vintage Race series overwhelmingly.
In second place, Hans-Ruedi Osterwalder (SUI 5244 BIANCA) was overjoyed, coming not only from a family of (starboat) sailors, but primarily for his passion of maintaining his own fleet of meanwhile 3 boats, which all participated: besides the already mentioned BIANCA and ILLUSION also SUI 4672 FIAMMA with previous winners Hans Stöckli and Alexander Gouda. BIANCA crew Dominik Schenk personally brought all 3 boats, and GLIDER IV as well, to perfect and shiny condition in his yard on Lake Constance – all with personal touch but individual character. This dedication of the Team Osterwalder/Schenk was honoured by the race committee, und the applause of the whole family, with the 2022 trophy for restoration. Finishers in 3rd place where Christoph Gautschi, president of the Swiss Star Fleets and Jürg König on SUI 5009 FRAM VI, Gautschi’s father’s boat.
Off the water, all participants enjoyed motivating each other by chatting about sailing and maintaining these historic boats. Two visiting owner couples from Italy and Germany also experienced and relished this – being “almost ready” with their own boats and keen to join next time. They collected many impressions and recommendations and were cordially included into the family circle.
Steadily, the fleet of restored starboats in Europe has meanwhile grown to around 30 boats. In 2022, the Yacht Club de l’Ile de France near Paris/France hosted a Vintage Star event, other new venues are in discussion and several more boats are in restoration. The Star legacy from many decades lives on!
