Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Author: Rachele Vitello - April 11, 2024The 2024 Star Western Hemisphere will start tomorrow in Miami, Florida, hosted by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club. 33 entries representing 7 nations will show up on the starting line. Among them the actual 2023 Star Western Hemisphere Champions Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada, who will give their best to keep the title, using the home waters as a competitive edge.
Five Under 30 teams will join the fleet, in an ever growing trend started thank to the favorable input of the SEA by Schoonmaker project launched earlier this year. The Star Class bought five boats that are available to online applicants favoring the younger sailors.
Racing starts tomorrow at 11 after tonight’s Official Opening Ceremony. The PRO Carol Ewing canceled today’s practice race because the South – South/East wind was too strong (15/19 knots) and gusty (up to 25 knots) to allow safe racing. A front is expected to come in tonight and bring a lighter North breeze for tomorrow that will increase throughout the day and will allow some fun and fair racing. Two more breezy days are in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday when the 2024 Star Western Hemisphere Champions will be crowned.
Author: Rachele Vitello - April 13, 2024Day One of the 2024 Star Western Hemisphere wasn’t an easy one, both for the competitors nor for the Race Committee. The first race was sailed with a dying breeze still coming from 330 that didn’t even allor all of the 33 teams to finish within the time limit, then, after quite the wait on the water, the wind switched and for race 2 and 3 came from 130, starting light and then picking up.
The provisional leaders are Will Stout and Parker Mitchell from San Diego, with two bullets in their scorecard. They are chased by the reigning Star Western Hemisphere Champions, Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada, in third the Swiss / Portoguese team with Piet Exkert and Frederico Melo. A great day also for the provisional fourth, Larry Whipple with Samuela Gonçalves 2nd and 3rd in the first two difficult races.
The PRO Carol Ewing will opt for a delayed start today, at 11,55, as the wind is expected to settled from Northeast and build up in the afternoon. Three more races are scheduled for the first Star Silver Championship of the year.
Author: Rachele Vitello - April 13, 2024Another three races were sailed on Day Two of the 2024 Star Western Hemisphere in Miami, Florida. A wavy Biscayne Bay offered a great stage for a regatta with a steady Northeasterly breeze blowing from 11 knots in the first run (race 4 of the Championship) to 18 in the last one – sixth overall.
Piet Eckert and Frederico Melo (SUI/POR) were indeed today’s best team, with two bullets and a 7th, they are sitting on the provisional leader position before the last day tomorrow. They are closely followed by Tomas Hornos and Mauricio Bueno while Arthur Asonov and David Caesar climbed up to the third spot. The reigning champions, Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada are fourth, and the winners of today’s first race, Jack Jennings and Pedro Trouche are fifth. Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise were having such an amazing day: two seconds in the first two races and were rounding first at the windward mark of the final race when the jury notified them they were OCS, On Course Side at the Start, they were early and had to leave the racecourse. They are currently 7th overall.
Two races are scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday April 14th, at the end of which the 2024 Star Western Hemisphere Champions will be crowned and a new Silver Star will be assigned.
Author: Rachele Vitello - April 14, 2024Miami, FL, April 14, 2024 - The 2024 Star Western Hemisphere Championship, hosted by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club in Miami, concluded today with an exhilarating display of sailing skills and tight competition. With 33 teams representing 7 nations, the event showcased fantastic Star boat racing over three intense days of competition.
On the azure waters of Biscayne Bay and under the sunny skies of Miami, sailors battled it out across 8 full-on races. As the competition heated up, it all came down to the wire on the final day. Tomas Hornos and Mauricio Bueno (USA / BRA) emerged as the triumphant victors, clinching the title of 2024 Star Western Hemisphere Champions. With a narrow three-point difference going into the last day, Hornos and Bueno showcased their expertise by securing a decisive bullet in the first race. Their stellar performance continued as they sealed their dominance with a second-place finish in the final race, solidifying their position at the top of the leaderboard. Despite challenging weather conditions characterized by winds reaching up to 15 knots from the North Northeast, with significant shifts of up to 20/25 degrees, Hornos and Bueno demonstrated they were the best to interpret and navigate the shifting winds to their advantage.
“Really complicated strategy today, we went into the day three points behind Piet and Frederico and they were sailing really strong and we had to make sure that we didn't sail a drop race early in the in the day so we kind of sailed our own race the first race”, commented Tomas Hornos. “Most of the fleet was focused on one side of the course and so we played the shifts and ended up winning the race pretty handily, which made the second race today very, very interesting because there's now only two points separating us. Again it was wildly shifting, I mean 20/25° shifts, with velocity differences all over the course and we had to decide who we had to cover and where to go on the race track.. It was incredibly difficult, a lot of risk management we were just hyper focused the whole time. It was tremendous day, with difficult and great conditions, the race committee did a fantastic job and Mauricio obviously too, you know we had perfect communication onboard, it was excellent, we got better and better and we just made sure that we were always in phase, it worked, it feels so good!”
In a closely contested battle for the podium, the Swiss/Portuguese duo of Piet Eckert and Frederico Melo claimed the runner-up position, showcasing their skill and determination throughout the championship, in an ever improving streak of results started with the Worlds in Scarlino in 2023. Rounding out the top three were the 2023 Star Western Hemisphere Champions, Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada, who finally felt at their best only on the final day.
Behind the scenes, PRO Carol Ewing orchestrated a flawless event, skillfully managing the diverse and challenging conditions to ensure a fair and competitive championship for all participants.
