Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Author: Roger Muhr - September 18, 2024The Vintage Starboat Race took place at the Zurich Yacht Club for the 7th time. This year, the regatta was organised over three days, which was the right decision. On the one hand, this gave us more opportunities to complete the desired number of races and, on the other, made the long journey for some of the participants even more worthwhile. The Vintage Starboat Race has now achieved international popularity. In addition to the teams from Switzerland, teams from SWE, FIN, NED, CZE and GER also took part!
Regattas: On Friday, three races were sailed in midsummer temperatures and good conditions. At the end of the day, Jürg Ryffel / Beat Heinz were just ahead of the team Kurt Scheidegger / Res Honegger with 5 points. Daniel Fritz / Uli Seeberger from Germany took third place with 9 points. Even though the race committee made every effort to sail a race on Saturday, no race could be completed due to a lack of wind. Fortunately, we had already had three races the day before. On Sunday, one more race could be sailed. The second race on this day was cancelled like the races the day before. After four races, the first two places remained unchanged from the first day. The team of Christoph Gautschi / Steffen Rutz moved up to third place and thus completed the winner's podium.
Zurich Yacht Club / Sponsors: Also new at this 7th edition were the daily prizes, which were very popular and could be won. Many thanks to our generous sponsors, Bank LGT (Schweiz) AG and Bank Rahn+Bodmer. As always, the setting and location at the Zurich Yacht Club were unique. Many thanks also to the entire ZYC team and the race committee.
Outlook: We are planning to start again in May 2025 with the first Vintage Regatta on Lake Constance in Bregenz. The Vintage Starboat Race will then take place again in Zurich at the end of August. We will let you know as soon as the dates are finalised. In addition, next year the District Championship will take place in Rapperswil (29.05 - 31.05). There will be a separate class for wooden Star boats. It would be great to see some of you at this event.
We are already looking forward to the Vintage Star season 2025 and wish everyone a good time!
Text: Roger Muhr
Pictures: Gianni Baumann
The Zürcher Yacht Club (ZYC) on Lake Zurich, Switzerland, hosts the „Old Fashion Race“, an annual classic boat race every August together with the local Oldtime Boat Club (OBCZ). There is a long tradition of Starboat racing on the lake since 1946, and of competitive boat building like Portier (ex Portier & Suter) and Steinmayer.
ZYC offers an own class rating for wooden starboats and supports a gathering of theses classics with great enthousiam.
Come to Zurich on August 18 and 19!
Entitled for participation are all boats with wooden hulls built to ISCYRA specifications
For the first time in Europe, vintage starboats meet for racing on August 18 and 19 at Zurich Yacht Club, on the occasion of the Old Fashion Race together with the Oldtime Boat Club Zurichsee. Boats have entered from 4 nations already, and more participants are highly welcome! Traditional and modernised boats are eligible alike, hulls must be built from wood to star class specifications. The unique setting of a floating boathouse, looking out on the swiss alps, provides a sociable atmosphere before and after races.
Vintage Starboats in Zurich, Switzerland
On August 18th and 19th, a promising begin was made with the first ever Vintage Star event on European waters. Zürcher Yacht Club and the Oldtime Boat Club Zürichsee honoured their invitation to be fabulous hosts. The location: a floating boathouse and large pond settings in front of the city lake front, looking out on the swiss alps. The event was part of the “Old Fashion Race” hosted every year for classic and modern boats. From a group of 8 vintage boats from 4 European countries which had registered for the Zürich Vintage Star race, 3 had to retire on short notice for various reasons. The remaining 5 however nicely represented the variety of styles that appeal to aficionados of the wooden boat tradition. Painted or varnished, all sported wooden hulls built to ISCYRA specifications. Equipped to various levels of technology, the outfit ranged from original 60’s layout and rigging to modern style performance.
Oldest entrant, also travelled the longest distance from Helmond, Netherlands, was Star 1294 “Bem II”. A real celebrity: built by Caesar Fuhlendorff, won a Bronze Medal at the 1936 Kiel Olympics, participated in the infamous 1939 Kiel Worlds shortly before the outbreak of WWII as well as the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The current owner Harm Adriaans saved it from a sure death at the scrapyard and extensively rebuilt the hull over a period of 5 years before it’s first re-appearance – in Zürich! On the other end of the spectrum: Star 6904 “Rainbow”, built beautifully from Western Red Cedar by master shipwright Wilhelm Wagner from Lake Constance. He sailed the boat again - and fast! - after many years in the shed. Starboat tradition on the lake was represented by another Master of starboat building, Josef Steinmayer with 4677 “Monique-Anne II”. Initiators Raoul Laimberger on 4440 “Trilla” and Christoph Kempermann on 4929 “Thetis” made up the pack with their 1960’s originals.
Sadly, the wind failed during the entire weekend so sailing was limited to individual matches while waiting for conditions stable enough to allow a race to go through. That didn’t work out and the entire event had to be cancelled by Sunday afternoon without rankings.
On the upside, this left more time for network talks, discussions about the best ways to tune wooden masts and plans for future events. Everyone said they’d like to return. Most importantly, spread the idea to other boat owners and to clubs throughout Europe who would like to host such an event. Together with the Vintage Gold Cup which evolves in the US, the entrants and initiators hope that a new tradition begins that honors the past and leads the Vintage future!
