2013 North American Championship – Newport Beach, California, USA
Report by sailing-news.ch:
Day One:
Two races were sailed at the North American Star Championship in California. Lars Grael/Samuel Goncalves BRA, with finishes of 2 and 4, have taken the lead ahead of Carl Buchan/Jamie Buchan USA, 2nd, and Andrew Campbell/John Von Schwarz USA 3rd. Hubert Merkelbach/Gerrit Bartelt GER, the only Europeans starting, follow in 16th place of the 40 teams from 7 nations. The past World Champions George Szabo USA (with Craig Moss USA, 24th) and Tom Londrigan USA (with Steve Cutting USA, 31st) are behind as both had a premature start disqualification to accept.
Day Two:
Two races were sailed again on day two of the Star North American Championship with a leader change. New on top are Brian Ledbetter (1992 Olympic Silver medalist in the Finn) and Gregg Morton USA, already 10 points ahead of Lars Grael/Samuel Goncalves BRA. Augie Diaz USA/Frithjof Kleen GER advanced to 3rd place. The short-time leaders Andrew Campbell/John Von Schwarz USA dropped to 10th after a premature start.
Day Three:
The situation at the North American Star Championship gets tight after six races sailed and the discard came into effect. On the eve of today's final racing, Brian Ledbetter/Gregg Morton USA are still in the lead but with a small two points' margin on Andrew Campbell/John Von Schwartz USA. Two heats remain on the program and even Carl and Jamie Buchan USA, five points behind, have their chances for the title. Team of the day was Eric Doyle/Payson Infelise USA, finishing 1 and 2 and moving up to 6th overall.
Day Four:
Brian Ledbetter and Gregg Morton won the 8th and last race and won the North Americans overall by one point on Carl and Jamie Buchan, after the Buchans had led following race seven. Former leaders Andrew Cambell and John Von Schwarz recovered from their over early in the 4th race to finish third.
Recap Video
Results
