2021 North American Championship – Newport Beach, California, USA
Regatta Report
A successful season for the International Star Class in 2021 continues this week with the North American Championship in Newport Beach, California, after two strong championships in Split, Croatia, for the Europeans and in Miami for the Western Hemisphere in the spring.
Thirty teams, 100% made in USA will be on the starting line tomorrow at 12:30pm local time for the first two races of the event. The level of competition is sky high with six Star world champions in the fleet, four at the helm and two as crew. One of the crew is world renowned skipper Paul Cayard acting as crew in California to sail with his son Daniel, a third generation Star sailor as his grandfather is 1969 Star World Champion and 1964 Olympic Bronze Medalist Pelle Petterson (SWE). The other crew is none other than Bruno Prada (BRA), winner of five Star World Championships, three with stellar skipper Robert Scheidt, one at the last sailed event in Porto Cervo in 2019 with Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and one with Augie Diaz (USA), his skipper this week and defender of the North American title.
The other world champions are Eric Doyle, John McCausland and George Szabo, sailing in Newport Beach respectively with Payson Infelise, Brian Terhaar and Guy Avellon. Bruno Prada is also a double Olympic medalist, and he is not the only one in the fleet. Finn Bronze medalist in Rio 2016, Caleb Paine (USA), will crew for Doug Smith.
The winners of the Baxter Bowl Regatta, warm-up event organized by Newport Harbour Yacht Club, Carl and Jamie Buchan will race as favorite this week. 24 of the 30 teams competing at the North Americans raced in the Baxter Bowl last weekend. Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada finished second and San Diego skipper George Szabo with Guy Avellon, were third.
Racing starts tomorrow, August 18th with a 12,30 warning. Two races per day are scheduled every day until Saturday, when the winners of the 2021 North American Championship will succeed to Augie Diaz and Henry Boening (BRA), title holders since the last edition in 2019.
Day One
A light breeze day kicked off the 2021 Star North American Championship in Newport Beach, California. 7-9 knots from the south made it possible for the 30-boat fleet to finish the two races scheduled for the day, with two different winners, but an undisputed leader of the day.
Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise, close the first day of the North Americans in the top spot of the ranking with a second place and a bullet. The first win of the day went to George Szabo and Guy Avellon, in second overall after a fifth in the second race. In third we see Jim Buckingham and Phil Toth, making the best out of their extensive local knowledge, but at this very early stage there are two other teams tied for third: Danny and Paul Cayard – with the world-renowned skipper crewing for his son – and John MacCausland with Brian Terhaar.
The winners of the warm-up regatta, one of the four family team racing this week, constituted by Star World Champion Carl Buchan and son Jamie, had a mild start with a seventh and a thirteen and will approach day two in seventh position. The other ‘golden star team’, made of both Worlds winners, is tenth, a 12 and a nine for Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada, so far, the lowest among the seven Star World Champions competing in Newport Beach.
18-year-old Marleigh Henehan, sailing with junior crew Kole Kammerer is the best Under 30 team – 20th overall – just ahead of Chas Beek, with his father Chuck crewing – and Roberto Ayala with Hendrik Reidel. Best Exalted Grand Master of the day is Andy McDonald with Brad Nichol in 11th position.
Day two, August 19th, will start with a warning at 12:30 and two more races are planned, hopefully with a little more wind for the 30 teams – some of whom are using this event as a training for the 2021 Star World Championship in Kiel, Germany, where the conditions are usually much less gentle.
Day Two
Newport Beach put on a nice show on day two of the North American Championship 2021. The wind was blowing from 10-12 knots during both beautiful races for the 30-boat-fleet, all from the USA.
It was a very eager fleet, so eager that the first start ended up in a general recall and consequently a U flag was hoisted on the Race Committee. That penalized four teams, among whom Danny and Paul Cayard who were tied for third yesterday and have drastically dropped to 11th on day two.
It is still half-way through the event, and with the fifth race coming into place on day three, the ‘throw-out’ will change things in the overall ranking, but for now Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise are securely leading it, with a win in the first race and a fourth in the second – their worst result so far. The provisional runner-up, Brian Ledbetter with Ben Wilkinson won the second race of the day while Jim Buckingham and Phil Toth’s consistency is granting them the third spot.
A few valuable individual recalls at the second start, three gold stars had to come back being over the line early. George Szabo with Guy Avellon, finishing 25th and 9th overall, John MacCausland with Brian Terhaar, who finished 19th and are 10th overall, and Augie Diaz with Bruno Prada who recovered the best from the bad start finishing 5th and are fifth at the end of the day.
The best of three Junior attending the North Americans after two days is Roberto Ayala with Hendrik Reidel, while the best Exalted Grand Master is still Andy MacDonald with Brad Nichol, fourth in the general.
On Friday two more races before the final two on Saturday August 21st, when the names of the 2021 North American Champions will be known.
Day Three
Another 8-10 knots of breeze day in Newport Beach, California, for the 2021 North American Championship. And another two races sailed in great conditions for the 30-boat fleet of very passionate and talented Star sailors from all areas of the United States of America.
Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise did not have their best performance so far, but they are still defending the lead with a decent five point-margin over the second overall thanks to the ‘throw-out’ of their 11th place in race five. Exalted Grand Master Andy MacDonald with Brad Nichol climbed up to second, after a bullet in race six, with Brian Ledbetter and Ben Wilkinson chasing one point behind on the third step of the podium – even if tied on points with Erik Lidecis and Greg Smith in fourth.
The winners of race five are 2016 Star World Champions Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada, sixth overall due to a mild start of the event on day one. They are the best Grand Master, with the best Junior still being Roberto Ayala with Hendrik Reidel in 23rd spot overall.
On Saturday August 21st the final two races will be crucial to determine the top five spots in the ranking. Augie Diaz in sixth could still defend his 2019 North American title, won with yet another terrific Brazilian crew, Henry Boening, though the math after three-day racing leans with Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise, but in sport is not over till it’s over.
Day Four
The last day of the 2021 North American Championship started out with quite a long wait on the water for the 30 teams participating in it. The clouds covering the sky wouldn’t allow the breeze to fill in on the racecourse, but PRO Bruce Golison believed one race could be finished on the last day of the event.
And so it was, around 2:30pm local time a light wind picked up and the starting procedures began. The provisional leaders, Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise had a five point margin this morning and had to protect it from five teams, from second to sixth, from Andy MacDonald with Brad Nichol to North American title defender Augie Diaz, racing this year with Bruno Prada (BRA).
Not a great first lap of the windward/leeward course for the San Diego duo (Doyle/Infelise) while both MacDonald/Nichol and Diaz/Prada rounded the first weather mark among the top five teams and at the gate they were respectively first and second. Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise rounded 15th at the bottom and started the second beat with lighter air. At the last top mark Erik Lidecis with Greg Smith rounded first, and with only six points between them and yesterday’s leaders and the others direct competitors well behind, they started the final leg as North American Champions for 2021.
Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada took over Lidecis/Smith in the last run and won the final race putting up a great fight to defend the title. It wasn’t enough though to snatch the event win from Erik Lidecis and Greg Smith, who finished second right behind them and won the 2021 North American Championship in Newport Beach, California.
"We just kept plugging away, we kept doing same thing over and over, consistent finishes, never won a race but stayed up front as much as possible and then in the last race i think the stars aligned because we got a magical little puff and we were able to cross the fleet. It is my first silver star and I am very excited. My crew Greg did a great job, we've been sailing together for the past two years. We must thank the Class for an amazing job, the club, and Jim Buckingham who was kind enough to lend us his fast boat and we made it happen. We couldn't ask for anything better!", said Erik Lidecis back at the Newport Harbour Yacht Club.
Eric Doyle and Payson Infelise, were 10th in the last race and finished second overall (first Master) after having lead for the entire event. Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada are third (an first Grand Master), George Szabo and Guy Avellon are fourth, while Andy MacDonald with Brad Nichol are the first Exalted Grand Master, and fifth overall, and Roberto Ayala with Hendrik Reidel finish the Championship as the best in the Junior category and 21st in the general ranking.
The limelight moves now to Europe for the so longed 2021 World Championship in Kiel, Germany, from September the 6th to the 11th, after its postponement in 2020.
Results
