2024 North American Championship – Newport Beach, California, USA
Regatta Report
Two races on Day One: George Szabo with Guy Avellon are the best of the day and overall leaders. Newport Harbor has put on a great show for Day One of the 2024 Star North American Championship. The breeze ranged from light to above 10 knots, allowing the 26-boat fleet to finish two fair races with lots of lead changes and tight competition.
Race One started with a nice 11-knot breeze after an abandonment, a few general recalls, and course adjustments. George Szabo with Guy Avellon were the leaders from start to finish, followed by Will Stout and Parker Mitchell, and Eric Doyle with Payson Infelise. The wind increased to 13 knots for Race Two, which did not have a clear winner from the beginning. Eventually, the bullet went to Brian Ledbetter and Brian Terhaar. Arthur Anosov and Quinton Gallon came in second, with John Dane III and Dave Martin finishing third.
George Szabo and Guy Avellon finished this race in fourth and closed the day as the overall leaders. “We're near the tight pack and luckily, we are in front and were able to hold that through Race One. That was good fun!”, commented George Szabo at the end of the day. “We then scored a fourth in the second race. It was just hard as the left was going well, but the right would also go well and the current is changing back and forth. We were up to third in that race, but I tried to do something different and it didn't go so well. But it was a good day where the boat was going well, and Guy was hiking hard today. It was good fun and came out okay. We’re very pleased.”
Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, August 9th, and on Saturday, August 10th when the 2024 Star North American Champions will be crowned.
Challenging conditions on day two of the 2024 Star North American Championship in Newport Beach, California. The wind took a long time to settle and the forecast Westerly breeze came in late, leaving the 26 boat fleet racing with a South-Westerly around 5 and 8 knots. Other factors that came into play were the current coming up the beach and the South swell, all in all, two very technical races were finished today in Los Angeles, organized by Newport Harbor Yacht Club.
Both with a bullet and a third in yesterday’s races, Paul with Danny Cayard and George Szabo with Guy Avellon are the best of the day, with the latter still leading the overall standings by 6 points. The Cayards follow, tied on points with John Dane III / Dave Martin. The local knowledge is well used by Jim Buckingham with Phil Toth who are currently in fourth place.
It’s been a tight battle among the top two teams, the 2024 Star North American Championship, ended yesterday and has a winner, actually two, it is the father – son team Paul and Danny Cayard. Going into the 8th and final race, just two points separated the top three teams: Cayard/Cayard, George Szabo/Guy Avellon, John Dane/Dave Martin. After a tight battle for most of the race, it was only in the final leg that the Cayard duo moved ahead and clinched the win. An excellent result for the Cayards, who had previously sailed together in events such as the Star Vintage Gold Cup, but now together they conquered a Silver Star – Paul is also a Star World Champion and previous Continental Champion.
The sailing conditions went from light sea breeze in the first couple of days, to a stronger one towards the end of the Championship, allowing the 26-boat fleet to complete all the eight scheduled races. Current played an important part in the game as much as the ocean swell, Paul and Danny Cayard were the best at managing all of the elements and the fleet on the racecourse.
In third place the Star Class veteran, John Dane III, the Southerner Olympian with Dave Martin, had an amazing week and finished only nine points behind the North American Champions, while another Star World Champion sits right behind in fourth place; Eric Doyle with Payson Infelise, forced to retire in race six, they then could not discard a ‘heavy’ 14th.
America’s Cup legend John Kosteki with Olympian crew Austin Sperry, here to train for the Star World Championship in San Diego from September 4 to the 13, finished sixth overall, a great achievement for the team who only recently started sailing together.
The North American Championship fleet will be joined shortly by another 40 boats for the 2024 Star World Championship in San Diego, a place dear to the Class, and cradle of many Star legends.
Results
