Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Vancouver BC (May 31, 2023) - The thirty teams of sailors ready to compete on the first day of the 2023 Star North American Championship, hosted by Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, woke this morning to bleary overcast skies, temperatures in the low 50s, and a non sustainable breeze from the east. This was certainly not what they were hoping for after the last few days of sunnier weather and the westerlies of English Bay, typical for early Summer.
The race committee left the dock at the scheduled time, anticipating a postponement at noon. The sailors were also anticipating the AP, as they took their time leaving the dock. AP went up at noon, as the breeze had not shifted and come up to required racing conditions. The Star sailors floated around the committee boat and the numerous anchored cargo ships that are a fixture in English Bay for about two hours before the skies over the bay cleared and enough breeze from the west came into play.
Race one finally was in sequence at about 2:30, the heading to the weather mark set at 280 with a distance of 1.3 miles, course 4 (four legs, finishing downwind), in a light breeze of about 5 knots. One team at the pin end jumped the gun and was over early but immediately cleared for a clean start. With the wind being a bit shifty, the second weather mark was moved to the left at a bearing of 265.
Race one was completed in the target duration, as James Buckingham with crew Phil Toth (USA) winning with a noticeable lead. Following were Brian Ledbetter and Brian Terhaar (USA) in second, with local sailors Allen Cullen and Dave Martin (CAN) finishing third.
As it was getting late in the day, the committee was anxious to immediately get started with race two. The course was set at a bearing of 280, same distance, and the race went into sequence, but was quickly AP’d to allow for a course adjustment to 260 as the wind had shifted left. Race two was all about avoiding the flood tide, and catching the left trends, meaning go left and go up the beach, all while calculating lay lines to the mark and avoiding the anchoring container ships, lots to consider.
The teams that conquered the conditions in race two were George Szabo and Guy Avellon (USA) finishing first, followed by locals Hunter Lowden and Brett Wilson (CAN) with Scott Barnard and Kilian Weise (USA) finishing third.
Leading the regatta after two races are George Szabo and Guy Avellon (USA) with six points. There is a tight spread at the top of the leaderboard as Brian Ledbetter and Brian Terhaar (USA) are one point behind in second place, with Will Stout and Parker Mitchell (USA) in third with eight points.
Eight races are scheduled over four days, May 31-June 3, 2023, two races per day.
