Star Class Honoring the Past, Leading the Future
Going into the final day of the Star Midwinters, Schönherr & Koy, Diaz & Boening, and Anosov and Shafranuk were tied for first. Biscayne Bay dished out beautiful conditions, with a medium easterly breeze that built throughout the day to around 13 knots. Augie Diaz and Henry Boening won race five and went into the final race of the day with only one point separating them from Jorgen Schönherr and Markus Koy. Schönherr and Koy nailed the start and led at the first mark. At the end of the race, Jack Jennings and Pedro Trouche took the race win, but it was the Danish-German pair, Schönherr and Koy who won the series with a second place finish, Diaz and Boening finished second overall, and Arthur Anasov and Andrey Shafranuk in third. Bob Lippincott and Matt Rajacich won the under 30 award.
The first race of the day began in near perfect conditions. The first upwind was so even, that it was difficult to tell where the winners would come from, making for extremely close racing. Schönherr and Koy led at mark one, yet three out of the top four teams rounded just behind them. Anasov, who went into the day tied with Diaz and Schönherr, was further back in the fleet. Diaz and Boening showed good downwind speed, with the team driving well in the waves. Schönherr and Diaz, were neck and neck by the end of the run, with Schönherr choosing the left gate and heading right upwind and Diaz choosing the right gate and playing the left side of the course. Light rain and building breeze mixed things up a bit for the second half of the race. Diaz was ahead at the second windward mark and maintained the lead for the race win. After tough first leg, Anasov and Shafranuk sailed fast and smart, sailing through the top of the fleet to finish fourth overall, keeping them within reach of the podium. MacCausland and Baltins, who were only two points behind the leaders going into the day, finished in tenth place.
For Schönherr and Diaz, it was who beat who in the second and final race. Talking about their win, Schönherr remarked that, "We knew it was tight going into today with four boats separated by only two points. We had to perform in every single way. We did our very best to be conservative, but still not so conservative that we couldn't make good start. The start was extremely important, without getting too close to any other competitors, but just getting a free lane. We knew that we had good speed, so with a good start, we would have a good change to control the situation."
Schönherr and Koy stuck to their game plan and nailed the start of the final race. A little gun shy, because of the black flag, Diaz and Boening were slower getting off the line and not in a position to put their bow down and go fast forward. With the breeze up, Schönherr and Koy put the hammer down and arrived first at the windward mark. MacCausland and Baltins found themselves up to speed again, rounding just behind them in second. On the downwind, Jennings and Trouche put their SSL style downwind technique into full gear, launching them to the front of the fleet. Diaz struggled in the traffic at the top of the beat and rounded behind the top pack in tenth. Diaz and Boening used their downwind speed to catch up to the front pack, but could't get out of the middle to make more gains at the first leeward gate.
Jennings and Trouche maintained their lead to win race six. Schönherr and Koy finished only a few boat lengths behind. Diaz and Boening managed to climb back to sixth place, just behind Anasov and Shafranuk, ensuring the two teams second and third places respectively. MacCausland and Baltins finished third in the race, securing fourth place overall. Schönherr and Koy were victorious for the Midwinter Championship, and the trophy for winning the four event Star Winter Series, was awarded to Diaz and Boening.
Stars sailors reconvene in Miami again for the 93rd Bacardi Cup in March, followed by the Spring Championships hosted by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club in April.
Source: Miami Star Sailing
