Star racing in a blow

Anthony Shanks describes crewing his Star when the wind got just a little strong.....25 to 34 knots at the Europeans this week

As the Stars reach mid-week in their Spring European Championship Anthony Shanks dropped us a line to let us know just what it's like in these craft when the wind starts to blow.
Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks, representing Ireland, only started competing in the Star class this year. They enjoyed a seventh place in race one and are well on their way to their initial goal of securing a top 20 place in the regatta.

Race one, 25-34 knots SE

"We started towards the buoy and had to dive through the lee of another boat. Sailing into the left corner of the course left us horribly exposed and when we tried to sail back to the centre the right hand side definitely looked the better option. Slowly the wind shifted left, but not before four boats had got in front of us.

The left shift meant that the boats below could not get to us and all the boats that had gone beyond us had overstood the mark. We found ourselves in 5th place at the windward mark and then put in a tack and bear away onto a reach. Wow! Stars are fast on a reach and when I eventually came up for air we found that one boat had moved ahead of us and into fifth place.

The discussion about the gybe then ensued; having watched Torben Grael miss the gybe mark we realised that this was not going to be easy. A further lesson was then learnt, do not look up whilst gybing. Having got that over and done with - including a broach - we set off.

With boats breaking masts and turning turtle it was a truly breathtaking experience. We were lucky enough to have Torben Grael to show us how not to do it again as he missed the leeward mark.

The second beat was a blur, taking the shifts we held our position and with 34 knots blowing the gybes were dangerous and survival was the name of the game. Rounding the leeward mark we were in a 'no man's land' between the leading six and the pursuing pack and with no real opportunities to overtake boats we preserved our position to finish 7th. Not bad for a first race in 25+ knots of wind.


Race two, 14 knots decreasing to 8 knots

"With the first general recall of the event we all returned to have another go, with the new starting sequence of four minute guns we got the start time wrong. So we tacked right, waiting for the expected right shifts and eventually this occurred, when we tacked most of the fleet were in the window. With the right middle of the course favoured and significant shifts we rounded the windward mark in fourth place. The correct course of action was to gybe at the windward mark, this we did not do and it cost us eight boats, whereupon we languished around 12/13th for the rest of the race. Torben Grael then gave an exhibition on how to climb up the fleet finishing a very close second to Marcus Regger and Marcus Mehlen who sailed an immaculate race to overtake Xavier Rohart on the finish line."