Star studded Stars

A host of Olympic medallists and former world champions expected for Worlds in LA

114 entries are lining up for the Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship, and every 10th boat will be sailed by a champion of the world's most prestigeous one-design class.

Sweden's Fredrik Loof, the 2001 winner at Medemblik, The Netherlands, and 10 other winners of 15 Star class Worlds, plus four of the last five Olympic gold medallists, are among the entries. The August 18-23 regatta on Santa Monica Bay fronting West L.A. will be hosted and organised by the California Yacht Club.

Loof, with crew Anders Ekstrom, is already tuning up in local fleet competition and will sail in the annual King of Spain Regatta 10-11 August, along with other early arrivals.

Mark Reynolds from San Diego also figures heavily among the favourites with world titles in 2000 and 1995 and gold medals at Sydney in 2000 and Barcelona in '92 - the only Star sailor since Italy's Agostino Straulino in 1952 to win a Star Worlds and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.

"It was a lot harder for me to win the Worlds," Reynolds said. "I think I won it on the 14th try. At the Olympics you are representing your country, which is pretty cool, and more people obviously know about the Olympics. But I'd have to say that winning the Worlds was more satisfying. Maybe it's because I come from San Diego where there have been so many world champions in the generations before me, including my dad, that made it a really nice thing to have won."

Barring withdrawals subsequent to the recent entry deadline, the entry list is the third largest in 81 Star Worlds since 1922, topped only by 129 at Punta Ala, Italy in '99 and 119 at Cannes in '91. The entries represent 26 countries in North and South America and Europe, plus Australia and New Zealand.

There are 50 entries from across the U.S., led by nine from the San Diego Bay fleet that has claimed 12 world titles. Will Reynolds enjoy an edge on familiar waters?

"No, not really," he says. "I do feel a bit at home because I know my way around and it's a bit easier place to be, but you have to keep an open mind out on the water no matter where you are sailing. I do know that this venue is a difficult one and I haven't always done particularly well here in the past."

Other world champions entered are Bill Buchan of Seattle ('61, '70 and '85), Alexander Hagen, Germany ('81 and '97), Paul Cayard, San Francisco ('88), Alan Adler, Brazil ('89); Torben Grael, Brazil ('90); Joe Londrigan, San Diego, now of Springfield, Ill. ('93); Ross Macdonald, Vancouver, B.C. ('94); Colin Beashel, Australia ('98), and Eric Doyle, San Diego ('99).

The Star class is so highly regarded that its world championship has brought five Americans the Rolex Yachtsman Of the Year Award as a bonus: Reynolds in 2000, Doyle in '99, Ed Adams in '87 and Buddy Melges in '78.

Grael and Buchan also won Olympic gold in '96 and '84, respectively. Robbie Haines of San Diego won gold in '84 but that was in the Soling class, so he had to qualify for the Worlds in the recent 5th District Championship, placing fourth behind Cayard, Howie Shiebler and Doyle. Haines will sail with his son Brian as crew.

Reynolds won his first worlds and Olympic gold and silver medals sailing with Hal Haenel as crew. He has sailed with Magnus Liljedahl since '97 after Haenel retired, and now Haenel has returned as crew for Paul Cayard, the '88 world champion.

Nautica International, the Gold Star Title Sponsor for the Nautica Star Worlds, is a leading global fashion and lifestyle company with products ranging from men's, women's and children's sportswear and accessories to a complete home collection. Nautica is a subsidiary of Nautica Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAUT) which, through its subsidiaries, designs, sources, markets and distributes apparel under the following brands: Nautica, Nautica Competition, Nautica Jeans Company, John Varvatos, Earl Jean, E. Magrath and Byron Nelson.

Entry list

Abbott Jr., Bill	Town, Scott	Canada	Blue Star Champion - District 12
Adler, Alan	Ermel, Ricardo	Brazil	Gold Star 1989 Star Class World Champion
Allen, Bill	Lichter, Brad	USA	2 Gold Chevrons
Andersen, Benny	Just, Mogens	Denmark	Silver Star Champion and 3 Gold Chevrons
Anosov, Arthur	Korolkov, Gennady	Ukraine
Araujo, Gonzalo	Iglesias, Marcos	Spain
Beashel, Colin	Giles, David	Australia	Gold Star 1998 Star Class World Champion
Beek, Charles	Karlsson, Kent	USA
Beigel-Vosbury, Barbara	Lippincott, Trapper	USA	3 Blue Chevrons
Bermundez de Castro Munoz, Roberto	Menrrique, Domingo	Spain
Brady, Gavin	Keenan, Rodney	New Zealand	2000 North American Champion
Braverman, Stephen	Rezac, Ronald	USA	3 Silver Bars
Bromby, Peter	Siese, Martin	Bermuda
Brown, Steve	Steinberg, Steve	USA
Brun, Gastao	Garcia, Mario	Brazil
Buchan, William	Brink, Mark	USA	3 Gold Stars - 1985, 1970 & 1961 Star Class World Champion and 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist - Star Class
Bucher, Hans	TBD	USA
Buckingham, Jim	Kew, Joel	USA
Bugacov, Alejandro	Sotelo, Fernando	Argentina
Burgess, Dennis	Hume, Charlie	Canada
Campbell, Argyle	Bowles, Kevin	USA
Cayard, Paul	Haenel, Hal	USA	Gold Star 1988 Star Class World Champion
Celon, Nicola	Natucci, Edoardo	Italy
Cepurnieks, Eizens	Kanskis, Eizens	Latvia
Christensen, Mads	Schwennesen, Soren	Denmark
Clerton, Wilfrio	Dohy, Ceasar	France
Collins, Bert	Avellon, Guy	USA
Dahlberg, Marko	Kurki, Ville	Finland
Davidson, Jeremy	Costa, Jessica	USA
Diaz, Augie	Finnsgard, Christian	USA
Dill, Fred	Wurm, Mike	Canada	1 Silver Chevron
Domingos, Alfonso	Santos, Bernardo	Portugal
Dorgan, Mike	Weintraub, Eric	USA	3 Gold Bars
Dornberg, Yumio	Dornberg, Ken	USA
Doyle, Eric	Meireles, Rodrigo	USA	Gold Star 1999 Star Class World Champion
Fogh, Hans	Caesar, David	Canada	Blue Star Champion and 2 Time Star Class Masters' Champion
Foster, John	Foster, John P.	Virgin Islands
Freeman, James A.	Freeman, Matthew S.	USA	Blue Star Champion
Gallo, Andrea	Gallo, Giampaolo	Italy
Gautschi, Christoph	Seeberger, Uli	Switzerland	Silver Chevron
Gay, Todd	Brewer, Patrick	USA	District 4 Champion
Gladwell, Ian	Miller, Garth	New Zealand	Silver Star Champion
Gould, Stephen	Rogers, Jon	USA	Blue Star Champion and 3 Silver Chevrons
Grael, Lars Schmidt	Lagoa, Marco Aurelio	Brazil	Olympic Bronze Medalist Tornado Class 1988 and 1996
Grael, Torben	Ferreira, Marcelo	Brazil	Gold Star - 1990 Star Class World Champion; 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist and 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist - Star Class
Hagebols, Rodney	Finlay, William	USA
Hagen, Alexander	Witt, Carsten	Germany	2 Gold Stars 1997 & 1981 Star Class World Champion
Haines, Robbie	Haines, Brian	USA/td>	Blue Star Champion - District 5 and 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist - Soling Class
Herrmann, Tony	Raynor, Todd	USA
Holm, Nicklas	Leifelt, Marin	Denmark
Hurst, Andrew	Benehmed, Arnaud	England
Ivey, Andrew	Nichol, John	USA	Blue Star Champion and 1 Silver Chevron
Keesling, Jim	Bradley, John	USA
Kellerhouse, Lee	Toyama, Isao	USA
Kelly, Steven	Holowesko, Billy	Bahamas
Koch, Michael	Koy, Markus	Germany
Kohlhas, Jock	TBD	USA
Kouyoumdjian, Juan	Meyer, Gabriel	Argentina
Krock, Ingvar	Kurbiel, Daniel	Sweden
Langenhan, Claudia	Baasch-Mehlen, Iris	Germany
Londrigan, Joe	ValderMolen, Jon	USA	Gold Star 1993 Star Class World Champion
Londrigan, Jr., Thomas	Boeyen, Ashley	USA	District 4 Champion
Loof, Fredrik	Ekstrom, Anders	Sweden	Gold Star 2001 Star Class World Champion
Lovrovic Jr., Marin	Glazar, Marko	Croatia	Silver Chevron
Lowe, Jimmie	Higgs, Andrew	Bahamas
MacCausland, John A.	Delaney, Sean	USA	Silver Star Champion
Macdonald, Ross	Jespersen, Eric	Canada	Gold Star 1994 Star Class World Champion and 1992 Olympic Bronze Medalist - Star Class
Mansfield, Mark	Collins, Killian	Ireland	3 Gold Chevrons
Marazzi, Flavio	Marazzi, Renato	Switzerland
Merriman, Rick	Bennett, Bill	USA	Silver Chevron
Meyer, Klaus	Dretzko, Soren	Germany
Miller, Foss	Newhall, Greg	USA
Miller, Jed	Rathkopf, Charley	USA	Green Star Champion
Morton, Gregg	Mitchell, Gary	USA
Murray, Iain	Palfrey, Andrew	Australia
Nelson, Byron	Nelson, David	USA
Parada, Guillermo	Peterson, Cristian	Argentina	Silver Star Champion
Pegel, Susie	George, Tom	USA	Blue Star Champion - District 5 and Silver Chevron
Perce, Hyde	Nevel, Chuck	USA
Percy, Iain	Mitchell, Steven	England
Poggi, Giampiero	Stilo, Giovanni	Italy
Presti, Philippe	Saliou, Jean Philippe	France
Rasmaussen, Christian	Orsted, Peter	Denmark
Reynolds, Mark	Liljedahl, Magnus	USA	2 Gold Stars 2000 & 1995 Star Class World Champion; 2000 & 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist, and 1988 Olympic Silver Medalist - Star Class
Rickard, Jack	Carlson, Bob	USA	District 4 Champion
Rohart, Xavier	Adde, Yannick	France
Schmidt, Reinhard	Wolfram, Jochen	Germany
Schulz, Axe	Falke, Kai-Uwe	Germany
Sevestre,Paul-Ambroise	Berenguier, Vincent	France
Shiebler, Howie	Peters, Richard	USA	Blue Star Champion
Simoneschi, Riccardo	Colaninno, Ferdinando	Italy
Skipwith, Marc	TBD	Switzerland
Smith, Douglas	Dalton, Martin	USA
Spitzauer, Hans	Brenner, Wolfgang	Austria	Blue Star Champion
Sprout, Barrett	Sprout, Randy	USA
Staartjes, Ben	Vandenberg, Ko	Netherlands	2 Silver Chevrons
Steele, Doug	Schmidt, Richard	USA
Stephenson, Nelson	Norris, Scott	USA	Green Star Champion
Sustronk, Paul	Wolf, Mike	Canada	Blue Star Champion
Swigart, William	Beek, Carroll	USA
Szabo, George	Sperry, Austin	USA	Silver Star Champion
Tamburini, Antonio	Ricci, Antonio Renzo	Italy	Silver Cheveron
Teitge, Robert	TBD	USA
Treacy, Maxwell	Shanks, R. Anthony	Ireland
Tusch, Frank	Gerber, Jan	Germany
Van Der Ploeg, Jose Maria	Fructuoso Perez, Diego	Spain
Vassilev, Nedko	Erickson, Paul	Bulgaria
Vessella, Peter	Faith, Brian	USA	3 Silver Chevrons
Virtue, John	Connolly, Myles	USA	3 Silver Chevrons
Walker, Ian	Williams, Nick	Australia
Watt, Dave	Dunn, Alex	USA	Blue Star Champion
Weiler, Herman	Breitlow, Klaus	Germany	4 Silver Bars
Westerheide, Jorge	Blew, Dylan	Germany	4 Silver Bars
Whipple, Larry	Jensen, Darin	USA	Gold Chevron