Star North Americans

Cayard, Loof, Reyolds et al descend upon St Francisco's St Francis YC this weekend

The Stars return to San Francisco this weekend with the North American championships, starting tomorrow and running through to Tuesday, 20 October.

Nearly 50 boats are expected to take part in the six race Keane North American championship series for the Olympic keelboat. Sailing from the docks of St. Francis Yacht Club, will be local sailing favorites Paul Cayard and software titan Phillipe Kahn, as well as four-time Star boat Olympian racing legend Mark Reynolds.

The Star is one of the most prolific and enduring racing sailboats in the world. Designed in 1911, it boasts a large, powerful sail plan and sleek, light weight hull that can accelerate on the faintest breeze or manhandle the Bay’s 25-knot winds. It is the oldest Olympic sailing class, first used in Los Angeles, 1932, and now part of the upcoming Olympic Games in Greece, 2004, and in Beijing, 2008. The Star class is widely regarded as one of the best organised in sailing with over 7,500 boats built over its 80-year history and more than 2,000 actively racing today.

Many of the world's top sailors have been involved in the Star class. Its list of former World Champions reads like a who's who of yacht racing. These include Colin Beashel, Mats Johansson, Hans Vogt, Benny Anderson, Rod Davis and Bay Area favorite Mark Reynolds, who last Year bested a 52-boat fleet in the 2002 Keane Star North American championship held on Lake Sunapee, N.H.

This year’s 2003 Keane Star North Americans will feature an estimated 48 boats from four countries. Prizes will be awarded to the top five finishers overall and daily prizes will be awarded to the skipper and crew finishing first place in each day’s racing. Sailing within the fleet will be a 'Master’s Division' of veteran skippers, aged 50 to 59, who will compete for additional honors.

One of the favourites for the championship will be Sweden's Freddie Loof, the currently number one in the Star world rankings.

"I have come 5th twice and picked up the bronze once, in Finn. In sailing Star the conditions are different, but I have never before felt so charged and self confident as I do now", says Loof, 33, who collected the silver medal in the Star World Championship in Cadiz, Spain, a month ago. "The performance from me and my crew Anders Ekström the last two years have been good and we are in very good shape, both physically and mentally. That sets a good platform for the tough time ahead," he continues.

Racing on San Francisco Bay is scheduled as follows:

Saturday, October 18 - Race 1 - 2:30 p.m. on the “Berkeley Circle,” an area popular among San Francisco’s racing sailors two miles west of Berkeley, Calif., and extends half way to Alcatraz Island.
Sunday, October 19 - Races 2 and 3 - 11.00am on the “City Front,” which offers close views from the shore from Pier 39 to Fort Mason to the Marina Green to Crissy Field beach.
Monday, October 20 - Races 4 and 5 -- 11:00 a.m. on the Berkeley Circle.
Tuesday, October 21 - Final race 6 -- 11:00 a.m. on the City Front.

	Skipper	Crew	Country	Yacht Club	Sail #
1	Iain Murray	Andrew Palfrey	Australia	Royal Prince Alfred YC	AUS 8140
2	Frederik Loof	Anders Ekstrom	Sweden	KSSS	SWE 8141
3	Flavio Marazzi	Enrico De Maria	Switzerland	Thunersea YC	SUI 8085
4	John Finch	David Caesar	Canada	Lake Onterio Canadian	CAN7609
5	Brian Cramer	Len Delicaat	Canada	Sernia YC	CAN7703
6	Dennis Burgess	Dave Kershaw	Canada	Royal Vancouver YC	CAN7451
7	Ross MacDonald	Kai Bjorn	Canada	Royal Vancouver YC	CAN 8168
8	Paul Sustronk	Mike Watts	Canada	Oakville YC	Can 8111
9	Mike Milner		Canada	Royal Canadian YC	CAN 7940
10	Doug Schofield	Robert Schofield	USA	Buzzards Bay YC	USA 8131
11	Arthur Anosov	Peter Coirson	USA	Tampa Bay YC	UKR 7640
12	Fotis Boliakis	Keith Gardner	USA	Cedar Point YC	USA 7465
13	John MacCausland	Bard Nichol	USA	Cooper River YC	USA 8113
14	Terry Hutchinson	Andrew Scott	USA	Annapolis YC	USA 7933
15	Kevin McNeil	Seth Mininger	USA	Annapolis YC	USA 8087
16	Philippe Kahn	Mark Christensen	USA	Waikiki YC	USA 8006
17	Andy Lovell	Ben Montgomery	USA	Southern YC	USA 8061
18	Bill Allen		USA		USA 1986
19	Bill Buchan	Mark Brink	USA	Seattle YC	USA7996
20	Carl Buchan	Hugo Schreiner	USA	Corinthinan YC Seattle	USA 7405
21	Foss Miller	Greg Newhall	USA	Corinthian Seattle YC	USA7844
22	Rick Merriman	Bill Bennett	USA	San Diego YC	USA 8082
23	Mark Reynolds	Magnus Liljedahl	USA	San Diego YC	USA 8129
24	George Szabo	Mark Strube	USA	San Diego YC	USA 7995
25	Andrew Macdonald	TBD	USA	Newport Harbor YC	USA 7784
26	Jorg Westerheide		USA	South Shore YC	USA 7710
27	William Fields	Jacob Bick	USA	Newport Harbor YC	USA 7979
28	Barton Beek	Chris Roberts	USA	Newport Harbor YC	USA 7985
29	Jim Buckingham	Joel Kew	USA	Newport Harbor YC	USA8041
30	Eric Doyle	Rodrigo Meireles	USA	San Diego YC	USA 8163
31	Erik Lideis	Dan Roehl	USA	Bahia Corinthian YC	USA 7631
32	Steve Brown	Mike Marzahl	USA	Bahia Corinthian YC	USA 7042
33	Doug Steele	Craig Steele	USA	California YC	USA 7838
34	Marc Skipwith	Jeep Heckman	USA	California YC	USA 7663
35	Rick Peters	TBD	USA	California YC	USA 7942
36	Elisabeth Newell	Matt McCloskey	USA	Santa Monica YC	USA 7737
37	Doug Smith	Jon Rogers	USA	Menauhant YC	USA 8072
38	Richard Pearce	TBD	USA	San Francisco YC	USA 7531
39	Scot Merrick	Don Taylor	USA	St.Francis YC	USA4103
40	Peter Vessella	Brian Fatih	USA	St.Francis YC	USA8059
41	Rodney Daniel	Matt Wachowicz	USA	Golden Gate YC	AUS 7310
42	Dale Hoffman	Robert Ferro	USA		USA 7254
43	Howie Shiebler	TBD	USA	New York YC	USA8077
44	Nedko Vassilev	Roberto Giramonti	USA	TISC	BUL 7437
45	John Virtue	Austin Sperry	USA	Balboa YC	USA 7862
46	Steve Gould	Bill Kreysler	USA	St. Francis YC	USA 7612
47	Paul Cayard	Phil Trinter	USA	St. Francis YC	USA 8159
48	Claude Bonanni		USA	Davis Island YC
49	Bill Abbott	Brad Boston	USA