Star - In Brief

MadforSailing takes a quick look at the Star, Olympic two-man keelboat

The Star is the Olympic fleet racing keelboat. A classic one design, with simple hard chine hull, it's only normally sailed in the UK by Olympic aspirants, but is a very popular racing boat worldwide.

The large main-to-small jib combination is set on a tall mast with complex rigging, all of which requires considerable tuning and practice to sail well. Crew weights are now limited to prevent extremes. The Star has the reputation of being a lake boat in Europe, but is sailed in all conditions by the huge fleets in North and South America.

The international circuit, particularly in the Americas, is very well organized and extensive. Perhaps strangely, but UK crews have been very successful in the class at the Olympics despite the lack of organized competition here.