Louay Habib blog on day 2 of the SSL Lake Grand Slam
by Louay Habib 10 Sep 2015 19:13 BST
8-12 September 2015
Cream rises to the top
Lake Neuchatel provided another fascinating encounter for the impressive line-up on the second day of the regatta. The wind strength was up and down all day, ranging from 5-15 knots and the wind direction was twitching through a 30 degree axis with bullets of pressure putting the Grandson side in phase and lulls in pressure favouring the Neuchatel side of the lake – Classic conditions prevailed. 68 teams are racing for the Star Sailors League Lake Grand Slam and 12 of the sailors are Olympic medallist. After seven keenly fought contests, the cream is rising to the top. The top 11 teams have either won Olympic Gold or World Championships, except for one, the leaders.
Mark Mendelblatt & Brian Fatih are top of the leader board and also the top ranked team of the Star Sailors League. So what exactly is that? The SSL ranking takes into account all of the Star Regattas around the world over a season, roughly 200 of them. Similar to the ATP Tennis Tour, the skipper and the crew get ranking points and the top teams make the SSL Final in Nassau, Bahamas in December. The prize purse for the SSL Final is $250,000 and the winners take home $40,000 of that pot in cold cash.
Michel Niklaus, a Star sailor himself, is the man behind it all. His vision is for 100 sailors to be taking home Prize Money from 5 Grand Slam Events, all supported by sponsorship. The concept is to put the athletes in the headlights rather than the sponsors... think about it – that is what happens in football and motor racing.
More details on the SSL web site but in the meantime, if you want to see how to sail a Star downwind, check out Brian Fatih's master class in the latest video. Brian Fatih is a highly talented sailor but his demeanour is just as impressive, Baloo the Bear has nothing on this giant of a man. Ashore he is a gentle giant but put him on the Star and he turns into grizzly bear.
Mark Mendelblatt races just about anything he can get his hands on. Off the water, Mendelblatt is a family man and has flown to Switzerland with his wife family. After winning junior USA national championships in just about anything that floats, he won Silver for the USA in the 2004 Laser World Championships before moving into the Star with Brian. Winning the Star Europeans in 2006 and Bronze at the Star World Championships in 2011. Melges 32 titles, RORC Caribbean 600 win... I could go on. Mendelblatt cut his teeth in the Laser and watching his Star hull downwind, flick up and roll out of the water, hanging to leeward gives the trait away. The pair look to be going from strength to strength; Mark and Brian won the SSL Final in Nassau last December.
Seven races have been sailed at the SSL Lake Grand Slam and Mark Mendelblatt & Brian Fatih have only been out of top ten once. Racing against 12 Olympic medallist, that statistic is very impressive but so are Brian and Mark. Affable and sociable off the water but highly competitive combination on the water.
Just two races left tomorrow before 57 teams get eliminated and the top 11 go on to the knock-out stages. The top 20 teams will share the prize purse of $100,000, with the winner taking home a cool $25000. The live feed will be back on www.yachtsandyachting.com just after 0900 (EST) with Virtual Eye, on the water cameras and expert commentary.
For more information visit the official SSL website swissopen.starsailors.com