SSL Finals 2015 in Nassau ready to kick off

All set for the Star Sailors League Finals in Nassau © Star Sailors League

Star Sailors League Finals in Nassau © Star Sailors League

All set for the Star Sailors League Finals in Nassau © Star Sailors League

Racing will start on December 2nd for the Star Sailors League Finals in Nassau, Bahamas. For the third year in a row, some of the best sailors in the world will compete for the 2015 title and prize money of $200,000 in the clear blue waters in front of Nassau Yacht Club.

As always the quality of athletes competing is astounding, ten of the teams are here as top ranked Star sailors, based on the Star Class regattas held in 2015 around the world, and the remaining ten are VIPs from the world of sailing.

9 Olympic Medallists

• GER Jochen Schümann (3x Gold & 1x Silver)
• POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz (1x Gold & 1x Bronze)
• BRA Bruno Prada (1x Silver & 1x Bronze)
• CYP Pavlos Kontides (1x Silver)
• USA Brian Ledbetter(1x Silver)
• GER Ingo Borkowski (1x Silver)
• BRA Lars Grael (2x Bronze)
• FRA Xavier Rohart (1x Bronze)
• FRA Pascal Rambeau (1x Bronze)

• USA Paul Cayard (World Champion in Star & Winner of LVC & 1x VOR)
• GBR Ian Williams (5x World Champion in Match Racing)
• GER Robert Stanjek (World Champion in Star)
• USA George Szabo (World Champion in Star)
• NZL Hamish Pepper (World Champion in Star)
• BRA Jorge Zarif (World Champion in Finn)
• GBR Steve Mitchell (World Champions in Star and Etchells)

• GER Johannes Polgar (European Champion in Tornado and in Star)
• CRO Ivan Gaspic (European Champion in Finn)
• ITA Diego Negri (European Champion in Star)
• USA Augie Diaz (North American Champion)

• GBR Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini (Laser - Winner of Qingdao World Cup)

SSL has developed a new racing format, in collaboration with some of the most experienced and skilled sailors of the world. The main goal of this format is to build the tension and excitement of the racing fans. The athletes truly believe that the SSL racing format completely fulfills this objective without spoiling the nature of sailing as a sport. The introduction of a knockout system inspired by the "play-offs" helps to increase the pressure and ends in the ultimate climax, a "winner-takes-all" Final.

The regatta will start with the Opening Ceremony held at the Nassau Yacht Club on Tuesday December the 1st and on Wednesday morning the 20 teams will leave the docks and head to the racecourse.

Final Day

The top 11 teams qualify for the Final Day on Saturday December 5th, which will be raced in a knock-out format. All the action will be streamed live via the Internet and include TV interviews with competitors.

10 teams contest the quarter-final in a single race between teams ranked from 2nd to 11th in the qualifications rounds (the winner of the qualification rounds receives a bye). The semi-final is another single race between the top six from the quarter-final, plus the winner of the qualification rounds. The final features the top four teams from the semi-final in a single race. The winner will be crowned as winner of the 2015 SSL Finals, together with the biggest share of the prize fund.

Live Coverage

Full coverage of all four days of action will be streamed live on the Internet with expert commentary from special studio guests, including Dennis Conner. On the water, the latest in hi-tech camera technology, as well as Virtual Eye 3D Graphics, will provide thrilling viewing. Armchair sailors can also race the course with Virtual Regatta.

Since our audience is present in all parts of the globe, Internet will be our stadium. Even though the tension of a true arena cannot be recreated virtually, new technologies do have other advantages.

From December 2nd to 5th, regattas will be streamed live on finals.starsailors.com. A complete live video stream of the races as well as additional insights provided by the state-of-the-art tracking system developed by Virtual Eye for the America's Cup will allow people from over the world to follow their favourites and to cheer for them. Many prestigious sailing websites around the globe will also share our live broadcast on their homepage.

Virtual Regatta

Thanks to the leader in the domain of virtual sailing, anyone with an Internet connection will be able to take part to the virtual version of the SSL Lake Grand Slam through the "Virtual Regatta" edition that already seduced more than 1,000,000 players.