Star Sailors League Finals Day 1 report by Paul Cayard
by Paul Cayard 6 Dec 2017 06:57 GMT
5-9 December 2017
Star Sailors League Finals - Day 1 © Paul Cayard
The Star Sailors League got underway today with two races in 12 knots from the east. The competition has never been tougher here, or maybe anywhere. No other sailing event puts 25 World Champions Olympic medalists, offshore champions together in one fleet on one race track. See the entry list on www.StarSailors.com.
Phil and I had a decent day with a 8, 13. We had very good speed upwind and struggled a bit downwind. We are working hard on our downwind speed and have improved since Saturday when we first starting training. There are a few Gold Medal Laser and Finn sailors here and they can really go downwind! There is plenty of sailing left so hopefully we can continue to improve through the week.
Robert Scheidt had the best day while Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) also had a good day and had it not been for a foul at the top mark in the second race, they may have been in the lead having won the first race easily. I can't tell you how deep this fleet is. Just look at the scores. It wouldn't be hard to finish last in one of these races.
Four races are on the cards for tomorrow. The forecast is for 15 knots from the east-southeast which makes for perfect sailing in this 78 degree water.
The format for the SSL Finals is four days of "qualifying" followed by the quarter finals, semifinals and finals on the 5th day, Saturday. The races are lived streamed. Follow the SSL finals on www.starsailors.com and Starsailors on Facebook and Twitter.
I am really happy to be here sailing with my Olympic team mate Phil Trinter, to be amongst this great group of sailors, fighting for every inch on the race course. These are the good old days!
finals.starsailors.com