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The
2003 Star North Americans As everybody knows by now, Paul Cayard won the Star North Americans this week in San Francisco. Paul sailed an excellent regatta and left no doubt that he and Phil were the best of the 40 teams on the water this week. Freddy Loof and Mark Reynolds were consistent enough to finish second and third, but the racing all week was really between Cayard and Howie Shiebler. Many of the other US Olympic hopefuls in attendance had disappointing regattas. With the US Olympic Trials only a few months away, no team stands out as a shoo-in for the American slot. Looking at the performances and current status of the top teams, I would say Cayard, Reynolds, and Shiebler are the top tier of American teams. The NA's was the last championship regatta before the trials and was a must-sail for anyone seriously expecting to make the Olympic Team. For this reason, the absence of John Kostecki raised many eyebrows. Kostecki's crew, Austin Sperry, was present, but sailing with someone else. No one knows what is going on with the guy. Whatever it is, his program has seemingly fallen apart. On and off the water, the St. Francis did an amazing job at organizing the event. If you consider that the St. Francis hosted the J105 NA's, Big Boat Series, Melges Worlds, and Star NA's almost back-to-back, it really highlights how good they are at hosting championship regattas. John Craig, Annika Leersen and the other team members at the St. Francis race office have pulled off quite an accomplishment and have probably proven themselves to be the best race management group in the country. Particularly note worthy was how well they communicated with the competitors. John Craig and Chris Shining did an especially good job at letting us know what the RC was thinking during the race delays each day. They were often seen running through the club and parking lot to give us regular status updates. The only griping that was heard during the week was regarding boat measurement. Typically at the NA's boats are not measured and sailors only have a weigh-in and safety check. The organizers took this a step further and included sail measurement, which added a lot of complexity to the registration process. Boat measurement was also supposed to be done, but dropped as a requirement at the last minute. The NA's marked the debut of Philippe Khan in the Starboat. The Pegasus boys sure do put on a good show. It seemed that half the guys walking around the yard were Team Pegasus people and 1/3 of the cars in the lot had the team logo stamped on them. It was quite comical to watch the team assemble Philippe's Starboat. He had 5-7 guys; including two world champions assemble his boat for him. I am not sure why such an entourage is necessary but word on the dock was that the team included a masseuse. In the old days, Star sailors would head out to the Tenderloin with $20 to get those sorts of needs serviced. Several days into the regatta tragedy struck Team Pegasus. It would seem that Freddy Loof was not informed of which uniform to wear that day and wore the wrong Team Pegasus gear. This minor gaffe created tremendous distress for Philippe's handlers. At one point a cry of desperation was heard - "Would somebody please include Freddy on the email distribution list?" Ultimately the incident was a joke on Freddy who apparently was indeed confused about which uniform should be worn on what day. Team Pegasus didn't perform as well as they probably hoped, however Khan always seemed to be with the fleet and was never flushed out the back. Philippe seemed to have problems at picking off boats one at a time, essential for success in this class. Philippe is certainly a welcome addition to the class, but you cannot improve your performance unless you interact with your fellow competitors and learn what they did to sail out from underneath you and so on. So it was surprising that Philippe was a ghost all week. He did not show up for the skippers meeting, attend a single social function, including the rewards, or represent himself when protested by the RC. With a Star boat fleet that is soon to number 8+ boats, and the kind of coaching he is willing to pay for, there is no doubt Philippe will improve in the future. But ultimately, he will hit a brick wall unless he starts to interact with other sailors to understand what they are doing. The first day of racing was on the Berkley Circle. The wind quickly built to around 17 knots, but suddenly dropped to about 6 on the first run and then gradually built up again to 15 by the finish. The conditions were very trying and we went through more gear shifts in that single race than most would do in an entire regatta. The sail home from that Circle was long, cold and wet with many boats not getting in until dusk and some teams not getting their boats put away until almost 9PM. Howie Shiebler, the North American Protector dealer, had to love that trip home as everyone who had to sail in was mumbling about buying a Protector. Race day two was on the City Front with two races scheduled. An extended on the dock delay meant that we would only get a single race off. The wind eventually filled in to around 12 knots and everyone was much happier to have the shorter trip home. Going into Day 3, the RC was a race behind and many sailors were worried about possibly having to use the reserve day to get six races in. The RC very wisely switched courses from the Berkley Circle to City Front for this day. After another delay we finally got out on the water and the RC was able to get both races in. The wind filled in to 15 knots. A scandal of sorts emerged at the finish of Race 3 when Philippe Khan was involved in a collision causing damage to his boat and another competitor's. Rather than personally speak with that competitor and represent himself at the subsequent protest hearing, Philippe sent one of his professional sailors to represent him. When you are the skipper of a boat involved in a collision where damage has occurred, you damn well better represent yourself to the other team and before the jury. Philippe walked away from the collision and left his representatives to sort the issue out. Bad Form! Day four looked ugly from the beginning. Heavy fog lay over the entire SF Bay. After an hour delay waiting for the fog to lift we got out to the course only to have the fog roll back in for another on water delay. Eventually the fog lifted enough to start the race and we got off in 18 knots. It was a very exciting race with many place changes and close sailing. Before the sixth and final race the wind really started to come in and built to 22+ knots on top of an ebb tide. This was beyond the comfort range of several teams and some chose to head home early. For those who remained we had an incredibly exciting race especially the downwind legs, which were becoming survival conditions. Surprisingly only a single rig was lost. At one mark rounding a new hail was heard - "I need room, I am out of control!" Overall
everyone had a great time and we look forward to more racing at the St.
Francis. At this point there is only one event remaining on the West Coast
Star Circuit and everything packs off to Florida for the winter circuit
in Miami starting in November. |
