One Up

Hey buddy, you think you've got it tough? Think you've got obstacles to overcome? Sit down, read this, and shut the hell up. - Ed

After 6 races, with his bowman Marco Lagoa, Lars Grael, (Torben's brother, and two time Olympic medalist) won the South American Star Championship, held in Buenos Aires from January 5th to the 9th. They defeated 24 other competitors, including Robert Scheidt, who had an impressive record sailing Stars last year, after winning the Laser Gold in Athens.

It could be another boring regatta report, but it has one detail that you might find to be slightly interesting. Lars lost one leg and almost died when his Tornado crashed with a powerboat in 1998.

We were amused when he came back to sailing and won races in IMS and some club races in the Star. I was personally impressed when I saw him climbing in his boat faster than his bowman. But nobody expected that he could come back as a top level sailor. He now is planning to quit his job as a government officer in 2006 and prepare a Olympic campaign for 2008. People here are curious to see the Olympic trials, since Robert Scheidt also has plans to do his campaign sailing Stars.

-Luciano Secchin

Photo by Renata Grael, Lars's wife.

1/11/05