Foto copyright Marcelo Rhenius/Regattapix
Robert Scheidt y Bruno Prada
Fuente info Star Worlds
Star World Championship starts this Saturday, with 11 champions
The 2010 Star World Championship, hosted at the Yacht Club of Rio de Janeiro (ICRJ), will start this Saturday. The first regatta of the event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. This will be the only race inside Guanabara Bay. All five other races will take place in open sea, close to Rasa Island, across from Copacabana Beach.
The official opening ceremony took place under a drizzle this Friday morning at the ICRJ, in the presence of representatives of the Yacht club, the Sailing Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Sail and Motor Boat Confederation, the Brazilian Olympic Committee, the City of Rio de Janeiro, the State Government of Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian Navy, in addition to sponsors and supporters of the event.
Gold Stars – The Star class is one of the most respected Olympic sailing categories as it demands great technical and tactical skill from its helmsmen and crew. Confirmed Star world champions competing in this event include Brazilians Alan Adler (1989), Torben Grael (1990), Marcelo Ferreira (1990 and 1997), Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (2007), as well as US sailors George Szabo and Rick Peters (2009), Canadian Ross MacDonald (1997), Frenchman Xavier Rohart (2003 and 2005), British sailor Iain Percy (2002) and Swedish sailor Fredrik Loof (2001 and 2004). They will all display a gold star in their sail to symbolize their world titles.
Eighty-one teams from 20 countries are entered to compete in the race. By Friday afternoon, 71 boats had been confirmed. One team was still waiting to have their sails measured. Even though all measuring and weighing had been completed on Thursday, the organization made an exception to accommodate a team whose equipment was delayed during shipment from Italy to Brazil.
The event requires four regattas to qualify as a World Championship. If more than four regattas are completed, only the four best results will count. Each race will be 8 to 10 nautical miles long (approx. 12.8-16 km). Each leg (distance between each buoy) of the race will be at least 2 nautical miles long (3.2 km).
The Yacht Club of Rio de Janeiro (ICRJ) celebrates its 90th birthday in 2010 and will host the Star World Championship for the fourth time – also hosting the event in 1960, 1980 and 1996. Since September, it has been the host of Brazil’s major sailing events: the Match Race Brazil, the Clipper Regatta, the round world race, Santos-Rio, Rio Circuit, Royal Thames, South American Star Championship, Chocolates Nestlé Match Cup and now the Star World Championship
