The first day of Star Sailors League finals on yachts of «class Star» has finished in Montgau Bay in Nassau (Bahamas). Russia is represented in the regatta by the crew of Atlanta Olympics silver medallist Georgy Shaiduko with multiple Russian champion Alexander Zybin as helmsman. They are competing against three Volvo Ocean Race skippers, winners of the America's Cup, Olympic medalists and world champions.
The competition on the water is so tough that, following the results of the first day of racing, the French sailing legend, winner of the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race Frank Camma topped the standings. Frank Camma and 23-rd place - two-time Olympic champion, the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 and European champion this year in the class «Star» Thorben Grael. The Russian crew according to the results of the first two races is in 22nd place.
«All in a struggle, in a fight. Not getting the starts so far. Two starts and both have sagged. Probably, we are still afraid of starts, - George Shaiduko commented on the results of the first day of the regatta. - We lack crew coordination, especially on a full-course. We see that we`re slacking, therefore we need to speed up. The mistakes are more or less clear, we have some work to do».
We raced two races in the relatively stable 12-15 knot wind with gusts up to 18 knots. The first race was won by Americans Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih.
They were five lengths ahead of their closest rivals on the top mark and didn't lose their lead until the end of the race. The crews of Brazilian Olympic legend Robert Scheidt and Olympic champion from Poland Mateusz Kusniherecki caught up with the group of leaders by the upper-mark. Scheidt was able to overtake second going Briton Paul Goodison, who is racing with German legend Fridzhof Klin. Goodison / Klin eventually finished third. Kusnierecki finished the first race in fourth place.
«It's a good wind today, it takes a lot of strength to surf," says Mark Mendelblatt. - Some opponents are going very hard, others are going fast, we are holding steady for now. I want to note, that finishers, guys who can work with the mainsail, today was the most interesting and effective».
The winners of the second race were Xavier Rochart and Pierre-Alexis Ponceau, the current leaders of Star Sailors League. The Frenchmen went right at the top mark and avoided penalty turns at the last mark, unlike many others, including the Mendelblatt/Fatih crew, who were also in the lead group. Second place went to the crew of Olympic champion from Poland Mateusz Kusnierecki, while third place went to Robert Scheidt's boat.
«It was a very interesting match race, we made a decision to stay outside on the top mark and went to the right," said Pierre-Alexis Ponceau. - We were looking for some space and trying to go around the inruns, we worked with our sails all the time and even though it was hard for us to find a stable wind today, we had to spin a lot, but in the end we were able to finish the second race first».
As a result, Robert Scheidt / Henry Bowning took first place after two races, Mateusz Kusnierevich / Dominik Zacki took second, and Mark Mendelblatt / Brian Fatih took third place.
Four races are scheduled for today and can be watched live on the Star Sailors League website.
