2001 North American Championships - Milford, Connecticut, USA
Regatta Report
26 August 2001 - Patience, Perseverance and Luck Rule the Day
Opening day for the 61-boat fleet of the Keane 2001 Star Class North American Championship required patience, perseverance, and a bit of luck. Olympic gold medalists Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl grabbed the top spot by only 8 seconds in a tight duel with San Diego fleet mate George Szabo III and George Iverson in the challenging and frustrating conditions on Long Island Sound. The race committee granted a one-hour starting delay, which could have easily been extended to the entire morning as crews lazed under a bright sun and flat calm in the waters of Long Island Sound. Two hours passed before the tease of a south-easterly appeared on the Long Island shore. With a solid 6 knots from 140 degrees on an incoming tide, only one general recall was needed to officially get racing underway 3-1/2 hours past the scheduled start time and just inside the deadline for cancellation.
For race committee chairman Alan Pritchard, “the challenge of the day was not finding the breeze but keeping track of it.” A 70-degree wind shift and a building breeze awaited the fleet at the top mark leaving the race committee without time to signal a course change. Kevin Hall/ Craig Mark (Annapolis) led around the mark followed by Bill Allen /Brian Fatih (WH), George Szabo/ George Iverson (San Diego), Canadians Paul Sustronk/ John Finch and Larry Whipple/ Mark Strube. Olympic gold medalists Mark Reynolds & Magnus Liljedahl rounded 7th. What should have been a run turned into a fast reach as the fleet compressed in the building southerly providing big gains to crews who took advantage of riding the waves.
The west coast teams set the pace as Szabo/ Iverson surfed from fourth to first with Reynolds/ Liljedahl in second place followed by Hall/ mark and Whipple/ Strube. Milford sailors John Lombard/ Keith Gardner (7728) rounded fifth. As the southerly breeze increased to 16-18 knots, the race committee signaled a course change to 2010 for the second beat to windward. The race leaders set off on a long port tack while several boats split onto starboard in search of a clear lane in the lumpy conditions. At the next rounding, Reynolds/ Liljedahl led by 10 seconds over Szabo/ Iverson who battled with a broken outhaul wire while Bill Allen/ Brian Fatih maintained a third place followed by Vince Brun/ Rick Peters (7956) and John MacCausland/ Sean Delaney. The frustration of a broken compass left Bermuda’s Peter Bromby/ Martin Siese to rely on boat positioning and speed. Taking a clearing hitch at the bottom mark paid huge with Bromby picking off 10 boats rounding in 8th place.
On the final leg the duel between Reynolds and Szabo intensified as crews used boat trim and body weight to squeeze the most speed from their boats while pressing to the finish line. The gun sounded giving Reynolds/ Liljedahl the 8 second margin over Szabo/ Iverson. Rounding out the top five boats were MacCausland/ Delaney, Allen/ Fatih, and Brun/ Peters.
Back on shore, Mark Reynolds commented on the racing and the level of competition. “It was a long day, and our boat speed came on when the breeze picked up. We worked the boat a little harder on the reach.” Asked about the competition Reynolds said, “There are always a lot of really good sailors, and this is the best fleet put together for the North Americans.” Day one was a long one, but in the minds of competitors and race committee alike, getting the first race “in the bag” was well worth the wait.
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27 August 2001 - Hall/ Monk Dominate Round the Cans
The breeze was a tease on the second day of racing in the Keane 2001 Star Class North American Championship on the waters of Long Island Sound off Milford Harbor. For crews who anticipated the continuation of the southerly that filled after a 3 ½ hour delay on Sunday and remained through the night, by race time, the breeze had dropped to 5 knots under a sunny sky. Kevin Hall/ Craig Monk (AN) and Ben Cesare/ David Curtis (Mid) dominated racing today by leading at all marks on the 5-leg windward/ leeward course. Following the start both boats dove for the right side, which paid smartly on the first beat to the top mark. In the 61-boat fleet that includes Olympic medalists, America’s Cup veterans, past North American and World champs, finding a passing lane on the predominately light-air course was akin to finding a cab at rush hour in Manhattan.
Following closely behind Hall/ Monk and Cesare/ Curtis were Vince Brun/ Rick Peters and George Szabo III/ George Iverson, second place finishers in Sunday’s race. Over all leaders Mark Reynolds/ Magnus Liljedahl rounded the top mark in 11th place. There were few lead changes among the top 10 boats at the bottom mark, with 7 seconds separating Hall/ Monk and Cesare/ Curtis. A 50-degree left-hand shift and a slight breeze increase in the breeze meant very little time on starboard tack and a long procession on port tack to the top mark. With the breeze a steady 8, Hall/ Monk increased their lead to 25 seconds showing excellent speed on the rounding followed by Cesare/ Curtis, Watt/ Jensen, Szabo/ Iverson, and moving into 5th place was the team of Reynolds/ Liljedahl.
In a repeat of Sunday’s racing, the set-up for the finale began to unfold on the final leg as the lead boats again headed right. The dominant duo of Hall/ Monk maintained their lead and covered Cesare/ Curtis. Appearing to point higher and sailing with speed, Reynolds/ Liljedahl were side by side with Szabo/ Iverson, forcing them to tack approximately 2/3 the way up the beat. As the breeze became lighter approaching the finish, Hall/ Monk maintained their lead crossing first just in front of Cesare/ Curtis. The battle for third was underway as Watt/ Jensen sailed on the port tack layline with Reynolds/ Liljedahl on starboard. As they crossed, Reynolds/ Liljedahl slipped ahead finishing 10 seconds in front of Watt/ Jensen with Szabo/ Iverson only 5 seconds behind. Rounding out the top ten were Brun/ Peters, Doug & Robert Schofield (7876) and Schiebler/ Sharpe (8096).
An approaching front escorted the fleet in from the racecourse with rain, thunder and lightning. Gathered under the roof of the club snack bar, race leaders swapped stories. Kevin Hall, who resides in Bowie, Maryland but is currently moving to Auckland, NZ via the One World America’s Cup Challenge based in Seattle commented, “Our goals was to finish in the top ten. This is the first couple of regattas racing in the Star.” Joined by Craig Monk, a bronze medalist in the 1992 Olympic games held in Barcelona, Spain and better knows as part of the 1998 America’s cup winning Team New Zealand crew, also joins Kevin Hall as part of the One World crew.
In the overall standings, Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl hold the top spot with 4 points. Asked about their speed and ability to climb from an 11th position to finish 3rd for the day, Reynolds “We sailed a little higher and worked a little harder to pick up a couple of boats on each leg.” Trailing Reynolds/ Liljedahl by a mere 3 points are San Diego fleet mates George Szabo III/ George Iverson followed by Hall/ Monk with 8 points and Vince Brun/ Rick Peters with 11 points. Racing resumes on Tuesday at 1200 (EST) with another light-air day expected. Four races remain in the 6-race series.
29 August 2001 - Long Days Deliver Trying Conditions
Following Tuesday’s race abandonment for falling outside 3 ½ hour time limit and feeling pressure by the lack of dependable breeze, the race committee called for a 10:00 a.m. start on day 4 in the hope of locking in 2 races in the Keane 2001 Star Class North America Championship. An early dock start sent competitors out to Long Island Sound in a northerly breeze, only to arrive at the course area as the breeze went into shut-down mode. The wait for wind is part of the daily ritual for the 61-boat fleet, so when the gun sounded, aggressive starters were called back in a general recall for another race delay as the dying northerly was replaced by the predicted southerly. At 1130, the race gun was sounded for a four-leg windward leeward course in 4-8 knots of breeze.
There are two distinguishable trends in the series so far; light and right. The jump off the start line can make the difference between finding a spot at the top or settling into the “cheap seats”. For George Szabo/ George Iverson from San Diego, consistency in getting to the right fast has produced a top mark rounding of top 5 and a front row seat, winning race #3. Szabo/ Iverson approached the starboard tack lay line while keeping a watchful eye on the pack. “Helming” George had a look through the mainsail window and said to “hiking” George, “Oh God George, I got a problem.” Sailing on a collision course with a tugboat towing a large barge and not seeing an easy exit, the team pointed a little higher then reached off to avoid the obstruction. Watching the fleet close in as they sailed through the prop “washing machine” produced a few anxious moments. They rounded the top mark approximately 100 yards ahead of the pack and maintained their position in the next 3 legs.
Seven starters were not so lucky as they rounded the top mark only to be giver the heave-ho by the race committee for being over early. For local sailors Bear Hovey/ Roger Sharpe (7890), the word came from Bear’s dad, race committee member Dick (The Dicker) Hovey. Joining Bear was another local sailor, Peter Cusick/ Tyler Hadden (7371). Back onshore, both were frustrated at their day’s performance, but still maintained a great sense of humor. With finishes of 12 and 30 for the first two races, Bear commented, “it’s frustrating, we were near the committee boat and wanted a good start. We’re finished for the week in the results, but were going to keep racing hard, it’s such a great fleet and were having fun.”
The level of talent at the North Americans is stellar to say the least. The elimination of the 3-person Soling from the Olympic sailing classes has started a trend of top sailors to jump into the Star. Thomas Gogh, son of sailing legend Hans Fogh, is one. This is the second regatta for Fogh/ Caesar (7802) and their experience racing other one design’s is accelerating the learning curve in the Star. Fogh commented, “The Star is very responsive to movement (in the boat), this sailing is bringing back all the old Laser stuff, especially downwind. We’re trying this out and having a good laugh.” Former Etchells World Champion (1999) and fellow Canadian Paul (Otis) Sustronk (7592) has sailed Stars for the past two years. Finishing second in today’s racing, and tied for fifth overall, Sustronk said, “the Star is a more physically and technically demanding boat than an Etchells. Today, we were great on port tack and horrible on starboard, we tried a variety of different things and by the second leg figured it out.”
The gold star on the sail belonging to Reynolds/ Liljedahl is the one that the fleet watches. Finishing seventh today and trailing by 3 points for second place overall behind Szabo/ Iverson is testimony to how competitive the fleet is. Commented crew Magnus Liljedahl, “it’s tricky out there, today we were not going as well, you have days like that.” He added, “half-way through the Olympic regatta in Sydney we were sitting 12th place, there’s still some racing to do. The weather outlook for Long Island Sound for Thursday is the same, a light southeasterly and lots of sunshine. If the race committee locks in five races, competitors can throw out their worst finish. Four races will make a series with no throw out. With two more races to go, the overall standings have the west coast teams of Sabo/ Iverson (8pts), Reynolds/ Liljedahl (11pts), and Brun/ Peters (16 pts) in the top three. Only four points separate Hall/ Monk (20 pts), Sustronk/ Finch are tied with Shiebler/ Sharp for fifth (21 pts). Whipple/ Strube (31 pts), Watt/ Jensen (32 pts), Maine/ Murphy (36 pts) and the team of Vanderhoff/ Perkins (41 pts) fill up the top ten slots.
30 August 2001 - A Roll of the Dice
Competitors in the Keane 2001 Star Class North American Championship have come to depend on the crap-shoot for breeze on Long Island sound and today was no exception. At the close of racing on day 5, the overall winners face a roll of the dice as they approach the final day’s racing on Friday. The breeze may be light and shifty, but the competition is heavy among the top ten boats for the final overall standings. The black flag returned to the start line this morning following one postponement and one general recall owed to aggressive starters and sweeping current. Once again, light and right was the trend with the majority of boats starting at the committee boat in the 6 knot easterly 5 leg windward-leeward course. Peter Bromby, winner of the 2001 Bacardi Cup was the sleeping giant who shook up the race course today, protecting the right side and leading at every mark to take the gun. Second place went to the team of Shiebler/ Sharpe who stayed on the heels of Bromby/ Siese throughout the race.
Playing the shifts and keeping a watchful eye on the breeze separated the fleet at all the mark roundings. Going into today’s race and leading with 8 points overall the team of Szabo/ Iverson were 11tha t the first bottom mark to round in 4th place at the second top mark. Fellow San Diego sailor Vince Brun was in 14th place at the first leeward mark to emerge 6th at the next mark. Brun/ Peters finished 3rd today with Szabo/ Iverson 4th. Following the race Szabo said, “We stayed to the right and hooked into some shifts, playing them all the way up the second beat. Then the wind shifted 70-80 degrees. First we had Vince then 60 degrees changed everything.” The team of Reynolds/ Liljedahl with finishes of 1-3-7, paid heavily for being on the wrong side of the shifts falling from mid fleet to a back of the pack 42nd. With a throwout in the series based on completing five races, they trail Szabo/ Iverson by four points. Reynolds said, “We went to the left and were out of synch with the breeze. The sea breeze didn’t come in as expected.” Crew Magnus Liljedahl added, “Our performance is pretty even in all conditions, and sometimes the competition is just a bit better in light air. We look forward to racing tomorrow.”
For race winner Peter Bromby, todays racing had a familiar tone. “This race was the spitting image of a race we sailed in the Arms White regatta here earlier this summer. We were watching the breeze and we kept an eye on the dark clouds, and saw the sea breeze coming.” Splitting away from Bromby/ Siese after passing through the leeward gate on the final windward leg, Shiebler/ Sharpe head for the left side of the course. With an eye on the big picture of overall standings, Howie’s goal was twofold, “One, we wanted to catch Peter and two, we wanted to put one more boat between us and George (Szabo).” There are plenty of “what if” speculations among the competition for the overall standings. The biggest “what if” is whether the breeze will come to the show for one or possible two races scheduled for tomorrow. Milford sailors Ben Cesare/ David Curtis (7465) have a shot of a top ten finish in their first year of Star Sailing. “Were having a great time and learning a lot with every race.”
And just when you would think that all the competition and fun is out on the race course... think again. Sailors and spectators were well entertained by a post-race poolside competition involving a swimmer (big Star crew), a length of fishing line (40 & 50 lb. test) tied to the belt of a swimmer and a “fisherman” (helmsman) who stood poolside to “reel in the big fish”. Rumor has it the instigator of the “reel in the big fish” was none other than Vince Brun and crew Rick Peters. With a running start, “Big Fish” Mark Strube dove into the pool with a 40 lb. test line tied to his belt with helmsman/ angler Peter Bromby set to reel in the big fish by hand. Well, the “Big Fish” got away from both Bermuda skipper Bromby, and Bahamas skipper Jimmie Lowe to the cheers and amusement of the assembled crowd. And that is no fish story!
2001 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP - MILFORD, CT
Place No. Name Skipper Crew Fleet Daily Places Pts.
1 7775 George Szabo IIIGeorge Iverson SDB 2 5 1 4 2 9
2 7956 Gigbee Vincent Brun Rick Peters SDB 5 6 5 3 4 17
3 7933 IfThisIsn't NiceKevin Hall Craig Monk AN 7 1 12 7 6 21
4 8077 Nautica Howie Shiebler Brian Sharpe WSFB 10 8 3 2 bfd 23
5 7988 Peter Bromby Martin Siese BER 9 20 20 1 3 33
6 7462 David Watt Darin Jensen PS 22 4 6 8 15 33
7 7876 MothersPckldFishDoug SchofieldRobert Schofield AN 17 7 19 5 5 34
8 7938 Paul Sustronk John Finch LOC 6 13 2 21 bfd 42
9 8044 Kates Larry Whipple Mark Strube PS 16 11 4 12 37 43
10 7905 Rob Maine Kevin Murphy WH 15 10 11 22 7 43
11 8038 John VanderhoffRowan Perkins NCB 20 12 9 27 9 50
12 7911 Jimmie Lowe Andrew Higgs N 8 28 30 14 1 51
13 8067 Mark Reynolds Magnus Liljedahl SDB 1 3 7 42 bfd 53
14 7626 Badger James Freeman Matthew Freeman SL 13 16 13 17 11 53
15 7465 Kimmar Ben Cesare David Curtis Mid 31 2 10 11 bfd 54
16 7986 William Allen Brian Fatih WH 4 36 26 19 12 61
17 7728 Hayaku John Lombard Keith Gardner Mid 30 25 21 13 8 67
18 7802 Morven III Thomas Fogh David Caesar LOC 26 24 8 10 bfd 68
19 7963 Jock Kohlhas Chris Rogers BisB 25 33 22 6 17 70
20 8056 Erin J.A. MacCauslandSean Delaney CR 3 22 23 23 27 71
21 8003 Cookie Monster Bill Abbott Scott Town CAN 19 35 24 15 13 71
22 7836 Astro Toy Iain Murray Andrew Palfrey Lmac 21 15 16 45 19 71
23 7444 Bingo Fran Charles Ron Sandstrom BH 23 17 18 16 bfd 74
24 7621 Owl Peter Costa Ted Lavery BH 18 29 37 18 10 75
25 7222 Vamos Nessa Bear Hovey Roger Sharpe Mid 12 30 ocs 9 28 79
26 7425 Ice Blue Trap LippincottBarbara Vosbury AN 24 14 ocs 25 16 79
27 7630 Highway Girl Brad Anderson Ryan Smith LOC 28 19 14 20 30 81
28 8036 Treachery Jack Rickard Bob Carlson WH 14 32 25 31 18 88
29 7847 Southern Cross Jacob Fiumara Joe Chambers CA 29 9 34 32 22 92
30 7371 Man No Sober Peter Cusick Tyler Hadden Mid 11 27 ocs 28 34 100
31 7970 No Sniveling N. Stephenson Terence Glackin CLIS 39 23 17 26 43 105
32 7265 More Pressure Josh Phypers Dave Timberlake CA 27 34 15 33 45 109
33 7565 Telluride Jack Button Chris Batchelor Mid 38 26 39 44 14 117
34 6970 David Hoffman J. Rittenhouse CLIS 35 21 40 53 32 128
35 7957 Claude Bonanni Arthur Anosov TaB 34 42 29 29 39 131
36 7163 Jindruik Erik Rosanes Jack Toomey HB 36 51 31 36 29 132
37 8063 Easy Rider III Bert Collins Guy Avellon AN 33 38 28 35 44 134
38 7332 Bel Ami Thorston Cook Mike Young CLIS 44 18 51 40 36 138
39 6767 Foxy John Fox Deb Blodgett BH 50 52 27 38 25 140
40 8052 Don't Look BackSteve BravermanRon Rezac BH 32 43 32 41 41 146
41 7835 Dick Atkinson Duane Delfosse Sun 51 31 ocs 34 31 147
42 7998 David Cutler Nathaniel Cook GrL 53 50 ocs 24 24 151
43 7930 Sonya John Chiarella Terry Fletcher Sun 43 40 46 46 23 152
44 7512 Robert Teitge Martin Calabrese DR 41 39 ocs 52 21 153
45 7711 Jay O'Malley Will Christensen CA 48 41 36 43 33 153
46 7934 Karl von SchwarzTed Kaczmarski AN 40 46 42 30 46 158
47 7554 Trojka Emil Karlovsky Chris Dudley Mid ocs 55 49 37 20 161
48 7498 Fran Josh Goldman Eric Webster CLIS dns 49 38 51 26 164
49 7604 Richard Gordon Mike Saari CLIS 42 53 45 39 47 173
50 7614 Jonathan Marks Robert Neehan BH dns 37 50 47 40 174
51 6759 Matt Christie Phil Young CAN 49 44 35 49 bfd 177
52 7964 Maria Don Gray Wayne Pierce Mid 54 56 33 50 42 179
53 7475 It's Greek To MeGeorge Kalfa A. Koutoulas HB 55 45 43 dnf 38 181
54 603 Chuckle Robert Black Sean Mansfield HB 57 54 48 48 35 185
55 7724 Bittersweet Joe Giunti John Taylor Mid 46 dnf 41 54 49 190
56 7047 Philip HaggertyMike Seringhaus LOC 56 57 47 56 48 207
57 701 Found Goods JR Maxwell Joel Hanneman Mid 37 47 ocs dns dns 208
58 6756 Suter's Mill Steve Andrews Ailene Rogers HB 52 58 44 bfd dns 216
59 6020 Jim Schumacher Sally Schumacher Mid 58 59 53 55 50 216
60 7785 Mistral Davis Buckley Clarence Baker AN 45 48 dnf dns dns 217
61 7012 Impromptu David Bolles Alejandra Bolles Mid 47 60 52 dns dns 221
