NAUTICA 2002 STAR CLASS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
California Yacht Club/Aug. 18-23
www.starworlds2002.com
July 27, 2002 For Immediate Release
11 CHAMPIONS IN FLEET OF 114 FOR NAUTICA STAR WORLDS
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---There are 114
entries for the Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship,
and every 10th boat will be sailed by a champion of the world's
most prestigious one-design class.
Sweden's Fredrik Loof, the 2001 winner
at Medemblik, The Netherlands, and 10 other winners of 15
Star class Worlds, plus four of the last five Olympic gold
medallists, are among the entries. The Aug. 18-23 regatta
on Santa Monica Bay fronting West L.A. will be hosted and
organized by the California Yacht Club.
The complete entry list is posted at
www.starworlds2002.com.
Loof, with crew Anders Ekstrom, is already
tuning up in local fleet competition and will sail in the
annual King of Spain Regatta Aug. 10-11, along with other
early arrivals.
Mark Reynolds of San Diego also figures
heavily among the favorites with world titles in 2000 and
1995 and gold medals at Sydney in 2000 and Barcelona in '92---the
only Star sailor since Italy's Agostino Straulino in 1952
to win a Star Worlds and an Olympic gold medal in the same
year.
"It was a lot harder for me to
win the Worlds," Reynolds said. "I think I won it
on the 14th try. At the Olympics you are representing your
country, which is pretty cool, and more people obviously know
about the Olympics. But I'd have to say that winning the Worlds
was more satisfying. Maybe it's because I come from San Diego
where there have been so many world champions in the generations
before me, including my dad, that made it a really nice thing
to have won."
Barring withdrawals subsequent to the
recent entry deadline, the entry list is the third largest
in 81 Star Worlds since 1922, topped only by 129 at Punta
Ala, Italy in '99 and 119 at Cannes in '91. The entries represent
26 countries in North and South America and Europe, plus Australia
and New Zealand.
There are 50 entries from across the
U.S., led by nine from the San Diego Bay fleet that has claimed
12 world titles. Will Reynolds enjoy an edge on familiar waters?
"No, not really," he says.
"I do feel a bit at home because I know my way around
and it's a bit easier place to be, but you have to keep an
open mind out on the water no matter where you are sailing.
I do know that this venue is a difficult one and I haven't
always done particularly well here in the past."
Other world champions entered are Bill
Buchan of Seattle ('61, '70 and '85), Alexander Hagen, Germany
('81 and '97), Paul Cayard, San Francisco ('88), Alan Adler,
Brazil ('89); Torben Grael, Brazil ('90); Joe Londrigan, San
Diego, now of Springfield, Ill. ('93); Ross Macdonald, Vancouver,
B.C. ('94); Colin Beashel, Australia ('98), and Eric Doyle,
San Diego ('99).
The Star class is so highly regarded
that its world championship has brought five Americans the
Rolex Yachtsman Of the Year Award as a bonus: Reynolds in
2000, Doyle in '99, Ed Adams in '87 and Buddy Melges in '78.
Grael and Buchan also won Olympic gold
in '96 and '84, respectively. Robbie Haines of San Diego won
gold in '84 but that was in the Soling class, so he had to
qualify for the Worlds in the recent 5th District Championship,
placing fourth behind Cayard, Howie Shiebler and Doyle. Haines
will sail with his son Brian as crew.
Reynolds won his first worlds and Olympic
gold and silver medals sailing with Hal Haenel as crew. He
has sailed with Magnus Liljedahl since '97 after Haenel retired,
and now Haenel has returned as crew for Paul Cayard, the '88
world champion.
Nautica International, the Gold Star
Title Sponsor for the Nautica Star Worlds, is a leading global
fashion and lifestyle company with products ranging from men's,
women's and children's sportswear and accessories to a complete
home collection. Nautica is a subsidiary of Nautica Enterprises,
Inc. (NASDAQ: NAUT) which, through its subsidiaries, designs,
sources, markets and distributes apparel under the following
brands: Nautica, Nautica Competition, Nautica Jeans Company,
John Varvatos, Earl Jean, E. Magrath and Byron Nelson.
Other sponsors at various levels are:
Silver Star---RB Zack and Associates and California Yacht
Club; Blue Star---Bang and Olufsen; Green Star---Samuel Adams
Beer, Sea Wynde Pot Still Rum, Quantum One-Design Sails, North
One-Design Sails, Domaine Danica Winery, Brophy Clark Cellars,
Presidio Winery, Dry Creek Vineyard, Star Frozen Foods, pyacht.com.
NAUTICA STAR WORLDS GENERAL CHAIRMAN
Alex Benson
(805) 704-3333
alexbenson@baywoodinn.com
PRESS RELATIONS
Frank Gleberman
(310) 823-0284
FGleberman@aol.com
PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
richroberts@compuserve.com
NAUTICA PRESS CONTACT
Mary Ellen Barone
(212) 887-8114
maryellen.barone@nautica.com
