NAUTICA 2002 STAR CLASS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
California Yacht Club/Aug. 18-23
http://www.starworlds2002.com
Aug. 16, 2002 For Immediate Release
LOOF HOPES FOR BREEZE TO DEFEND HIS TITLE
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---Whoever is
to win the Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship Sunday
through Friday will have to fight his way through a fleet
of 114 boats from 26 countries sailed by 11 former class champions,
four Olympic gold medallists and several America's Cup and
Volvo Ocean Race campaigners.
They will start on a divided starting
line and sail twice-around courses stretching from 2 to 2.6
nautical miles, depending on wind conditions, perhaps with
an occasional reaching leg and usually with upwind finishes.
One race is scheduled each of the six days starting at 1 p.m.
about a mile off the beach. Each boat may discard its worst
result.
This is the 81st Star Worlds, held every
year since 1922 except in 1968 in deference to the Olympic
Games by edict of the International Yacht Racing Union, predecessor
of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). The California
Yacht Club is the organizing authority in conjunction with
the International Star Class Yacht Racing Association.
The defending champion is Fredrik Loof
of Sweden, who would prefer stronger winds than are normally
find on Santa Monica Bay. When he won at Medemblik, The Netherlands
last year, his best races were on alternate days in double-digit
breeze.
"I'm more of a heavy wind [sailor],
but it feels like we're sailing the boat better and better,"
said Loof, who has been training at the venue for a about
a month with his new crew, Anders Ekstrom.
They finished 24th in last weekend's
moderate-to-light 74-boat King of Spain Regatta tune-up. "The
result doesn't look pretty, but I think we can get it together
and be ready on Sunday," Loof said.
Two young Irishmen, 12th-ranked Maxwell
Treacy and crew Anthony Shanks, finished 32nd in their first
Worlds a year ago but became darkhorse favorites by winning
the King of Spain. Later, Treacy revealed their secret.
"We were coached by two [double]
world champions, [Germany's] Alex Hagen and Mark Reynolds,"
Treacy said. "Alex came to Dublin for 10 days, and Mark
coached us in San Diego for three days. We hope to do reasonably
well in the Worlds."
Also not to be overlooked is three-time
world ('61, '70 and '85) and 1984 Olympic champion Bill Buchan
of Seattle. Although 67 and not a regular class competitor
anymore, Buchan and crew Mark Brink won a race and placed
ninth in the King of Spain behind only one other former champion,
Canada's Ross Macdonald ('94).
"We got lucky," Buchan said
with typical modesty.
His boat is 10 years old (No. 7405),
the same one his son Carl sailed when he won the '92 Star
Worlds at San Francisco.
Other top contenders figure to be former
champions Reynolds, '95 and 2000; Hagen, '81 and '97; Torben
Grael, '90, and Alan Adler, '89, both from Brazil; Colin Beashel,
Australia, '98; Paul Cayard, San Francisco, 88; Eric Doyle,
San Diego, '99, and Joe Londrigan, Springfield, Ill., '93.
Looking at it another way, 18 of the
19 top-ranked Star sailors are competing. The lone exception
is San Diego's Vince Brun ('86).
Brun took a break from the Team Dennis
Conner America's Cup campaign to place 11th last weekend,
then offered a clue to conditions. "San Diego is very
similar to this," he said, "with chop and light
air most of the time. The guys from San Diego should do just
fine."
While practicing and waiting for the
serious sailing to start, all competitors have been undergoing
weigh-ins and drug tests and having their boats measured.
The class's new slimmer and trimmer
weight limit will be in force. Each two-man crew must meet
this formula: 220 pounds or100 kilos minus the skipper's weight,
divide by two, add 220 or 100. Generally, that means crew
who once could pass for defensive tackles in American football
have had to lose about 30 pounds.
"A lot of Star crews have been
on diets this year," said San Diego's 185-pound George
Szabo, who with his average-size crew Austin Sperry is ranked
No. 8 in the class. "It's funny seeing them at the salad
bar these days. We've had to gain 5 to 8 pounds, so that's
pretty good."
All the teams must be weighed in before
sailing Sunday. Then five will be selected at random for repeat
checks after each day's racing. The purpose is to make smaller
people competitive, especially in strong winds, which have
been known to bless these waters.
Drug testing, now routine for the Olympics
and the Tour de France bike race, will be administered at
random by ISAF representatives.
"I'm getting used to that,"
said Reynolds, who has represented the U.S. in the last four
Olympics, winning two gold medals and a silver.
Sailing has been uniquely clean.
"Some of the research I did a couple
of years ago [showed] that in [the former] East Germany they
found that there was doping in every Olympic event except
sailing," Reynolds said. "I don't know of anybody
intentionally using steroids or something like that to perform
better. In some sports when people do get caught it's some
kind of cold medicine they were taking. You really have to
be careful."
The first five countries---but not the
sailors---represented in the standings will qualify for Olympic
berths. The sailors will have to earn those berths back home.
Complete entry list, photos and video
interviews may be accessed at http://www.starworlds2002.com
Nautica International, the Gold Star
Title Sponsor, 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 of the Nautica 2002 Star
Class World Championship 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
California Yacht Club (310) 823-4567
alexbenson@baywoodinn.com
PRESS RELATIONS
Frank Gleberman
(310) 823-0284
FGleberman@aol.com
PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
cell phone (310) 766-6547
richroberts@compuserve.com
NAUTICA PRESS CONTACT
Mary Ellen Barone
(212) 887-8114
maryellen.barone@nautica.com
