2024 Star World Championship, a family affair

Out of three races of the 2024 Star World Championship, two were won by the American-German team Paul Cayard and Frithjof Kleen, the other one, yesterday’s, by Will Stout and Danny Cayard, Paul’s son, so every race so far was won by a Cayard.
Family and tradition have always played an important role within the Star Class, it is not uncommon to have second, third and even fourth generation Star sailors in the same family, but here, at the 2024 Star World Championship in San Diego, California, this family is just proving to be in great form – Paul and Danny have just won the North American Championship in Newport Beach, LA, together just over a month ago.

Race Three of the 2024 Star World Championship was epic: tough and tactical at the same time. The breeze was up from 10-12 knots to gusts of 15 throughout the racecourse, then it was down in some big holes here and there, the chop was high, mixed with the ocean swell, and the left was once again favored but you could not go all in with it for there were big puffs on the right. Off the start Cayard / Kleen were already in the lead with a good margin by the top gate. That margin extended all the way to the finish and they earned in a second bullet that puts them in third overall position before the throw-out.

“We had a great start, tacked on port and got in a very good lane on the first beat. We were very fast, so fast in fact that I made a mistake and went too far, giving away some distance coming into the windward mark, but we still had a very comfortable lead and really we just managed the race from there”, commented Paul Cayard about the win. “It wasn't straightforward, it was tricky, the wind got very light downwind, but we told ourselves that we need to sail more with our heads out of the boat. Yesterday we got caught and had a bad race because we weren’t looking around enough, so we made that improvement, and we were rewarded with the first place”.
“I think that we're very fast in all conditions, also yesterday we were, I guess, the fastest on the racecourse, it’s key to keep our heads out of the boat. We are now looking forward to fantastic midweek Prize Giving Ceremony tonight on an aircraft carrier, San Diego yacht club is putting up a great show and the Star Class is always delivering the best Word Championship”, added crew Firthjof Kleen.

As ‘Frida’ said, the 64-boat fleet is invited to the Midweek Prize Giving Ceremony tonight at the USS Midway, a historical naval aircraft carrier museum in downtown San Diego. The Midweek Party is a long-standing tradition in the Star Class, awarding the winners of the first three race and the best team halfway through the Championship.

Race four is scheduled for tomorrow at 12.55 with forecast for lighter breeze and cooler temperatures. After tomorrow’s race the throw-out will come in place and the tight ranking might be shaken up.

“It’s tough everyday here – said Olympian crew Austin Sperry – yesterday was a grind for us, going from 23rd at the topmark to 11th, in the big picture I was pretty happy, today was hard as well”.
“Another tricky day today, every day is been not typical San Diego, lot of changes going on during the day, we had a really good last beat and we were able to pass a bunch of boats”, commented his skipper John Kostecki. “We are in the middle of the Championship, and we are right there, ready to give it all in the last three races, it’s hard, there are a lot of great teams out there!”, concluded.