West Coast Tour - The Star Worlds

by Kate Sheahan
West Coast Tour Coordinator

Windward mark rounding of Champions at the 2013 Star Worlds

John Burnham, Qualcomm 2013 Star Worlds Regatta Chairman, reiterated that he, “wanted to showcase the youth participating this year through junior awards. There are five father/son teams and two young women racing; one is a skipper with her father and another is crewing.” He explained that, "this will be the 8^th time that San Diego Yacht Club has hosted the Star Worlds since 1938. There are eleven skippers from SDYC that have gold star titles and who have collected 16 titles since 1937." This year 66 boats from 10 countries participated.

Julian Busch of SDYC calls the racing, “a battle of attrition,” meaning there is one, roughly
ten to twelve mile race held per day, which essentially requires three long hours of physical dingy-style hiking. Perhaps the Everest of buoy racing, Star racing takes incredible concentration and incredible endurance. Regardless of whether the class will be in the 2016 Olympics, Greg Morton of San Diego 

Mike and Matt Dorgan

reminds us that, “the class can be the grassroots for pro sailing and will continue to be a place for camaraderie with world-class company.” 

Fourteen year old Matt Dorgan was able to get his first taste of the big leagues, holding his own against some of the most accomplished sailors alive, including Olympic triple-medalist Mark Reynolds, silver-medalist Brian Ledbetter, bronze-medalist Xavier Rohart, and a long list of Olympians and World Champions such as Vince Brun, Eric Doyle, George Szabo, Augie Diaz, Andrew Campbell, Robbie Haines and John MacCausland, not to mention an even longer list of National and North American Champions.

Guillaume Rasse and Nina Aviles

Rolex Yachtsman of the Year and Snipe World Champion, Augie Diaz went on to say that his, “preference would be for the Star Class to remain in the Olympics because he likes sailing against the best guys in the world, however the class is so established, there is such a great group of sailors and the class is managed so well that it doesn’t need to be in the Olympics to survive.” The sentiments for the future of the class are much like the race-time philosophy Mike Dorgan of Point Loma has instilled in his son: “Never count anyone out, and never give up.” Clearly, the Star class will live on for at least another century.

Congratulations to the new World Champions, John MacCausland and Phil Trinter.

Catch and album of stills and listen to Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, Augie Diaz, talk about what it is like to sail a Star, Class solidarity and why he loves sailing on the west coast. Matt and Mike Dorgan explain how life comes full circle and what it takes to make it through a long race.

Thank you again to Captain Louie Zimm for his hospitality aboard Sheerwater and his pointers on race safety, which I covered in my previous article about on-the-water protocols.

Follow the West Coast Tour on Facebook and Twitter at @USSailing as I visit the San Francisco Maritime National Park - the best place for America's Cup viewing and legendary stories.

Star Worlds 2013, a set on Flickr.