SSL: Photos of the day as Paul Goodison (GBR) and Frithjof Kleen (GER) win Star Sailors League final
NASSAU – Congrats to the Goodison/Kleen team who won in a photo finish over Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Henry Boening in today's final race of the Star Sailors League. Interesting to note that three of the four finalists were former Laser sailors who competed at Athens Olympics in 2004. On that occasion Scheidt claimed gold, Goodison was fourth and Mark Mendleblatt (USA) seventh. Goodison is a newby Star sailor, but a two-time Moth Class world champion in addition to an Olympian. As Paul Cayard said in his interesting and informative post-regatta report to his fans, the younger sailors who are not necessarily Star Class veterans are taking over the top spots. Read Paul's excellent report here, and the official SSL new release here.
We will be talking in some detail about this event, and its future, on our Tuesdays with TFE Facebook Live netcast this coming Tuesday at 1300 Pacific on our SI Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sailingillustratedblog, especially in light of the the eyebrow-raising last paragraph of Paul's report:
As competitors we all owe a great deal of gratitude to Michel Niklaus for his passion and vision in creating the Star Sailors League. His vision for the next 5 years is to have 4 “Grand Slam” events followed by the Finals each year. He is purchasing 100 Stars and setting up bases in various venues around the world to make this vision come true. He is continually upgrading the coverage of the event and the online following is growing exponentially. This is one of the brightest events to come along in our sport in a long time.
Photo finish of the final race, Goodison (GBR) / Kleen (GER) nosing out Scheidt/Boening (BRA) at the finish by a metre or so. Scheidt had come on strong on the final downwind leg with better rocking/pumping technique to nearly surf into the lead. Normal pumping/rocking rules are relaxed for the SSL, resulting in crews standing on deck, grabbing the mast, and strongly rocking the boat back and forth down the runs as the skipper pumps the large mains. Photo is a screen grab of the YouTube livestream. Photo at the top of this piece is another great amazing by the esteemed Carlo Borlenghi (ITA), via the SSL website.