The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Star class, no longer a part of the Olympic Games, will be holding its 2014 Star Sailors League Sailing Championships in Montagu Bay this week.

And in an effort to have the maximum participation of the local sailing community, 20 members of the Bahamas Sailing Association’s National Sailing School have been given the opportunity to take turns to compete on Saturday on the boats with the sailors, who would not have made it to the final.

“The Star Class has put together an event that invites top sailors in the world to come here and compete in the final of the Star Sailors League,” said Robert Dunkley, one of the local organisers from the host Nassau Yacht Club. “There will be medallists from the last time that the Star class was staged in the Olympics.”

Among the list of top notch sailors expected to be in town to compete when the competition gets underway on Wednesday are Negri Diego from Italy, Diaz Augie, Szabo George and Mark Mendelblatt from the United States, Robert Stanjek and Johannes Polgar from Germany, Xavier Rohart from France, Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael from Brazil and Mateausz Kusznierewicz from Poland and Eivind Melleby from Norway and Freddy Loof from Sweden.

Scheidt, who sailed along with crew member Bruno Prada, is the two-time defending champion. They dominated the 12-race series with a total of 13 points last year. Kusznierewicz and crew Dominik was third and Mendelbatt and crew Brian Faith picked up third place.

Grael has won five Olympic medals, including two gold, Loof is the 2012 Olympic gold medallist and Stanjek is the 2014 Star world champion.

A total of 18 boats are expected back once again to participate in the four days of competition that will be streamed live in HD. There is an average of one Olympic medallist on each boat. The competitors will be battling for a total prize purse of $200,000.

The top nine have earned the right to compete and the other nine have been afforded an invitation to join the fleet. Out of that fleet, the finalists will be determined and those that don’t make it, will allow the local sailors to sail on their boats. The local sailors will range in age from eight to 18 years.

“I think this is a great way to promote sailing in the Bahamas,” Dunkley said. “Also for the Star Class, it helps them to contribute to the local sailing community.”

A list of sailors have been invited to participate from both the government and private schools in New Providence. They include Paul De Souza, who is fresh off competing at the Central American and Caribbean Games in the Star Class. Dunkley, by the way, is also home after he skippered his boat with crew member Michelle Hope in the Snipe Class.

Among those expected to join de Souza are Justin Carey, Spencer Cartwright, Cochise Burrrows, Alande Forbes, Tristan Eldon, Branden Sands, Benjamin Derbyshire, Tahj Ramirez, Daisy Tinkler, Blake Roberts, Maclean Goodfellow, Luke Browning and Christopher Knowles. Each local sailor will get a chance to rotate as they sail on the boats when the finals is staged on the east end of Nassau.