The third annual Vintage Star Gold Cup will officially open tonight on Gull Lake, Michigan, USA. With 26 entries, seven nations and five gold stars on the main sails, the regatta is hosted by the Gull Lake Yacht Club and is reserved for restored Star boats. The event has been growing since the first edition in 2017, when 11 boats were on the starting line.
The Vintage Gold Cup is open to any wooden Star boat that has been restored to approximate original specifications with modern equipment that may include hiking straps and aluminum mast and boom. Also featured is a Classic Vintage Cup category for the boats that will include a wooden mast and boom.
Racing starts tomorrow, Thursday October 3rd, and will go on until Saturday October 5th. Three races are scheduled on the first two days and two for the last one. The 2019 Vintage Gold Cup champions, skipper and crew, will be awarded the perpetual “Robert M. Boudeman Family Trophy” and the class honor of the gold wreath.
The trophy has been won at previous editions by the same skipper: Paul Cayard (USA) who is the one to watch out for on the Gull Lake racecourse. Cayard took first in 2017 with crew Brian Fatih and last year with his son Danny Cayard, with whom he will defend the title this week.
On the podium with Cayard last year there were Greg Smith with crew TC Belco, and Joe Londrigran with crew John Wysockey. All of them are on the starting line again this year among other great sailors. Five Star World Champions are here including, Paul Cayard, who won it in 1988. Lars Grael, from Brazil to sail with American crew Arnis Baltins; Eivind Melleby has come from Norway with US crew Josh Revkin. The two-time Olympic champion Mark Reynolds, arrived from San Diego, with his lifelong crew Hal Haenel, and from San Diego is also the 92 year-old Malin Burnham, who won the Worlds in 1945 with crew Lowell North, sailing on Gull Lake with his son John. Another American gold star is John MacCausland, here with Rick Burgess. Finally, the reigning “Under Thirty” World Champion Luke Lawrence.
There is a packed social schedule, with dinner parties every night, starting tonight with the Opening Ceremony presented by Harken Derm, hosted by Don and Ann Parfet. Thursday dinner will be hosted at Bells Eccentric Cafe, famous Michigan brewery. Regatta partner, MAP Strategic, is presenting the Legacy Night on Friday, where the public will be able to see the boats from the newly built dock. On Saturday, the final awards ceremony hosted at the impressive Gilmore Car Museum.
The sail numbers are low in this fleet, with the youngest being a 5808, and the oldest an amazing 1010, helmed by Don Parfet, co-chair of the event with Jon VanderMolen, but the level of the competition will be very high.
Vintage Star racing
Credit: Walter Cooper
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