Cork Harbour brothers Robert and Peter O’Leary start the first ever Star Junior World Championship at Miami, Florida, at Coral Reef Yacht Club today. 

Following a successful week for Ireland's Finn Lynch in the Laser class at the same race track last week, the O'Leary's go into battle on Biscayne Bay today.

As Afloat.ie reported previously, Robert, normally crewing for his older brother Peter (sailing twice at the Olympics for Ireland), will helm with Peter crewing. The Irish duo are no strangers to Miami waters either sailing to victory at the Walker Cup this time last year. 

"Robert, normally crewing for his older brother Peter, will helm with Peter crewing"

About 35 skippers 30 and under will be racing starting today February 3rd through Wednesday the 6th to win the title of Star Junior World Champion. Fifteen Nations are represented in Miami and many newbies will helm one of the oldest and most traditional boats, the Star. Designed in 1911 and still holding very popular regattas around the world in which some of the heroes of our sport race.

At the Junior Worlds in Miami, there will be the youngsters, skippers who have yet to be 31 year old, but they will race with crew with no age restrictions, and quite many of them have history in the class. Like Frithjof Kleen (GER), Star World Champion who attended the London Olympics in 2012 and won the SSL Finals 2017, sailing here with young Italian Laser Radial World Champion Guido Gallinaro (ITA), or Brian Fatih (USA), who finished 7th at the Games in Weymouth and won with Mark Mendelblatt (USA) the SSL Finals twice, crewing in Miami for British Laser sailor Lorenzo Chiavarini (GBR), and again, Star World Champion Samuel Gonçalves (BRA), crewing for Nick Grael (BRA) and Austin Sperry (USA), 11th at Bejing Olympics, at the bow of American Laser sailor Charlie Buckingham.

All of them, and many more, experienced crew will sail with and support the young skippers, but some of the entries are not new to the class at all. Like Daniel Cayard (USA), who was born among Star sailors with both his father, Paul, and his grandfather, Pelle Peterson (SWE), Star World Champions – his grandfather also won the Silver medal in Kiel in 1972 – or Robert O’Leary (IRL), normally crewing for his older brother Peter (twice at the Olympics for Ireland), will helm with Peter crewing, or American Joshua Revkin (USA), who won the Star Worlds in 2017 crewing for Eivind Melleby (NOR), will helm with Arthur Anosov (USA), and again Dutch skipper Thomas Allart (NED) sailing with Kilian Weise (GER) with whom he finished third at the Eastern European Championship in Trieste 2018. There is even an under 30 girl helming at the Junior Worlds, Chloe Holder, from San Francisco, who will take some time of her 420 junior programme. Too bad the Star World Champion and SSL Finals 2018 winner, Jorge Zarif (BRA), won’t be able to attend due to his Finn Olympic campaign commitment.

The regatta will officially begin tomorrow with the first warning signal at 12.00 (EST) on Biscayne Bay, two races per day are scheduled each day from Monday to Wednesday with no races starting later than 2.00 pm.

Baltimore Sailing Club brothers Peter and Robert O’Leary are signed up for the inaugural Junior Star Worlds in Miami’s Biscayne Bay from 3-6 February.

Last year’s bronze medallists in the Star Europeans join a list of more than 30 skipper-crew pairs under 30 already entered to compete for the first junior trophy in the storied International Star Class.

Others in the pedigree field include 2014 Star World Champion and 2017 Star Sailors League Finals winner Frithjof Kleen from Garmany, who is crewing for Italian Laser Radial world champion Guido Gallinaro.

For more see the official website for the 2019 Star Junior World Championship.

American Augie Diaz and Brazilian Bruno Prada are the winner of the Robbe & Berking Star European Championships 2018, tied to Lars Grael with Samuel Gonçalves (BRA) who are second. The Bronze medal goes to Cork brothers Peter and Robert O’Leary from Baltimore Sailing Club.

Six of the seven races were sailed even though two of the four days of racing have been quite rough with very strong stormy winds. The PRO Claus Otto was excellent in deciding the right time to give the starts, postponing on Thursday and anticipating yesterday.

The winners of today’s races were two German team, the first bullet went to Star Class President Hubert Merkelbach with Marcus Koy, and the second one to Olympic Star skipper Robert Stanjek with crew Leif Bähr. But nothing could stop Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada, not even the early start they had in race 5, that cost them to go back and re-start. Not even one mistake by the runners-up was made, Lars Grael and Samuel Goncalves, who discard a seven and are tie to the winners. A Championship well played by the Irish brothers O’Leary, who proved to be excellent team on tough conditions, winning yesterday’s race with winds gusting up to over 30 knots.

Augie Diaz: “We had really some tough days of racing, we are happy we were eventually able to recover after the first early start.”

Bruno Prada: “The regatta was decided on the last downwind of the last race, we had to be fifth to win the race tied with Lars, and we just managed to finish one boat length ahead of Eivind Melleby who was sixth. So we are super happy and lucky for the last puff.”

Best junior team were the German Dominik and Simon Fallais

Best senior team in the Ü65 ranking were the Hungarians Tibor Tenke and Miklos. Bezereti.

Hubert Merklebach, ISCYRA President: “It was really a Championship for the tough sailors, the only non stormy day was today with 15-16 knots of nice breeze. Flensburger Segel Club did a fantastic job to manage the event, they’re used to have international regattas, and proved it this week. Everything went well with a great program, even on the social side with dinner in the old Silver factory of the main sponsor, Robbe&Berking, amazing Championship”.

The Star sailors are not done for the summer with the Silver regattas, next week the North American will take place in Los Angeles, with probably very different conditions.

For full results here

With seven out of the top 10 at the Bacardi Cup being Star world champions, Peter O'Leary and Robert O'Leary from Royal Cork Yacht Club were in good company when they finished 11th overall in Miami at the weekend. A second Irish Star keelboat from the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire sailed by Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks were 18th overall in the 76–boat fleet.

Disappointingly, both Irish boats ended the regatta with a black flag disqualification in the final race, a penalty that denied the Cork Harbour brothers the chance of moving into the top ten overall.

Top ten overall

1. 1. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi, ITA, 14 points
   2. Robert Scheidt / Brian Fatih, BRA, 16
   3. Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin, NOR, 22
   4. Lars Grael / Samuel Goncalves, BRA, 24
   5. Paul Cayard / Mark Strube, USA, 24
   6. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise , USA, 28
   7. Iain Percy / Anders Ekstrom, GBR, 28.4
   8. Xavier Rohart / Sebastien Guidoux, FRA, 33
   9. Luke Lawrence / Pedro Trouche, USA, 47
   10. Jack Jennings / Frithjof Kleen, USA, 51
   11. Peter O'Leary / Robert O'Leary, IRL, 77/BFD

Full results here 

The International Star Class is both historic and completely up-to-the-minute, and competition in it is razor-sharp. In getting a clear series win in their debut majors – the Walker Cup - in this very special class in early February in Miami while sailing a new boat that they were still tuning, the Crosshaven brothers Peter and Robert O’Leary gave a text-book demonstration of how to put a championship together, making them our February “Sailors of the Month (Inshore)”.

They were so astonishingly consistent that although they didn’t achieve a single race win, they were never out of the frame, and won by an impressive margin of 14 points from a high-calibre fleet including noted helms of the quality of Paul Cayard and Eric Doyle.

Peter (left) and Rob O'Leary (third from left) with their Walker Cup prizes in Miami Photo: Star Class

Cork Harbour brothers Peter and Robert O'Leary have stunned the international Star Keelboat fleet by winning the 'Walker Cup' as part of the Star American mid-winters championships in Miami in their new boat 'Dafnie', beating the famous America's Cup helmsman Paul Cayard by 16–points in the process.

Despite not winning any races, the sole Irish crew gave a consistent top ten showing in a fleet comprised of World Champions and Olympic sailors drawn from ten nations for the Miami regatta.

The O'Leary's, who sail under the burgees of both Royal Cork Yacht Club and Baltimore Sailing Club, were the only pairing to count all eight races in the top ten of the 44-boat fleet with second place former Star World Champion Cayard crewed by Josh Revkin, just two points ahead of another former World Champion Eric Doyle in third. 

Peter and Robert O'Leary in their new Star boat, 'Dafnie' sail into the lead in Miami. Photo: Star Class

The final day was another episode of snakes and ladders at the top of the fleet. The Californian team of Doyle and Infelise won the day with a pair of bullets. They were fast upwind and even faster downwind. It was enough to move them onto the podium after slowing climbing up the fleet throughout the event. Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada went into the last race solidly in second place, but hit the windward mark, and couldn't recover enough in such a deep fleet to keep them on the podium. Cayard and Revkin continued to shine in the breeze. Their second and fifth places today, were enough to put them back into second place overall, but nothing could hold back the Cork Harbour pair.

Royal St. George Yacht Club's Antnony Shanks was also sailing and finished 25th sailing in British entry Swedish Blue. 

Peter O'Leary is a veteran of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in the Star Class, previously finishing as high as fourth at the Star Worlds in France sailing with David Burrows. 

Final Results (Top 10 of 44; 8 races)
1. Peter O'Leary / Robert O'Leary, IRL, 46 points
2. Paul Cayard / Josh Revkin, USA, 60
3. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise, USA, 62
4. Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada, USA, 64
5. Peter Vessella / Phil Trinter, USA, 64
6. Luca Modena / Sergio Lambertenghi, ITA, 70
7. Arthur Anosov / David Caesar, USA, 75
8. Jack Jennings / Frithjof Kleen, USA, 80
9. Tom Lofstedt / Joost Houweling, SWE, 96
10. Jim Buckingham / Mark Strube, USA, 99

Results below and link here

 

#rorcbdcc – It was a night of pride, joy and no little emotion at Royal Cork Yacht Club as winning Commodores' Cup captain Anthony O'Leary brought the Cup home to Crosshaven writes Claire Bateman.  

Last night was the occasion for Anthony O'Leary to return, for the second time to his home base, the magnificent Commodores' Cup first won in 2010.

Admiral Pat Lyons, members of the Executive Committee, members and staff were on hand to join in with the enthusiastic welcome accorded to the Irish team members present and the Admiral accepted the presentation of the Commodores' Cup to display where all can admire this beautiful trophy.

Also joining in the celebrations were Norbert Reilly, Commodore, Irish Cruiser Racing Association and David Lovegrove, ISA President.

The gathering enjoyed a drinks and finger food reception before going on to the official part of the evening.

Admiral Lyons in his welcome and congratulatory speech welcomed everyone and was proud to illustrate how sailing develops from the youngest members in their Optimist dinghies right through the ranks to the ultimate accolades at the highest end of sailing.

He also pointed out that of the thirty one members of the Irish winning team at Cowes no less than fourteen of them were from the Royal Cork Yacht Club and said he would like to emphasize it was not just the winning of the event but the manner in whicb it was accomplished with a tremendous margin of almost 175 points.

Happy crew – members of the Commodores' Cup team are welcomed home by Admiral Pat Lyons (right) and RCYC flag officers. From left to right are: Kieran O'Connell Rear Admiral Keelboats, Anthony O'Leary, Peter O'Leary, Alan Curran, Robert O'Leary,  Dan O'Donovan,Tom Durcan, Clive O'Shea, Derek Moynan  Photo: Bob Bateman

Royal Cork turns out to welcome home the cup. Photo: Bob Bateman

In his reply Team Captain Anthony O'Leary endorsed the Admiral's comments regarding junior sailing and none better to do this as he has been involved in the promotion of the juniors since the early nineties and especially in the promotion of Optimist sailing. He then went on to give due credit to the other team skippers of the Irish Team, Marc Glimcher from the United States. He mentioned that Marc had added Patrick to his name during the week to assert his Irishness.

He then went on to explain the difficulties experienced by the co-charterers of Quokka 8, Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling, in trying to overcome delays in having the boat returned from the Carribeann and the magnificent effort they put into chartering other boats to work up with the squad while awaiting Quokka's return and one can only marvel at the results obtained.

Team Captain Anthony O'Leary (left) hands the Cup over to Admiral Lyons. Photo: Bob Bateman

ICRA Commodore Norbert Reilly

ICRA Commodore Norbert Reillly spoke and told of the astonishment of the other teams at how the event was won. Where the other countries had boats for heavy weather, light weather and where we had a Ker 40 they had two Ker 40s. Where Ireland had a Grand Soleil, they had a Grand Soleil and where we had a Ker 39 they had a Ker 39 and he jokingly mentioned that he was sure Ker 39's would now treble in value throughout the yachting world which resulted in a round of applause and cheers. Commodore Reilly didn't miss a trick and also pointed out that the Irish had "cleaned out all the other trophies at the Commodores' Cup event".

Following the finish of the official welcome home, the prize giving took place for the final night of the Marshall Marine League.

TOMORROW ON AFLOAT.IE

THE COMMODORE¹S CUP ­– HOW IRELAND WON IT, AND WHERE IT MIGHT GO FROM HERE

Tomorrow in Afloat.ie's Sailing on Saturday blog  W M Nixon meets winning Team Captain Anthony O'Leary for a free-ranging discussion about Ireland¹s convincing international victory in the Brewin Dolphin Commodore¹s Cup, how it was done and what the future could bring. Click HERE.

#1720 – Baltimore Sailing Club's Peter O'Leary has won the 1720 European championships by half a point at Howth Yacht Club over the weekend. O'Leary beat another Munster campaign, Denis Murphy's Aquatack, after an eight races series sailed in light and shifty conditions as part of Howth's inaugural Sportsboat Cup. Full results downloadable below as a jpg file.

The winning 1720 'Jacob's Bar' was sailed by helmsman O'Leary, a double Olympian, with crew Adam Hyland, Cathal Cohrell, Jamie Donegan and Youen Jacob.

Breaking up the Munster domination at the top of the 15–boat fleet was a Dun Laoghaire Sailing School entry skippered by Kenneth Rumball. Rumball's INSC.ie second placing in the final race yesterday afternoon put him four and a half points clear of TBSC's Ricochet.  Last Year's champion Anthony O'Leary in Antix was fifth. 

The first 'Sportsboat Cup' was completed after 3 successful days of racing incorporating the 1720 Europeans, J24 Eastern Championships and Sailfleet J80s. 

 

#commodorescup – An announcement of the three–boat Irish team to contest the Commodore's Cup this July is imminent, according to Afloat.ie sources this morning.

Since last October's news that Ireland is to enter the Cup there has been increased speculation about team composition. Cork Olympic helmsman Peter O'Leary's participation in last month's Key West regatta on the New York based Ker 40 Catapult was seen as the start of the campaign build up. In local Key west interviews both O'Leary and boat owner Mark Glimcher more than hint that the Ker 39 is to join his father Anthony's Ker 39 Antix on the 2014 team leaving Ireland just looking for one more boat to win back a Cup it first won in 2010. 

In the Irish Times on January 3, David O'Brien wrote that the third boat is likely to be a Solent based Grand Soleil yacht. One unconfirmed source this morning names this boat as Quokka under former RORC skipper Peter Rutter, a yacht that is currently being campaigned in RORC's Caribbean 600 series.

Quokka, a Grand Soleil 43, is one of the most successful race yachts in the UK. In 2011 she won the IRC Nationals outright. She also finished in the top 10 overall in the Fastnet 2011, won two RORC offshore races and represented Great Britain in the 2009 Commodores Cup.

Team officials from the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) have remained tight-lipped on the matter however. "It's still a fluid situation but we're working really hard to make this happen," Barry Rose said in early January but hoped to make an annoucement within the month.

Anthony O'Leary, is expected to lead the Irish team on former winner Antix and following a pre-Christmas meeting of ICRA in Portlaoise, the Grand Soleil was identified as the boat to fill Ireland's third boat slot.

More on this story as we have it.

#Qkeywest –  Olympic helmsman Peter O'Leary confirms this Summer's Irish Commodore's Cup team will largely be comprised of the crews that won it in 2010. Speaking dockside after finishing third overall at Key West, Florida yesterday, the 2008 and 2012 Star Olympian for Ireland and crew member aboard Catapult, talks about having skipper Marc Glimcher and his Ker 40 join the Irish team for the Commodore's Cup this July.

O'Leary was in Key West this week with Howth's Dan O'Grady, a 1996 Olympian and David Bolton, part of the 2010 Commodore's up winning crew. The aim for O'Leary was to work up a new crew this winter for a bid at a second Irish Commodore's Cup victory.

O'Leary will be competing at the UK IRC championships on board Catapult instead of sailing his Star since the class was ditched for the 2016 Olympic regatta. Although O'Leary says it now looks too late for the reintroduction of the class, the latest plea by the Brazilian government to reinsert the class may change all that.

The American 40 footer will be joined by O'Leary's family boat, Antix, a Ker 39 (crewed by father Anthony and its regular Cork crew) and as previously reported, a UK based Grand Soleil is expected to complete the three boat Irish team.

Final Day Drama and Very Happy Sailors at Quantum Key West 2014

There was plenty of final day drama at Quantum Key West 2014 as the winners of several classes were determined during the last race. And conditions could not have been better for those winner-take-all scenarios with the southernmost point of the United States delivering the strongest winds of the regatta.

North-northeasterly breezes in the 18-24 knot range made for some spectacular racing on all three courses and enabled all 10 classes to complete 10 races for the five-day event.

No class was more closely watched all week than IRC 2, which featured six 52-footers crewed by a who's who of the professional ranks. Quantum Racing, skippered by Amway president Doug DeVos of Ida, Mich., began the day with a three-point lead and did what was necessary to secure the 52 Class championship by placing third in Race 10.

"What a great week!" DeVos exclaimed upon returning to the dock following Friday's lone race. "Great competition, great weather, great race management and great sailing conditions. This is really a fabulous event from top to bottom."

America's Cup veterans Terry Hutchinson and Ed Baird served as tactician and strategist, respectively, aboard Quantum, which wound up winning five of the 10 races. Juan Vila was aboard as navigator for entry fielded by the sailmaking company that is title sponsor of the event.

Ran Racing, the British entry skippered by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom, finished second in the final race, but wound up two points behind Quantum for the regatta. Ran, the reigning TP 52 World Champion, won two races and placed second or third in six others to finish 5 ½ points ahead of the Italian entry Azzurra, which captured class honors at Quantum Key West 2013.

"It was a fantastic week of sailing and we are very pleased with the regatta in terms of how the team and boat performed," Zennstrom said. "It's a good start to the season, a good start to the series."

Ran and Quantum held first and second for most of Race 10, but Azzurra sailed a great last leg and skipped past both to get the gun. Vasco Vascotto (tactician), Francesco Bruni (strategist) and Guillermo Parada (helmsman) comprised the afterguard aboard Azzurra, which earned the Quantum Sails Boat of the Day award.

An anticipated duel between the top two boats in Melges 32 class never materialized as skipper Dalton DeVos and the Delta team had an on-course-side start and were never able to challenge owner-drive Alec Cutler and the Hedgehog crew.

"We wanted to get a great start and pushed the line. Unfortunately, we were just a tad early and had to turn around," DeVos said. "Hey, that's sailboat racing. They don't let you get a head start."

Multi-time Canadian Olympian Richard Clarke called tactics for Cutler, who got a great start and led around every mark in winning by more than a minute. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Jonathan McKee was tactician on Delta, which battled back to take second and actually tied Hedgehog with 15 total points. Both boats won four races, but the Bermuda entry won the tiebreaker based on the result of Race 10.

"We knew we had to go out and win the race. That was the only option," Cutler said. "The committee boat was favored and we won that end of the line. We then put the hammer down and just sailed as fast as we could."

Cutler, a former intercollegiate sailor at the Naval Academy, has competed in Key West five times and been runner-up twice in Melges 24 class. This was his first victory in the annual midwinter regatta off the Conch Republic. "Our entire crew worked really well together and our boat-handling was outstanding the whole week," he said.

Organizers with Premiere Racing deemed the most impressive performance of the regatta was put forth by skipper Tim Healy and his team on Helly Hansen, which won the 60-boat J/70 class in convincing fashion. Healy, a professional with North Sails, repeated as class champ in Key West by winning two races and placing second or third in five others.

Helly Hansen clinched the regatta by finishing third in Race 9 and therefore did not sail the final race, using that as its throw-out. Geoff Becker and John Mollicone combined on tactics and trimming while Gordon Borges worked the bow for Healy, who is also a standout J/24 sailor.

"Obviously the biggest key to success is having a good team. My guys did an awesome job of boat-handling and tactics," Healy said. "We sailed here last year so we had a real good feel for the race course. This team has also sailed J/24s together the past few years so we have a comfort level that makes a big difference."

Healy and Helly Hansen came away with the biggest prize - capturing Quantum Sails Boat of the Week honors. "We had a huge class down here last year with a lot of really good sailors so it's a great accomplishment to come out on top. Winning Key West is definitely one of the highlights of my career," said Healy, a 42-year-old resident of Jamestown, R.I. Eight different boats took first place during the week.

Hot Mess, skippered by Rob Britts of St. Petersburg, Fla., was crowned as Corinthian champion of J/70 class. Britts posted six wins and three seconds within the 14-boat sub-class comprised of all-amateur crews.

Four boats entered the final day of action with a mathematical chance to win IRC 3 class, comprised of a diverse group of designs. Arethusa, a Swan 42 owned by Phil Lotz of Fort Lauderdale, finished fourth in Race 10 to hold the lead for a third straight day. Former Olympic medalist Jeff Madrigali served as tactician aboard Arethusa, which placed seventh out of 10 boats in Race 1, but never finished lower than fourth the rest of the way. Just eight points separated the top three boats in IRC 3 with the Ker 46 Tonnerre de Breskens (Peter Vroon, The Netherlands) the runner-up by five points.

"We are very excited about winning our class at such a prestigious regatta," said Lotz, who had placed at Key West a couple times before. "Our boat was very good in the medium breeze that predominated this week. We tried to start cleanly and had a fairly conservative game-plan. Jeff was outstanding tactically all week and did a good job of keeping us in phase."

PHRF 1 was also up for grabs going into the last race and Spaceman Spiff, the J/111 owned by Rob Ruhlman of Cleveland, Ohio, seized the moment by winning. This was the 13th trip to Key West and the first class victory for the Spaceman Spiff program.

"We've been trying to win this regatta for a while and it feels good to finally break through. It feels even better because of the quality of competition we faced. This is some of the closest PHRF racing in which I've ever participated," said Ruhlman, who had his wife and son aboard. "We really had a blast this week. It was great sailing and all the people in the class are so friendly. We passed Teamwork on the way into the harbor and their entire crew applauded us."

Teamwork, a J/122 skippered by Robin Team of Lexington, N.C., came up short in its bid to three-peat in Key West - finishing 4 ½ points behind Spaceman Spiff.

Skipper Bill Sweetser has been bringing his J/109 Rush to Key West for 11 years and been runner-up on four occasions. The Annapolis resident sported a huge smile on Friday morning after clinching the class championship in PHRF 2 on Thursday. Sweetser steered Rush to victory in five races and placed second or third in fourth others in building an insurmountable lead that allowed him to stay ashore on Friday.

"It feels fantastic to finally win here in Key West! You could say we got the monkey off our back, or maybe it was a gorilla. I was tired of going home and hearing people say 'Too bad you got second again.' The whole bridesmaid talk was getting old," Sweetser said. "Everybody is so ecstatic. We can't wait to get the whole crew up on stage at the awards party."

Skipper Ron Buzil and his team aboard Vayu2 were wire-to-wire winners in J/80 class, which attracted 12 entries. A pair of highly-regarded professionals, Jahn Tihansky and Andrew Kerr, served as helmsman and tactician aboard the boat chartered from J/World Annapolis. This was the second straight year that Buzil had chartered the boat and the team repeated as class champs.

"We had our mojo going early and managed to build a fairly substantial lead. We never really had a bad race and I attribute that to being able to get off the line cleanly and go where we wanted," said Tihansky, owner of J/World Annapolis Performance Sailing School. "Andrew Kerr knows these waters well and did a masterful job of playing the shifts."

Little Wing, an Italian entry owned by Nicola Ardito, had the most firsts in the regatta, reeling off nine straight victories in Melges 24 class before sitting out the final race and using that as its throw-out.