The Tribune

AMERICAN George Szabo and his Italian crew, Edoardo Natucci, won a dramatic final of the Star Sailors League in Montagu Bay on Saturday to claim the $40,000 first prize.

In tactically challenging conditions and a slew of penalties Szabo and Natucci took the honours by a boat length from Hamish Pepper, of New Zealand, and his Brazilian crew, Bruno Prada, after a race long duel.

Four teams contested the final and there was drama from the start with Pepper and Prada and the Frenchmen Xavier Rohart and Pierre-Alexis Ponsot ordered to do penalty turns by the on-the-water jury. Then Johannes Polgar and Marcus Koy of Germany on port tack tried unsuccessfully to cross the bow of Szabo and Natucci and incurred a penalty turn.

Pepper and Prada went to the less favoured right side of the course, and got into really good lifting pressure to make it to the top mark in first place by less than a boat length from Szabo and Natucci. At the next mark Szabo and Natucci made a perfect rounding to take up the lead but Pepper and Prada took it back on the penultimate leg.

However, there was one last twist. Pepper adn Prada gybed to the middle of the course on the final downwind leg, whilst Szabo and Natucci stayed out to the Rose Island side of the course. It was a decisive move.

Rohart and Ponsot took third place. Eleven teams had made it through to the knockout stages with Rohart and Ponsot winning the qualification round and an exemption to the semi-finals.

Szabo said: “I’ve always liked light air over breeze. I was worried to come up here with 15-20 knots of wind every day, so I was really happy to avoid it, but yes, light air is definitely by stronger point. I feel fantastic: this event is so much fun, the guys are so good, nobody gives you an inch, even the ones that have never sailed Star boats.

"They are so excellent, they find the wind shifts. The guys that do sail Star have great boat speed and they sail so clean, everybody plays by the rules.”

Pepper said: "We had a little of a fight with Xavier at the start. I am kind of not sure what it was about, but luckily there were only four boats and after you do your penalty you are still in clean air and we were on the right side and the breeze was a little right-hander and so we got back in the game quite nicely. But it was a roller coaster from there with Szabo who was going very well downwind. Tight racing, I have no nails left!”

Rohard had mixed emotions, saying, "We had everything we needed to win this event: we had speed, confidence, knowledge, we felt the wind very well, we were there. We made a mistake in the start; I was too aggressive, so it is my responsibility. There was a slight collision between us and Hamish, we didn’t complain but the umpire waved a red flag for both of us.”