Miami, FL (February 6, 2019) – American sailor Luke Lawrence with crew Alexey Selivanov won the inaugural Star Junior World Champion Under 30 after a six race regatta in the water of Biscayne Bay.
The championship started off well for the team after winning the first race on day one, but then handed the lead on day two to Charlie Buckingham and Austin Sperry (USA) and even today, on the last downwind they were second to Tomas Hornos (USA) and Pedro Trouche (BRA). But the finish line was upwind and they managed to pass a couple of boats to take the title.
“We had a great time, we worked very well together and we had much fun,” said an enthusiastic Lawrence. “We have to thank doctor Jim Revkin without whom this would not have happened if he hadn’t called me five days before the event and told me Alexey was ready to crew for me and gave us the boat 8507 and new sails.
“He went straight to the point of this event, he helped the new guys enter the class and keep them going. There are a lot of Star sailors who gave their boats and helped this event become possible, we have 36 boats here! I am now planning to stay in the class and race more, maybe attend the SSL Finals and I will train for that!”
Lawrence is 28 years old and has been sailing for most of his life, first the Laser then his real passion the Finn, and in the past few years he fell for the Star attending the main events such as the Worlds and the SSL Finals in 2014. A little break from sailing in the past year or so, before the great comeback winning the first Star Junior World Championship in the familiar waters of Biscayne Bay.
The final races today started early with a 10:30am warning sequence and a very technical race with about 10 knots from East, some big shifts and a change of leaders. The young Italian Laser Radial Youth World Champion Guido Gallinaro with German Olympian crew Frithjof Kleen won the first race over the 35 teams racing.
Before the start of the last race the top teams were all within a few points and you could feel the tension on the race course that caused a general recall. This was a five leg race with the finish line set upwind, not an irrelevant detail because at the last downwind gate American Tomas Hornos with Brazilian crew and winner of the last SSL Finals Pedro Trouche were leading the overall ranking.
Hornos and Trouche finished the race second behind the Irish brothers Robert and Peter O’Leary, but Lawrence and Selivanov managed to overtake enough boats on the last upwind leg to win the event by three points.
“Tricky conditions with a lot of back and forth,” said Hornos. “But we are very happy with the results, it’s always good to be on the podium. We will be now busy with the Walker Cup and Midwinters starting tomorrow, it’s a long week for us. We don’t know yet what is coming after this, maybe Europeans/SSL Grand Slam, maybe the Worlds in Porto Cervo, surely we’ll continue sailing the Star together.”
“It’s been great racing this week, I was at the helm but my brother still did most of the tactics,” said Robert O’Leary after finishing third overall. “We are already looking forward to the next event in Riva del Garda next year in October, it shall be good. This was the first Junior World Championship and it’s been so successful with 36 competitive boats, it’s good to see all these young guys in the class.”
Final Results (Top 10 of 36; 6 races, 1 discard)
1. Luke Lawrence / Alexey Selivanov , USA – 1 -2 -[12] -8 -2 -6 ; 19
2. Tomas Hornos / Pedro Trouche , USA – [7] -1 -7 -5 -7 -2 ; 22
3. Robert O’Leary / Peter O’Leary , IRL – 3 -4 -[16] -12 -6 -1 ; 26
4. Charlie Buckingham / Austin Sperry , USA – 8 -5 -6 -1 -[16] -7 ; 27
5. Nick Pellicano Grael / Samuel Goncalves , BRA – 5 -[24] -4 -6 -4 -11 ; 30
6. Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini / Brian Fatih , GBR – [17] -9 -3 -15 -3 -3 ; 33
7. Guido Gallinaro / Frithjof Kleen , ITA – 2 -[23] -13 -14 -1 -4 ; 34
8. Jake Lilley / Lewis Brake , AUS – 11 -8 -[14] -2 -11 -5 ; 37
9. Juan Ignacio Perez / Mark Strube , MEX – 6 -13 -2 -10 -[14] -8 ; 39
10. Facundo Olezza / Frederico Melo , BAH – 4 -16 -5 -16 -5 -[34] ; 46
Rules limit skipper’s age to 30 and under but do not limit the crew’s age. Racing was held from February 4 to 6.
Source: sailingscuttlebutt
