THE MAGIC OF THE STAR After the Bacardi Cup Frithjof Kleen summed it up as follows: »The Star Class is the most important one-design class in the world. It’s the boat, it’s the community, it’s the camaraderie, it’s the tradition.« But what else is behind the continued success of the International Star, designed in the early 1900s, and still thriving today, racing on all levels and in dozens of countries around the world? Is it because the boat is so challenging to sail, even though it might look simple at a casual glance? »Yes, it’s challenging on all fronts. For one, it’s very physical,« Paul explains. »In the days when I was crewing, we didn’t have the harness and the boats would get a lot of water in them. As a crew, you had to pump the pumps, you had to hike with no assistance. And you had to tack the backstays. The backstays were on tracks, so every time you tacked, you had to slide the backstay, the windward one back and let the leeward one off or the old windward one off, or else it would cut in the mainsail. Now, we have a double bottom and a self-bailing cockpit. But most of the challenges remain. The mainsail is so big, for the skipper it’s a heavy load to pull the main in and jibe and things like that. Technically speaking, the boat’s very challenging because of the mast. You essentially take the same suit of sails from 5 knots to 25 or 30 knots of wind, which makes it one of the few types of boats where you use the same sails all the way through the range. Mast bend then becomes very important to reduce the volume of the mainsail in particular, such that it can become quite a flat sail for strong winds. Understanding how to tune the shrouds, how to use the backstays and all that does take a little bit of time.« The boat itself, however, looks rather archaic, compared to most modern and even classic designs. »That seems to be the original fascination, the rig and, in a way, the simplicity of it all,« says Paul. »Just two people. The fact that it has a hard chine is kind of interesting too, instead of a round bottom boat. There are times when knowing how to use the chine is important. Upwind and downwind. When we’re downwind you heel way to windward and cut through waves with the chine.« 54
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