Brazil’s Jorge Zarif and Guilherme de Almeida are the 2018 Star World Champions
After two final races on Saturday in Oxford, Maryland, USA, Zarif and de Almeida finished five points clear of second placed Eivind Melleby NOR and Joshua Revkin USA, with Paul Cayard USA and Arthur Lopes BRA taking third place on the podium.
The fleet embarked on the most challenging day of racing yet and battled 40 degree shifts, an 8-10 knot breeze that built to over 20 knots by the end of the day, and the heaviest current they have seen all week.
Race 5, originally scheduled to begin at 11:00 EDT (UTC -4), took over three hours to begin due to remnant unstable wind conditions.
The Greek team Emilios Papathanasiou and Antonis Tsotras took a commanding lead early on, but after two major right shifts and a hard fought effort downwind, Italians Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi worked their way into first place and won Race 5.
With the great unknown scoreboard in mind, the top teams took a conservative approach to Race 6 and kept to the center of the race course.
Tomas Hornos and Pedro Trouche took an early lead on the first weather leg with reigning Star World Champions Eivind Melleby and Josh Revkin hot on their trail.
Hornos and Trouche took the final race win of the 2018 Star World Championship in a photo finish with Norwegian team Eivind Melleby and Josh Revkin.
Zarif and de Almeida finish in fourth, narrowly beating American’s George Szabo and Roger Cheer across the line, and solidifying their 2018 Star World Championship win.
2019 Star World Championship will be held in Porto Cervo, Italy, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda from June 13th to 23rd.
2018 Star World Championship – Final Leaders after 6 races (60 entries)
1 – Jorge Zarif – Guilherme de Almeida BRA 2 3 1 4 -14 4 – – 14 pts
2 – Eivind Melleby NOR – Joshua Revkin USA 1 1 61 9 6 2 – – 19 pts
3 – Paul Cayard USA – Arthur Lopes BRA 8 2 7 1 61 6 – – 24 pts
4 – Diego Negri – Sergio Lambertenghi ITA 6 6 10 -19 1 9 – – 32 pts
5 – George Szabo USA – Roger Cheer CAN -14 4 13 8 3 5 – – 33 pts
6 – Jørgen Schönerr – Jan Eli Gravad DEN 3 13 2 -24 17 10 – – 45 pts
7 – Tomas Horno – Pedro Trouche USA 25 9 8 3 61 1 – – 46 pts
8 – Hubert Merkelbach – Markus Koy GER 9 20 5 2 -24 14 – – 50 pts
9 – Eric Doyle – Payson Infelise USA 10 15 16 -26 9 3 – – 53 pts
10 – Peter Vessela – Phil Trinter USA 7 11 -20 5 19 13 – – 55 pts
Full results available here