The Star is a one-design racing

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

for two people designed by Francis Sweisguth in 1910. The Star was an Olympic keelboat class from 1932 through to 2012, the last year keelboats appeared at the Summer Olympics. It is sloop-rigged, with a

mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast (sailing), mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. T ...

larger in proportional size than any other boat of its length. Unlike most modern racing boats, it does not use a spinnaker when sailing downwind. Instead, when running downwind a whisker pole is used to hold the jib out to windward for correct wind flow. Early Stars were built from wood, but modern boats are generally made of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

. The boat must weigh at least with a maximum total sail area of . The Star class pioneered an unusual circular boom vang track, which allows the vang to effectively hold the boom down even when the boom is turned far outboard on a downwind run. Another notable aspect of Star sailing is the extreme hiking position adopted by the crew and at times the helmsman, who normally use a harness to help hang low off the windward side of the boat with only their lower legs inside.

History

The Star was designed in 1910 by Francis Sweisguth, a draftsman at the William Gardner Marine Architect office. Over the course of his career Sweisguth designed a variety of yachts. A more traditional example of his work is Silent Maid, a Barnegat Bay B-class catboat designed shortly after the Star. The first 22 stars were built in Port Washington, New York by Ike Smith during the winter of 1910–11. Since that time, over 8,600 boats have been built, with more than 2,000 actively racing in 170 fleets. The hull is a hard chine design with a slight curve to the bottom section, and a bulb keel. The Star was originally rigged with a large, low-aspect-ratio gunter mainsail and jib, which was replaced by a short bermuda rig gradually during the early 1920s, before the current tall bermuda sail plan was adopted in 1930. In 1965,

replaced wood as the primary hull material. Other changes to the strict design rules for the Star class, include adding flexible spars, an innovative circular-track boom vang, and self-bailers.

Events

Star Boats NHYC June 2013 photo D Ramey Logan

Star Boats 3 NHYC June 2013 photo D Ramey Logan

Olympics

The Star was added to the Olympic roster for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, there were no Olympic games held in 1940 or 1944, and for

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, the Star was replaced by the Tempest for keelboat competition. In 2011 keelboats were removed from sailing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. The last keelboat Olympics competition was at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

World Championships

The Star World Championships has been held annually since 1923. Most titles has American sailor Lowell North won, with five titles between 1945 and 1973 and another seven podiums. The most crowned skipper-crew combination is Italian duo Agostino Straulino and Nicolò Rode and Brazilian duo Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada with three titles each. Also, American Mark Reynolds has three titles, but with different crew.

Star Sailors League

The Star Sailors League was created in 2013 by athletes to establish a sustainable sailing circuit.

Famous Star sailors

* Ralph Craig (Olympic 100 and 200 meter Champion: 1912) * Duarte Bello (Championship competitor, 1947–1970s. Invented auto-bailers and circular boom-vang track) * John F. Kennedy (Nantucket Sound Star Class Championship: 1936) * Agostino Straulino (Olympic Champion: 1952; World Champion: 1952, 1953, 1956; Olympic Silver: 1956) * Robert Halperin (Olympic Bronze: 1960; Pan American Games Gold: 1963) * Paul Elvstrøm (World Champion: 1966, 1967) * Dennis Conner (World Champion: 1971, 1977) * Buddy Melges (World Champion: 1978, 1979) * Iain Percy (Olympic Champion: 2008; World Champion: 2010; Olympic Silver: 2012) * Robert Scheidt (Olympic Silver: 2008; Olympic Bronze: 2012; World Champion: 2008, 2011, 2012; SSL Finals: 2013) * Fredrik Lööf (World Champion: 2001, 2004; Olympic Champion: 2012)

References

External links

International Star Class Yacht Racing Association (ISCYRA)

International Star Class
at the ''International Sailing Federation'' (ISAF)
International Star Class
in "Classic Classes" at '' Classic Boat'' magazine
THe Star 45 Class
at the ''American Model Yachting Association'' (AMYA) {{Authority control Keelboats Olympic sailing classes 1910s sailboat type designs Sailboat type designs by Francis Sweisguth Sailboat types built by Clark Boat Company One-design sailing classes