2023 Star World Championship

Ninety-five teams representing 25 nations endured challenging weather during the 2023 Star World Championship on September 19-24 in Scarlino, Italy. But the German team of Max Kohlhoff and Ole Burzinski rose above, and with two bullets and five of six races in the top ten, they claimed the gold star by 12 points over their nearest competitor.

After the championship began With two windless days (Day 1 and 2), the third day provided a ten knot southerly for two races. The consistency by Piet Eckert and Frederico Melo (SUI) paid off, taking a preliminary lead in the overall ranking after a 3-4.

However, the winner of the last two Star World titles, Diego Negri (ITA), was only one point behind them, and US sailor Scott Barnard, with World Champion crew Phil Trinter, also not too far behind in third place.

All ingredients looked to be on the table for an extraordinary Day Four, with strong southerly breeze blowing since early morning. But when the fleet reached the race course, gusts started reaching 30 knots as storms got closer, all prompting PRO Giancarlo Crevatin to display AP over H and return the fleet back to the harbor.

Day Five started with a couple hours of wait ashore, but, as foreseen, the light north-easterly breeze blowing in the morning shifted to allow the anticipated and more reliable north-westerly breeze on the racecourse.

Eckert and Melo remained on form with a 5-4, and their solid scorecard allowed them to be the overall leader before the final two races and discard. Kohlhoff/ Burzinski faced the final day in second place, while Negri with Alessandro Sodano fell to third with a 15th place in race four.

With four teams able to achieve the World title, the final day began with the Northern breeze gusting and shifting a bit, but with a bullet in race five by the Germans alongside a 21st and 17th by the Swiss and Italians respectively, Kohlhoff/ Burzinski took over the lead and secured it with a fifth in the finale. The Germans were followed in the overall results by Eckert/ Melo in second place, and the former world champion Negri with Sodano in third place.

Event information – Race details – Results