Max Kohlhoff and Ole Burzinski won the 2023 Star World Championship today in Marina di Scarlino.
They started the Championship with a win and ended it with a golden star affixed to their mainsail, a lifelong dream for the 200+ Star sailors in Scarlino.
For some, this was their 20th attempt. This year, it was Max and Ole’s turn to win.
The 30-year-old German team Max Kohlhoff and Ole Burzinshi and the Belgian/Dutch team Manu Hens and Joost Houweling had a great start and rounded first and second at the top mark.
Kohlhoff / Burzinski overtook Hens / Houweling on the last downwind leg, won the race, and became the provisional overall leaders due to a poor race by the Swiss Pete Eckerd with Portuguese crew Frederico Melo, and an even worse one by Diego Negri and Alessandro Sodano (ITA).
After Race Five, the discard rule came into play, so all three teams were still in the hunt for the title ahead of Race Six.
For the last racem it was the Irish Peter O’Leary and Steve Milne, even though the first at both the top mark and the gate were the Americans Doug Smith and Brian O’Mahony.
Negri / Sodano and Eckert / Melo finished eighth and 12th, respectively, which was enough to keep them both on the podium: the Swiss/Portuguese team won silver, and the Italians took bronze.
2023 Star World Championship – Final Leaders (96 entries)
1st GER 8489 Max Kohlhoff and Ole Burzinski – – 17 pts
2nd SUI 8575 Piet Eckert and Frederico Melo – – 29 pts
3rd ITA 8583 Diego Negri and Alessandro Sodano – – 35 pts
4th ITA 8568 Flavio Favini and Nicolas Seravalle – – 41 pts
5th BEL 8455 Manu Hens and Joost Houweling – – 54 pts
6th IRL 8465 Peter O’Leary and Stephen Milne – – 59 pts
7th ITA 8563 Enrico Chieffi and Nando Colaninno – – 60 pts
8th CRO 8531 Marin Misura and Tonko Barac – – 65 pts
9th GER 8446 Hubert Merkelbach and Kilian Weise – – 66 pts
10th USA 8464 Jack Jennings and Pedro Trouche – – 73 pts
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