Open Writing

The first time I saw a Star it wasn’t twinkling in the night sky, nor was it on the silver screen or in a theater. It was one of a cluster of Stars on Lake Cayuga in northern New York State. I was seriously involved in sailboat racing at the time, which involved a Saturday and Sunday commitment every weekend in the season. To save myself the wear and tear of the lengthy drive between my house and the lake, I would overnight on the boat that I helped to crew.

It was my habit to go into the local town, Ithaca, on Sunday mornings to have breakfast at a small café and read the paper. But on this particularly pristine summer morning I decided to rise early and sit out on the point at the yacht club with my cup of coffee. The point, a grassy spit of land jutting out into the lake, is the site of the club’s flag staff, which also serves as one end of the start line for races. The other end is marked by a buoy out on the lake.

As I sat there, only half awake, I saw this group of small, white sailboats circling and angling for a good position in anticipation of the start gun. Since I was into racing bigger boats, I only paid them scant attention. The boom of the start gun startled me out of my sleepy reverie, and I stared open mouthed as these seemingly unremarkable craft accelerated like power boats. What made the scene even more dramatic was that this occurred in the lightest of breezes.

Later, I expressed my amazement to a fellow member. “Oh, didn’t you know,” he responded, “They’re the Stars. They race very Sunday morning.” That was the beginning of my fascination with these incredible, one design yachts. These days, because of the impact of computers, we’re seeing increasing examples of good and unusual design in all aspects of living. But throughout history, there have been artifact designs, the basic forms of which have never needed change or improvement, and never date.

A Greek urn is one example. A couple of others I can think of are the Colt 45 Automatic pistol, and The Star sailboat. The Colt 45 was designed by John Moses Browning in 1905, the Star sailboat by Francis Sweisguth in 1911. From their appearance, either could have been designed only a year or two ago. In truth, the Star has changed somewhat in response to newly available technology, and also the need to compete for attention from one design sailors. But the overall concept has remained the same, and the sleek, curvilinear hull shape is still just as Sweisguth conceived it.

Originally of wooden construction, the hulls were converted to fiberglass manufacture in 1968, and the spars to aluminum in 1970. The basis of a one design class is that all competing boats are identical. The strength of the Star class comes from its oversight by the International Star Yacht Racing Association (I.S.Y.R.A). Changes such as the hull construction and the aluminum spars are only adopted if approved by the I.S.Y.R.A, and only after a vote.

The class was accepted into the Olympics in 1932, and continued until 1976, when it was dropped in favor of newer designs. Despite this apparent setback, the Stars continued to gain in popularity, and fleets are now to be found worldwide in twenty countries. The boat’s popularity is surprising, given that nothing in the design is aimed at crew comfort. The cockpit is small and provides no protection from wind and spray. The boom is so low that the sail trimmer, one of a two person crew, must prostrate him or her self every time it swings.

Star sailors are a breed apart. Tough, ruthless and invincible, they must be prepared to endure extreme heat, wet and cold, and have the strength of a decathlon athlete. Depending on the country they are competing in, they must also be prepared for hypothermia, dehydration and salt water sores in a typical two day series of races. To compete in national competitions, they must often tow their boats for hundreds of miles by road before and after a regatta, often sleeping in the tow vehicle.

Now manufactured only in Germany and Italy, the cost of each boat with a trailer, but without sails, is upwards of 50,000 dollars. Each racing season, the owner can typically expect to part with thousands of additional dollars for new sails and to replace broken masts or booms.

In international competition, the total weight of crew and boat has strict limits, but in club and regional competitions, large and heavy trimmers are prized as crew. These husky individuals use their weight to keep the boat from capsizing when the wind is off the beam or the bow quarter. The only reason a race is cancelled is because there is no wind, never because there is too much.

The endurance of the Star class is only rivaled by the longevity of the crews. Just like old soldiers, they never die, they simply fade away. Some of the skippers in the club I belong to, who are still sailing every week, are well into their 80’s. The only concession they make to age is the adoption of a younger crew member. I suspect that a lot of them would like to die of a heart attack in the middle of a race. I guess their existence, just like the existence of the boats they love, is truly the result of survival of the fittest.

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