It will be exciting on Saturday: the showdown at the final of the Star Sailors League in Nassau will begin at 11 a.m. local time (5 p.m. German time). After four exciting days of racing, the ten best of the 25 world-class teams qualified at the Star Parade in the dream destination of the Bahamas. Including three German sailors: The Berlin star boat world champion Frithjof Kleen and his new star boat helmsman Paul Goodison reached the quarter-finals after an impressive final sprint in fifth. Philipp Buhl and Markus Koy could not build on the brilliant performances of the previous days in strongly varying winds on Friday, but the outstanding preparatory work allowed them to move into the quarter-finals in seventh place, in which the eight teams in qualifying places 3 to 10 for a place in the Fight semifinals.
Best loser of all time: offshore legend Loick Peyron. He completed his first star boat deployment with Pascal Rambeau in 24th and was still the best-humored sailor in the star fleet off Nassau. Peyron commented on the quarter-finals on Saturday as a guest expert - and even laughed about it: "Me and expert?" Live broadcast viewers can look forward to an extremely entertaining broadcast …
Double Olympic champion Robert Scheidt with Henry Boening is seeded for the semifinals. The Brazilians finished qualifying with second place and are allowed to skip the quarter-finals as a reward. You will meet the top five quarter-finalists in the semi-finals. The three best semi-finalists qualify for the final, in which the American defending champions Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih sailed directly as the winners of the preliminary round. All three final rounds are sailed in knockout mode. Only one race at a time decides on elimination or advancement.
Thrilling duels, excitement at the turning points and Italian ecstasy: the last day of qualification was extremely exciting with a happy ending for Francesco Bruni and Nando Colaninno
For Philipp Buhl and Markus Koy, reaching the final round means a great success. Buhl, who had never competed in a starboat regatta before joining the fleet, which was highly decorated with 2 America's Cup triumphs, 7 Olympic gold medals, 28 Starboat world championship titles, 16 World Championship titles in Olympic classes and 3 Volvo Ocean Race winners, impressed competition and observers in interaction with his experienced crew, Markus Koy. Observer and guest commentator Jochen Schümann said: "I keep my fingers crossed for Buhli for tomorrow! Philipp is one of the outstanding talents that German Olympic sailing has. I am very impressed to see him in the top ten. I hope that he will can stay tuned. Even after the first knockout round. He's now sailing at a level where he can win a medal at the next Olympic Games."
Philipp Buhl and Markus Koy rock their star from the wind
Philipp Buhl and Markus Koy on the fourth day of qualification in Montagu Bay near Nassau in the Bahamas area: it was their weakest day with ranks 17, 18 and 15. Nevertheless, they could be happy, because with seventh place they are in the showdown on Saturday
The fact that Buhl and Koy with the ranks 17, 18 and 15 also had to accept a collision with the Polish Finn Olympic champion Mateausz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki on the less successful advance day in a barrel rounding, the cause of which the sailors were not in agreement, should be her Do not reduce performance on Saturday. The boat will be repaired overnight. "Then it should fit," said Markus Koy.
Paul Goodison and Frithjof Kleen had to solve a similar task the day before. The two-time moth world champion and Olympic champion from Great Britain and his Berlin bowman had a hole in the hull not allowed to sail at the highest level. The resulting setbacks they did more than well on Friday with the boat repaired overnight by Shore crew Kilian Weise in a night shift and strong results. Kleen, who is considered one of the best crews on the international star boat scene, said: "I know my helmsman is new to the star boat. But he can handle pressure. He was the one who drove the winning streak of 49er Olympic champions and America's Cup winner Peter Burling has stopped. " With his own smile, Kleen, who is considered a popular entertainer in the star boat scene, added: "We are planning for the finale."
Olympic champion Paul Goodison and star boot world champion Frithjof Kleen on the road to success: the British-German duo sailed confidently into the final with fifth place after qualifying
You can find the results here