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Irish Star Olympic Sailing Keelboat News & Regatta Results
Robert (left) and Nicholas O'Leary at the Coral Reef Yacht Club, hosts of this week's Bacardi Cup in Miami
Cork Harbour pair Nicholas and Robert O'Leary have moved up to 11th overall after the second raced sailed of the 2019 Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta in Miami yesterday. The new Baltimore Sailing Club combination are the only Irish crew competing in the…
Nicholas (left) and Robert O'Leary competing in the first race of the 2019 Bacardi Cup in Miami
Nicholas and Robert O'Leary were 13th in race one of the 2019 Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta in Miami yesterday. It was a new departure for the O'Leary campaign with 2020 Vendee Globe hopeful Nicholas taking the place of Peter on the…
23 countries including Ireland will be represented in Biscayne Bay by more than 500 sailors for an event that started out in 1927 as a three-day regatta with less than 10 boats in Cuba. The Star Class will be joined by the J70, Melges 24, Viper 640 and the Flying Tiger 7.5
Two separate O'Leary teams both sailing under the burgee of Baltimore Sailing Club in West Cork are in action in Florida next week at the Bacardi Cup in Miami. Former Irish Sailor of the Year Anthony O'Leary sailing with David…
Stars go downwind in Miami, Florida
Royal Cork and Baltimore Sailing Club's O'Leary brothers are making most of their trip stateside and chalked up third overall yesterday in the Miami-based Star Winter Series. They won the Walker Cup sailed as part of the series at the…
Robert (left) and Peter O'Leary (right) on the podium in Miami
Royal Cork Yacht Club and Baltimore Sailing Club's Robert and Peter O'Leary were bronze medalists at the first Star Junior World Champion Under 30 after a six-race regatta in the water of Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida yesterday. “It’s been great…
Peter O'Leary on the bow of the Irish Star in Miami with the name of his Irish sponsor, CH Marine of Cork clearly visible. North Sails Ireland look after the sails on the Irish keelboat
Royal Cork Yacht Club brothers Robert and Peter O'Leary have dropped three places overall at the inaugural Star Junior World Championship hosted by the Coral Reef Yacht Club. The Cork Harbour duo lie sixth overall in a fleet of 36 after…
Robert and Peter O'Leary in Miami for yesterday's first race
Baltimore Sailing Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club's Robert and Peter O'Leary are lying third overall after the first race of the Star Junior World Championship at Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, USA. Beautiful sunshine and light breeze welcomed…
Crosshaven brothers Peter (left) and Rob O'Leary on their way to Walker Cup victory in Miami last year. The change positions and race for Junior World Honours at the same venue today
Cork Harbour brothers Robert and Peter O’Leary start the first ever Star Junior World Championship at Miami, Florida, at Coral Reef Yacht Club today.  Following a successful week for Ireland's Finn Lynch in the Laser class at the same race track last week,…
Peter and Robert O’Leary competing in the 2018 Star Europeans Championship in Flensburg, Germany last August
Baltimore Sailing Club brothers Peter and Robert O’Leary are signed up for the inaugural Junior Star Worlds in Miami’s Biscayne Bay from 3-6 February. Last year’s bronze medallists in the Star Europeans join a list of more than 30 skipper-crew…
The podium of the 2018 Star European Championship, with Cork's O'Leary brothers on the right
American Augie Diaz and Brazilian Bruno Prada are the winner of the Robbe & Berking Star European Championships 2018, tied to Lars Grael with Samuel Gonçalves (BRA) who are second. The Bronze medal goes to Cork brothers Peter and Robert O’Leary…
Peter and Robert O'Leary competing in the 2018 Star Europeans Championship in Flensburg, Germany
Baltimore Sailing Club brothers Peter and Robert O'Leary are off to a great start at the 2018 Star Europeans Championship that officially started on Wednesday evening with the Opening Ceremony at Flensburger Segel-Club, Germany but it was yesterday that the…
The start of the final race at the 2018 Star Class Bacardi Cup
With seven out of the top 10 at the Bacardi Cup being Star world champions, Peter O'Leary and Robert O'Leary from Royal Cork Yacht Club were in good company when they finished 11th overall in Miami at the weekend. A…
Start of race two – Peter and Robert O'Leary, (IRL 8527) have maintained their top ten overall at the Bacardi Cup in Miami yesterday
Ireland's newest Star Class team, brothers Peter and Robert O'Leary, have maintained their top ten overall at the Bacardi Cup in Miami yesterday. The Royal Cork duo lie eighth overall, six places ahead of Royal St. George Yacht Club's Max…
Both of Ireland's 2008 Beijing Olympic campaigners are back on the water at the Star Bacardi Cup this week in Miami, Florida
In what might be the first competitive meeting since the controversial 2008 Olympic Star selection trials – that ended up in front of an Olympic Council of Ireland Appeal hearing – two of Ireland's 2008 keelboat campaigners Peter O'Leary of Baltimore and…
 The modern International Star fleet continues to give superb racing
Usually when a boat fills a very special niche in the world sailing scene, the standard response is that if it didn’t exist, then somebody would just have to invent it writes W M Nixon. But in the case of…
Peter and Robert O'Leary sailing their new Star boat Dafnie were clear winners of the American Mid Winters in Miami
Cork Harbour brothers Peter and Robert O'Leary have stunned the international Star Keelboat fleet by winning the 'Walker Cup' as part of the Star American mid-winters championships in Miami in their new boat 'Dafnie', beating the famous America's Cup helmsman…

The Star keelboat is a 6.9 metres (23 ft) one-design racing keelboat 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 at which Ireland's representatives were Peter O'Leary and David Burrows.

Ireland has performed well in the class internationally thanks to some Olympic campaigns including a bronze medal at the Star World Championships in 2000, won by Mark Mansfield and David O'Brien.

The boat is sloop-rigged, with a mainsail 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 of fibreglass and carbon construction.

The boat must weigh at least 671 kg (1,479 lb) with a maximum total sail area of 26.5 m2 (285 sq ft).

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.

At A Glance – Star Specifications

Designer Francis Sweisguth
Year 1910
Crew 2 (Skipper + Crew)
S + 1.5 C ≤ 250 kg (550 lb)[1]
Draft 1.016 m (3 ft 4 in)
Hull Type keelboat
Hull weight ≥ 671 kg (1,479 lb)
(including keel)
LOA 6.922 m (22 ft 9 in)
LWL 4.724 m (15 ft 6 in)
Beam 1.734 m (5 ft 8 in) at deck
1.372 m (4 ft 6 in) at chine
Hull appendages
Keel/board type bulb keel
401.5 ± 7 kg (885 ± 15 lb)
Rig
Rig type sloop
Mast length 9.652 m (31 ft 8 in)
Sails
Mainsail area 20.5 m2 (221 sq ft)
Jib/genoa area  6.0 m2 (65 sq ft)
Upwind sail area ≤ 26.5 m2 (285 sq ft)

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