Racing will start on
December 2nd for the
Star Sailors League Finals in
Nassau, Bahamas. For the third year in a row,
some of the best sailors in the world will compete for the 2015 title and prize money of 200,000$ in the clear blue waters in front of
Nassau Yacht Club.
As always the
quality of athletes competing is astounding, ten of
the teams are here as top ranked Star sailors, based on the Star Class
regattas held in 2015 around the world, and the remaining ten are VIPs
from the world of sailing.
9 OLYMPIC MEDALISTS:
GER Jochen Schümann (3x Gold &1x Silver)
POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz (1x Gold &1x Bronze)
BRA Bruno Prada (1x Silver &1x Bronze)
CYP Pavlos Kontides (1x Silver)
USA Brian Ledbetter(1x Silver)
GER Ingo Borkowski (1xSilver)
BRA Lars Grael (2x Bronze)
FRA Xavier Rohart (1x Bronze)
FRA Pascal Rambeau (1xBronze)
WORLD CHAMPIONS - LOUIS VUITTON CUP andVOR WINNERS
USA Paul Cayard (World Champion in Star &Winner of LVC &1x VOR)
GBR Ian Williams (5x World Champion in Match Racing)
GER Robert Stanjek (World Champion in Star)
USA George Szabo(World Champion in Star)
NZL Hamish Pepper(World Champion in Star)
BRA Jorge Zarif(World Champion in Finn)
GBR Steve Mitchell (World Champions in Star and Etchells)
EUROPEAN OR NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION
GER Johannes Polgar (European Champion in Tornado and in Star)
CRO Ivan Gaspic (European Champion in Finn)
ITA Diego Negri (European Champion in Star)
USA Augie Diaz (North American Champion)
ROOKIE
GBR Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini (Laser - Winner of Qingdao World Cup)
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SSL has developed a
new racing format, in collaboration with some of the most experienced and skilled sailors of the world. The main goal of this format is to
build the tension and excitement
of the racing fans. The athletes truly believe that the SSL racing
format completely fulfills this objective without spoiling the nature of
sailing as asport. The introduction of a knockout system inspired by
the “play-offs” helps to increase the pressure and ends in the
ultimateclimax,a
"winner-takes-all” Final.
The regatta will start with the
Opening Ceremony held at the Nassau Yacht Club on Tuesday December the 1st and
on Wednesday morning the 20 teams will leave the docks and head to the racecourse.
FINAL DAY
The top 11 teams qualify for the Final Day on
Saturday December 5th,
which will be raced in a knock-out format. All the action will be
streamed live via the Internet and includeTV interviews with
competitors.
10 teams contest the quarter-finalin a single race between teams ranked
from 2nd to 11th in the qualifications rounds (the winner of the
qualification rounds receives a bye). The semi-finalis another single
race between the top six from the quarter-final, plus the winner of the
qualificationrounds. The finalfeatures the top four teams from the
semi-final in a single race. The winner will be crowned as winner of the
2015 SSL Finals, together with the biggest share of the prize fund.
LIVE COVERAGE
Full coverage of all four days of action will be streamed live on the Internet with expert commentary from special
studio guests, including Dennis Conner. On the water, the latest in hi-tech camera technology, as well as
Virtual Eye 3D Graphics, will provide thrilling viewing. Armchair sailors can also race the course with Virtual Regatta.
Since our audience is present in all parts of the globe,
Internet will be our stadium. Even though the tension of a true arena cannot be recreated virtually, new technologies do have other advantages.
From December 2nd to 5th, regattas will be
streamed live on http://finals.starsailors.com.
A complete live video stream of the races as well as additional
insights provided by the state-of-the-art tracking system developed by
Virtual Eye
for the America’s Cup will allow people from over the world to follow
their favorites and to cheer for them. Many prestigious sailing websites
around the globe will also share our live broadcast on their homepage.
VIRTUAL REGATTA
Thanks to the leader in the domain of virtual sailing, anyone with an
Internet connection will be able to take part to the virtual version of
the SSL Lake Grand Slam through the"
Virtual Regatta"edition that already seduced more than
1,000,000 players.