Paul Cayard won four of five races to claim the first Vintage Gold Cup in September 2017, sailing a restored 1964 Olympic gold medal-winning Star boat on Gull Lake, Michigan.
The Star is a 6.92-metre, two-person keelboat, narrow at just 1.73 metres across the deck and carrying a large mainsail and jib. First launched in 1911, its hull design has remained essentially unchanged while its rig and equipment have evolved over more than a century.
Cayard's victory aboard GEM IX was never in serious doubt after he opened the regatta with three consecutive wins. A fifth-place finish in Race 4 proved his only blemish before he returned to the front in the final race. With his worst result discarded, Cayard finished on four points, four clear of his nearest rival.
Arthur Anosov provided the strongest challenge aboard Magic, scoring two seconds and a win in Race 4 to finish on eight points. Three-time Star World Champion and double Olympic medallist Mark Reynolds took third aboard Quantum with 14 points.
The Vintage Gold Cup was established to celebrate the history of the wooden Star boat, with entries divided between Classic Vintage boats restored to original specifications and Performance Vintage boats updated with modern equipment. GEM IX, Cayard's winning boat, was built in Massachusetts in 1964 for Sir Durward Knowles, who won Olympic gold for the Bahamas at the Tokyo Games with crew Cecil Cooke.
The boat had sat in a Long Island barn since 1985 before restorers John Vandermolen and Mike Ward returned it to racing condition. Vandermolen, whose Olympic boatbuilding credits included 13 of the 16 Stars at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, collaborated with his cousin Don to create the regatta.
The 12-boat fleet featured restored wooden Stars built between the 1940s and 1980s. Organisers hoped the restored boats might one day compete with modern fibreglass designs, though they acknowledged this remained uncertain.
https://vintagegoldcup.com/
Final results: 1. Paul Cayard, GEM IX, 4pts; 2. Arthur Anosov, Magic, 8pts; 3. Mark Reynolds, Quantum, 14pts; 4. Andy MacDonald, Pink Lady, 16pts; 5. Tom Londrigan, Cautious, 18pts.
