Paul Cayard and Luke Lawrence Win Star Western Hemispheres

He’s moved into the ‘Executive Suite’ of the US Olympic sailing team, but Paul Cayard is also continuing to rise to the top of Olympic sailing classes. Although the Olympics dropped the Star class in 2012, it remains one of the most competitive one-design fleets in the world. This past weekend Cayard and his crew, Luke Lawrence, put in a winning performance at the Star Western Hemispheres hosted by Biscayne Bay Yacht Club in Miami, Florida.

Cayard and Lawrence led the scoreboard beginning on Day 1 and won the championship without sailing the final race.

They’d only raced together once before — they finished third at the Midwinter Series on these very waters last February — but they made it work. Lawrence mastered the crew role in the boat — he usually steers — and they won half the races they sailed.

“Luke and I sailed smart. We were fast and never finished worse than third,” said Cayard. “It’s been a long time since I’ve won a Western Hemisphere Championship, so I’m super-excited.”

In second place, the Danish/German team of Jørgen Schoenherr and Markus Koy had a very consistent weekend. They were only 3 points behind the winners and 2 in front of the third-place team, the 2016 Star World Champions Augie Diaz (USA) and Bruno Prada (BRA). Diaz and Prada were sailing together again after a few regattas as competitors — the Brazilian superstar won his second back-to-back Bacardi Cup only last month crewing for Mateusz Kusznierewicz.