{"id":68869,"date":"2020-06-23T17:06:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T21:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=68869"},"modified":"2023-05-06T22:42:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T02:42:35","slug":"rookie-of-the-star-sailors-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/rookie-of-the-star-sailors-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie of the Star Sailors League"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Henrique <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Brazilian standout Henrique Haddad was one of several \u201crookies\u201d invited to compete at the Star Sailors League Final in the Bahamas.<\/span>\n SSL\/Marc Rouiller<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

At the 2019 Snipe Worlds in Ilhabela, Brazil, I\u2019d heard a lot about the Brazilian sailor with the nickname \u201cGigante.\u201d Given the crew is usually the smaller of a Snipe team, and with a name like that, I\u2019d always assumed he was the bigger of the two when I saw them together. Two months later, however, as we walk side by side across the parking lot of the Nassau Yacht Club in the Bahamas, we\u2019re practically eye to eye. It\u2019s Brazilian sarcasm, he tells me, with an engaging grin. \u201cI\u2019ve always been small, since I was a child. So, it\u2019s a kind of joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Henrique \u201cGigante\u201d Haddad, the relatively unknown 32-year-old Snipe World champion, groomed in the rich South American one-design sailing scene, is one of several rookies in the Bahamas attempting to make a name for himself among the elite of the once-Olympic Star Class. He\u2019s an invited guest at the annual Star Sailors League Finals, and on the day we meet for a late-afternoon coffee, he\u2019s not only survived the qualifying races, but he\u2019s soared into the top 10. Admittedly, he\u2019s not much of a Star sailor, but over the past few days, he\u2019s proved himself plenty capable of competing with the other invited skippers, as well as the legitimate giants of the Star class. For the regatta, the diminutive skipper teamed up with crew and countryman Henry Boening. Where Haddad lacks street cred in the Star, Boening is highly decorated. \u201cMagilla,\u201d as he\u2019s known, has twice finished second in the SSL Finals, as well as the 2019 Star World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Star <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The Star Sailors League\u2019s marque event in the Bahamas is an invitational gathering of one-design champions past and present.<\/span>\n SSL\/Marc Rouiller <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

The Star Sailors League Finals is an invitation-only regatta, contested in Star boats. Its stated goal is far more inclusive than the choice of boat might suggest: to celebrate the champions, or the \u201cstars,\u201d of sailing and also to \u201c\u00adcreate those of tomorrow.\u201d That\u2019s how the tomorrow guys like Haddad get their invites. The League Finals are four days of racing on Montagu Bay, where 23 teams are winnowed to 10. On the last race day, three knockout races determined the final four, and after that, it\u2019s a one\u2011race\u2011wins-it-all shootout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The first pool of coveted invitations goes to sailors at the top of a league-managed global-ranking list, which is updated weekly and includes more than 50,000 sailors from 36 classes and disciplines. The next group of invited skippers have either recently won a major event or hail from a developing country (or both), ensuring a range of experience. For this 2019 edition, Haddad is one of them. The other rookies are Oskari Muhonen, a Finn sailor from Finland; Jee-min Ha, a Laser Olympian from Korea; and Ricardo Fabini, a Snipe champion from Uruguay. All three are paired with a competitive Star crew from a different country. New boat, new teammate, sometimes \u00addrastically different native tongues\u2026what could possibly go wrong? Star boats are notoriously difficult to sail, so the class veterans have a definite advantage\u2014even though some of their Olympic medals and gold-star emblems were won before three of these 2019 \u00adnewbies were born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Haddad is a full-time sailor who represented Brazil at the Rio Olympics in the 470, finishing 23rd of 26 teams. The 470 is a boat he says is \u201clike a drug,\u201d one he genuinely enjoys racing, and while he hopes to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a disappointing pre-Olympic result this past summer has led him into racing other boats. \u201cWhat helped me is that I sailed a lot this year,\u201d he tells me, his brown eyes locked on mine, his smile mixing matter-of-fact with a dose of humility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Haddad\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Henrique \u201cGigante\u201d Haddad<\/span>\n SSL\/Gilles Morelle <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

In September 2019, he and his teammates finished 13th at the J\/70 Worlds, and then shortly thereafter, with only a few weeks of practice, he won the Snipe Worlds. There were plenty of Snipe class legends there too, including Haddad\u2019s Olympic coach, Alexandre Paradeda\u2014the 2001 Snipe World champion\u2014and his Olympic 470 teammate Bruno Bethlem, himself a two-time world champion Snipe skipper. Beating his tuning partners, who he likens to older brothers, was fulfilling, he says. \u201cIt means I learned a lot with them, and I have a lot of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Unlike the other SSL Final rookies, Haddad lives in a \u00adcountry rich with Star sailing royalty and traditions. Brazil is home to the supremely talented Grael family (Torben and Lars in the Star, Martine in the 49erFX), as well as the most successful Star crew in the world, Bruno Prada. Haddad says Prada was instrumental in getting him up to speed in the Star, but even after enlisting Boening, who sails out of the same yacht club in Rio de Janeiro, he didn\u2019t think they should even bother to practice ahead of the event in the Bahamas. \u201cLet\u2019s go there and have fun,\u201d he remembers telling Boening, \u201cbecause I thought it was almost impossible to be \u00adcompetitive at my weight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

For the record, he\u2019s roughly 143 pounds wet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 470 guys who come [to the SSL], they have a lot of \u00addifficulty,\u201d he says, \u201cbut Bruno told me that the races would be inside [Montagu Bay], where it\u2019s going to be shifty. Magilla said I could be competitive, so then I asked him, \u2018OK, how many days you can spend with me?\u2019 And he said, \u2018About 20.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Haddad <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Henrique Haddad, relatively new to Star \u00adSailing, was paired with veteran Star crew Henry Boening.<\/span>\n SSL\/Marc Rouiller<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

He had his first crack at the Star in November, only a month before the championship, he tells me. He pauses to sip his coffee, unaware that he\u2019s crumbled my misconception that the Bahamian event was his first time in a Star boat. \u201cI did two regattas at my club,\u201d he says, \u201cone with Magilla, and the other with Bruno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

He reminds me that Rio de Janeiro\u2019s 30-boat Star fleet is revered around the world. \u201cMany guys enjoyed that I had this possibility, so they helped me a lot\u2014sharing and helping me train, and giving me some tips about the boat. The Star fleet in Brazil, it is quite strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Twenty days of practice in the boat is a drop in the bilge \u00adcompared with the experience of Star sailing legends, but it was more than twice what the other three newbies managed\u2014\u00adcombined. Without that practice, he says, his performance in Nassau would be \u201cvery bad, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

After three days of racing, however, he says he\u2019s feeling really competitive and understands the boat. Haddad then credits his teammate for much of this new confidence. \u201cMagilla, he has a really good feeling about the boat. He asks me: \u2018How is the rudder? How is the pressure on the boat?\u2019 So I tell him, and he is just \u00adworking on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\nMany friends say that the Star is the best school because it has a huge main, and that\u2019s true. It\u2019s not easy to keep going fast, but it\u2019s easy to feel when the boat is overpowered or not powered enough.\n\n<\/p>\n<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n

Boening also explains what each change does to the boat. Haddad talks to him a bit about settings or mast rake, but in the end, Haddad has the last word: \u201cI just tell him what I\u2019m feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The Star is different from any other boat he\u2019s sailed, but he refers to it as a big Snipe. \u201cBut [downwind in] a Snipe, when you put the bow up, the boat doesn\u2019t go,\u201d he says, while in the Star, \u201cit helps to go up higher and then quite lower, and so on.\u201d Initially, he also struggled to feel connected to the boat upwind because he had to lengthen his hiking straps so much to compensate for shorter legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, he expects that much of what he is learning in Nassau during the League Finals will eventually help him in the 470\u2014and with every other boat too. \u201cIt\u2019s really incredible to feel the boat, the pressure, the settings. Many friends say that the Star is the best school because it has a huge main, and that\u2019s true. It is unbelievable how you can feel the pressure and then talk about it, with running backstays in our hands. It\u2019s not easy to keep going fast, but it\u2019s easy to feel when the boat is overpowered or not powered enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Before qualifying for the Finals\u2019 finals, Haddad is confident that he and Boening can remain in the top 10. \u201cEach day I\u2019m feeling better,\u201d he admits. \u201cI hope that tomorrow may be better\u2026that it\u2019s going to be easy.<\/i>\u201d He smiles to indicate this is more sarcasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Easy? Not a chance. Better? Yes. Much better. The young Brazilian skipper and his crew win the first race of the day and finish fifth in the 10-boat quarterfinals. They\u2019re the only newbies to advance to the next round. The breeze drops for the one-race \u00adsemifinals, the lightest conditions of the week, and after struggling with acceleration off the starting line, they finish last\u2014cementing seventh overall. But the top-six teams, collectively, have won a total of nine Olympic medals and 14 world championships. The four finalists all have gold stars on their mainsails, indicating a previous Star world victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Haddad <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Despite minimal time \u00adtogether in the boat, the pair finished \u00adseventh of 23 teams, even winning one race.<\/span>\n SSL\/Marc Rouiller <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

What is it like sailing against such a legendary lineup? Haddad says he doesn\u2019t think about who he is racing against\u2014at least not while he\u2019s on the water. \u201cObviously, I ask Magilla where is some guy, but more to know about the course,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t think, Who is this guy that\u2019s next to us?<\/i> I\u2019m sailing, just like it was a nice night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Ashore, with all the sailors staying at the same hotel, it\u2019s a \u00addifferent story. \u201cWhen we have a breakfast together, or gather after sailing, we realize who we are sailing against,\u201d Haddad says, his gaze wandering across the yacht club\u2019s pool deck. The other teams have already returned to the hotel. \u201cIt\u2019s really interesting to have \u00adbreakfast with Hamish Pepper, also Mateusz and the others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

When asked if he knew many of the legends before arriving here, he shakes his head. \u201cOnly the match-racing guys: Taylor Canfield, also Torvar Mirsky and Ian Williams. Oh, and Fabini, from the Snipe. The other guys\u2014no, I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

And then, brown eyes locking on me once again, he names an absent Star legend. \u201cTo be here with these kind of guys, for me it\u2019s really interesting because my father is one of the best friends of Torben Grael.\u201d Haddad\u2019s father covered the two Olympic Games (1996 and 2004) as a journalist, when Grael won his two Star gold medals. \u201cThis is my memory from when I started sailing: It was just after the gold medal of Torben and Marcelo, and my father had just come back from the Olympic Games. So I grew up watching them. To be here, fighting with these guys in the Star class 20 years after, is something that for sure I never expected. Because of my weight, I couldn\u2019t imagine one day to be sailing in Star.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

And though he\u2019s already shattered my misconceptions about his rookie status, something he says makes me certain that Haddad will live up to his nickname in the coming years. \u201cI really enjoy sailing,\u201d he says, eyes twinkling and grin stretching even wider than usual. \u201cI pass almost 24 hours thinking about it, how to make things better and how to make the boat go fast. These days here are helping me a lot. And I\u2019m sure that tomorrow, I\u2019m going to feel even more comfortable than I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new face among the giants of the Star Sailors League gets no special treatment on the racecourse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Carol Cronin","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20200623","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"159","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Carol Cronin explores the experience of Brazilian one-design champion Henrique Haddad at the 2020 Star Sailors League Final","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"WGE3YUWPAZHOHBVOAIQCTIT2ZY","arc_website_url":"story\/racing\/rookie-of-the-star-sailors-league\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[232,1493,177,635,1494],"class_list":["post-68869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-one-design","tag-print-2020-spring","tag-racing","tag-snipe","tag-star-class"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}