Nassau (Bahamas), 1 December 2013 - France is
going to be very well represented in the first edition of the Star
Sailors League Final that will begin on December 3rd at the Nassau Yacht
Club, with two teams representing their country: veteran Xavier Rohart,
who won the latest bronze medal in the Star Class for his country, and
young Jonathan Lobert, who was also able to conquer the bronze in London
2012 sailing the Finn.
Early in
his career, Rohart sailed both the Finn and the Laser, but settled on
the Finn, first qualifying for the Olympic team in 1992. At the 2000
Games, he just missed out on a medal, finishing fifth. In 2001, Rohart
began sailing Star class boats for fun, while continuing to train in the
Finn. But a 12th place finish at the 2001 Worlds prompted him to switch
to the Star for the Athens Games. At the 2003 Worlds, Rohart and his
crew, Pascal Rambeau, won the gold, and went on to win a bronze in the
Athens Olympics. Since the 2004 Games, he hasn't finished out of the top
ten at a Star Worlds. In 2005, he won the gold, a year later he won the
bronze. In 2008 he finished ninth, but won the Rolex Miami Olympic
Class Regatta. Xavier Rohart competed in his fourth Olympic Games in
2008, skippering the Star class, and his fifth in London 2012. In 2013
he came in fourth at the Star Worlds in San Diego.
His crew Pierre-Alexis Ponsot is now Rohart's colleague, as he too teaches for the French's Ecole Nationale de Voile.
As one of the founders of the SSL he is very committed to the movement's goals: "Since
the Star boat lost its olympic status I'm looking to sail at a pro
level against the best of the best. I think that creating a movement
that will push the athletes and their skills forward is better for
sailing on the future. SSL has the goal to make races between the best
sailors in the world". Regarding the event, he has no doubt of his target for this race:
"Winning! Maybe I'm not prepared enough for that but with Pierre-Alexis
we have a good chance to get in the front part of the fleet and get our
chance."
The
unexpected second French skipper is another new entry for the Star
Class. We are talking about the famous Jonathan Lobert, an olympic
sailor since 2002. He started sailing in the Optimist, then he moved to
the Europe class and after 2 years he start his olympic quest in the
Laser class. In 2007 he jumped into the Finn: he really enjoyed sailing
the boat and in 2010 finished 2nd in the ISAF world cup. With the Finn
he earned his best result, with the bronze medal in London 2012. His
crew is Pascal Rambeau, an expert French sailor that won the bronze
medal in Athens and two World Championship with Rohart.
His thoughts about the SSL: "I
think this a great way to keep the Star alive even if it's out of the
olympics for now. It's incredible to see all those sailing legends so
happy to be back and sailing together on this boat. I think it's also
very interesting to try this kind of Tennis world tour format; sailing
is a fantastic sport and it's very important to try to get the public
more and more into it."
As newcomer he's also very excited for his debut: "For
me it will be a great experience as I never ever sailed the Star
before! I saw the guys sailing in Weymouth on the same course and I
always wanted to try one day. I am very lucky to do it with the best
sailors in the world!! I am very pleased to come with Pascal Rambeau, a
very experienced crew, and I will have to learn a lot from him. Because
of this our goal will be just to do our best on the water and enjoy the
racing with the guys."
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