Great news in the Star Sailors League Ranking: the Star class was the one the ranking was born with, then the Snipe followed, about a month ago it was the time of the Finn class and since today, April 30th, the Star Sailors League is proud to announce the addition of the 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 to the SSL Ranking.
The Star Sailors League is a circuit born in 2013 to crown the best sailors for the year through points assigned at existing regattas that create the SSL Ranking; the top ten sailors in the ranking are invited to attend the SSL Finals every December where the winners claim 4,000 point plus the lion share of the 200,000$ prize pot.
The SSL Ranking is a great tool to visualize the best sailors. Just by opening the page you can see the top three and scrolling down you the first 50 and then more, and for everyone is highlighted who went up from the past week and who lost positions.. It’s as clear as the ATP Tennis, the most winning athlete will be on top.
The Star class has been the first class to be included in the ranking, because it was the boat chosen to race the SSL Finals and the Grand Slams, subsequently the Snipe sailors have been added and about a month ago it was the time for the first Olympic class to enter, the Finn.
Since then, many new names have appeared in the first spots of the ranking, like Jorge Zarif (BRA), in third spot, and Zsombor Berecz (HUN), 10th, who have the benefit of sailing successfully both in the Finn and the Star class and so collecting good points at both regattas.
The list has experienced even more changes from today because three more Olympic classes sailors have made their entrance in the ranking, from the 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 classes!!
So, since the Star Sailors League ranking updates on every Tuesday, from this morning you can find the Italian, European and National Nacra 17 World Champion, Ruggero Tita, in 11th position – he also attended the SSL Finals last December, but this doesn’t count in his total points as it is not among his 6 best performance in the past two years – he is the first in the Nacra 17 ranking just like his crew Caterina Banti, who makes the top 10 (being 9th) in the crew global ranking, just behind Henry Boeing.
From the 49er fleet, we now have in 14th position in the global ranking, Dylan Fletcher-Scott (GBR), who recently won the Trofeo Princesa Sofia in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and he is the 2017 49er World Championship, that still counts 50% being held in September.
A familiar name to the Star Sailors League is found on the position 24, another Grael family member joined the SSL ranking, it is Martine, daughter of five times medalist Torben Grael, who won the Gold medal at the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and more recently the Princesa Sofia in Palma, and all of the 2019 World Cup Series – except the last one in Genova, Italy – an even more extraordinary result if you think she’s just finished the Volvo Ocean Race only a few months ago.
The SSL Ranking is becoming more and more global, by the end of the year all of the Olympic classes will be included and probably even some of the main circuit on the big boats, like the Maxis, the 52 Super Series, the 44Cup and many more. To determine who is the best sailor and who are the best sailors in every country that will be able to conquer a spot on their national team for the Star Sailors League Gold Cup in 2021!!
SSL Press Officer since 2015