SSL Ranking: Top of the Class

While the SSL Ranking’s main headlines are based around the Top 50 in the Global, Men’s and Women’s categories, and of course the SSL Nations Ranking, with results for 113,000 athletes the system goes much deeper than that.

The SSL Class Rankings are just one of the ways you can dive deeper, to find out who is sailing best in the given types of dinghy or yacht. Today we’re highlighting a few, together with the leaders in each and the results which have propelled them to the top.

The 29er is a fast and exciting youth skiff, and the natural feeder for the Olympic 49er and 49er FX classes, and enjoys hugely competitive racing around the world. Currently leading the SSL 29er Skipper Ranking is France’s Hugo Revil, who has consistently been in the top ten at events over the past two years. His best win to date was with regular crew Karl Devaux at the 2021 Youth Sailing World Championship in Musannah, Oman, collecting 2500 SSL ranking points, and was backed up with a podium result at the 2022 World Championship in El Balis, Spain. He’s ranked 31^st in the Global Skipper SSL Ranking and is one to watch as his sailing career progresses.

The venerable 505 dinghy has been a favourite of many a sailor, and the U.S.A.’s Stuart McNay is top of the ranking in the class. Stuart, sailing with Caleb Paine, won the 2022 World Championship in Cork, Ireland. Stuart also competed in the 470 Men’s discipline at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, finishing ninth overall, and was fifth in the 2021 470 World Championship, held in Quarteira, Portugal. These results rank him 49^th in the Global Skipper SSL Ranking.

The Etchells keelboat has long attracted greats of the sailing world, and Great Britain’s Ante Razmilovic has been involved in the class for many a year. He’s topped a few major regattas, but the undoubted highlight of 2022 was winning the Etchells World Championship at Cowes, Great Britain.

The Snipe is another dinghy which attracts the crème of European and North American sailing, and the U.S.A.’s Ernesto Rodriguez sits at the top of the SSL Snipe class rankings. Sailing with Kathleen Tocke, he was third in the 2022 World Championship, held in Cascais, Portugal, as well as winning the 2021 Europeans and North Americans. Ernesto’s SSL Ranking points benefit from also sailing in the ILCA 7 / Laser class, winning the 2022 Masters Worlds for the past two years. These results rank him 32^nd in the Global Skipper SSL Ranking.

Finally, we look at the Star class and Italy’s Diego Negri, who won the 100^th Anniversary Star World Championship in Marblehead, U.S.A., together with fellow countryman Sergio Lambertenghi. It was a defence of the title which he also won in 2021 at Kiel, Germany. His string of podium positions place him 34^th in the Global Skipper SSL Ranking.

Take a look at https://www.starsailors.com/ranking for more on the SSL Ranking. There’s a treasure trove of results and sailor information at your fingertips!