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25 stellar teams will be competing at the 2017 SSL Finals, 9 among the top 10 Star Sailors of 2017 and 16 wild cards drawn from every aspect of the sport.
After four days of qualification rounds for all, from December 5th to the 8th, the competition goes into the knockout stages on Saturday, December the 9th. Single races decide who survives and who is heading for the dock. The last four teams will contest a thrilling final race, the first to finish will be the winner of the 2017 SSL Finals and take home the lion's share of the $200,000 Prize Purse.
25 Olympic medals hanging on the necks of the 2017 SSL Finalists, of which 7 are gold medals. A huge number of World Champions in both Olympic and big boat classes, Volvo Ocean Race, Louis Vuitton and America’s Cup winners, and for the first time some solo around-the-world-navigator. It is such an honor for the Star Sailors League to have for the first time two French legends such as Loick Peyron and Franck Cammas. British Olympic gold medalist Paul Goodison will race on the Star boat for the first time, after winning twice in a row the Moth Worlds, nothing farthest from the once Olympic double handed boat designed in 1911. We shall see some true Star champions competition among Robert Scheidt, Freddy Loof, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Hamish Pepper, Mark Mendelblatt, Eivind Melleby, Xavier Rohart and the crews Bruno Prada, Frithjof Kleen, Pierre-Alexis Ponsot, Brian Fatih and Dominik Zycki all of whom racing at the London Olympics in 2012. They weren’t on the water in Weymouth but are certainly going to join the Star ring, the Grael brothers – Torben and Lars – Paul Cayard, Augie Diaz and George Szabo, all sporting the Gold star on the mainsail for winning the class World Championship, Diego Negri and Francesco Bruni, who have history for fighting to represent Italy at the Olympics back in the days.