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US sailing duo wins gold in Germany
By Marni H. Lane // US Sailing
Kiel, Germany – Skipper Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and his crew, Mark Strube (West Palm Beach, Fla.), won a gold medal in the Star Class at the 2006 Kiel Week in Kiel, Germany, one of the largest sailing events in the world. Mendelblatt and Strube beat long-time rival and multiple Kiel Week-winner Robert Scheidt and his crew, Bruno Prada, from Brazil. The event, ranked by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) as a Grade 1 event, attracted more than 5,000 sailors from 49 countries.
Sunday’s Medal Races concluded five days of racing for the 11 Olympic classes. For the final day of racing, sailors faced excellent weather conditions, with approximately 10-15 knots of wind. Scores in the Medal Races counted as double points.
Mendelblatt and Strube faced tight competition in the Star Class. Despite coming off what Strube described as a bad start, they came out third at the first mark. It was extremely tight coming out of the first run, but after Brazil's Scheidt received a penalty, the American team pushed ahead. Going into the last race, five boats were in a position to win the event, as they were all within five points of each other, but Mendelblatt and Strube prevailed.
Strube called winning their first gold at Kiel Week "awesome." He said the competition was tight the entire regatta, and the sheer amount of competitors – 49 boats sailed in the Star class – made the win that much more exciting. "We had some good competition and to come out first was just fantastic." And for Mendelblatt, who has been a long-time rival of Scheidt, this win was particularly gratifying.
Prior to Kiel Week, the team only trained one week together on their new boat. Once they adjusted to the new boat and corrected their mistakes, they were able to move ahead. "We made a big leap in our communication with each other. We came together more as a team." He added, "It felt good."
This win marked Mendelblatt and Strube's first gold medal at a major European regatta, after finishing 2nd at the Star Eastern Hemisphere Championships this past April in Naples, Italy. In March, 2005, they won the
2005 BACARDI Cup, a six-race series sailed annually in Biscayne Bay, Fla.
Strube and Mendelblatt first sailed together in the 2003 America's Cup in New Zealand on One World.
For complete results from Kiel Week, including results from US Sailing Team-members who competed in the event, please visit the event website at www.kielerwoche.de.
The US Sailing Team is managed by US SAILING, national governing body of the sport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US SAILING's mission is to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the US Sailing Teams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.
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