Seeing Stars The other lure is the great sailors who are challenged by the boat, providing competitions that are extremely stimulating and challenging. That must be a reason a guy like myself has sailed in the boat for over 40 years. It’s the boat of my life. I will sail the Star until I can’t sail anymore.” Once a skipper becomes proficient at the changing of gears, he can join the five or ten skippers at the top of any large Star fleet in the intense tactical battle going on. One of the best at the game over the past 20 years has been Mark Reynolds, whose grand prix victories include two Star World Championships, three Olympic medals (two

gold, one silver), seven Bacardi Cups and two Star North American championships. For Mark, like many of today’s skippers, the Star was part of his family when he was growing up. His father crewed for Dennis Conner when the two won the Worlds in 1971. “Growing up in San Diego,” Reynolds says, “getting into Stars was an obvious thing to do with people like Lowell North, Terry Driscoll, Malin Burnham and all those other talented guys sailing Stars. Why would you want to sail something else when people like that were sailing Stars?” Reynolds agrees the boat itself is the hero of the piece. Mark says the Star is the one boat he’d pick to sail for pleasure. But he also credits the Star organization for keeping

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