SAILING : Canada’s Ross MacDonald Wins the Star World Title

Nobody expected the wind to blow for the Star class finale at San Diego Friday, but folks weren’t sure about Canada’s Ross MacDonald. Three or four times, he had said, the world championship was within his reach only to slip away.

This time he held on, although he admitted it was “pretty stressful.”

With a two-point lead, MacDonald and crewman Eric Jespersen led at the first mark, then settled into a seemingly safe second behind 1991 champion Carl Buchan, Friday’s eventual winner, before their effort started unraveling on the last leg in the shifty five-to-six-knot winds.

MacDonald, 29, of Vancouver, sailed into a pocket of dead air and slipped from second to eighth place. He was passed by Brazil’s Alan Adler, his nearest rival for the title.

But Adler couldn’t put any boats between his and MacDonald’s, so the final point totals were MacDonald 21, Adler 22. It was the first of the 72 Star titles to be won by a Canadian.

“This beats the Olympics,” MacDonald said, with a grin.

That time, in 1992 at Barcelona, the prize was bronze, not gold, but this still would have been better, MacDonald said.

“In the Olympics it’s only 20 or 30 boats, of which only 10 or 15 are competitive,” he said. “All the best sailors are here.”

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Dennis Conner won his third Etchells class world title at Newport Beach Friday, virtually by default.

He and seven-time world champion Dave Curtis of Marblehead, Mass., were the only two title contenders left in the 62-boat fleet, and both took 20% scoring penalties for premature starts.

Late in the race, Conner was struggling far back, but Curtis was so much worse off that he dropped out at the second windward mark, assuring Conner of the title.

“It reminded me of the first time I won the Star worlds,” said Conner, 52. “Today was my birthday, and I won the (1971) Star worlds in Seattle on my birthday.”