Pleternica moj rodni grad: SSL Finals 2016 November 28th

SSL Finals 2016

4th SSL FINALS:
25 TEAMS, 50 TOP SAILORS, 17 COUNTRIES

The Star Sailors League Finals 2016 will take place in Nassau, Bahamas from November 28^th to December 4^th. For the fourth edition of the event, the top 12 Star teams of the SSL Ranking 2016, and 13 VIPs from the world of sailing, will race in the clear blue water in front of Nassau Yacht Club. 50 of the world’s best will be battling to win the SSL Trophy and the biggest share of the $200,000 prize pot.

The list of competitors is astounding and SSL is proud to finally announce it. Among them are three of the six most medalled sailors of all time; a total of 16 Olympic medallists with six Olympic champions, two America's Cup winners, two Volvo Ocean Race Winners, two Louis Vuitton Cup winners and one match race world champion. The complete Rio 2016 Laser Men podium will race together along with four other medallists from Rio.

25 teams representing 17 countries will battle it out for five days in the stunning location of Nassau, Bahamas. Star Sailors League developed in cooperation with some of the most experienced sailors of the world a new racing format; the main goal of the format is to build the tension and excitement of the racing fans. The athletes truly believe that the SSL racing format completely fulfils this objective, without spoiling the nature of sailing as a sport. The introduction of a knockout system inspired by the “play-offs” helps to increase the pressure and ends in the ultimate climax, a "winner-takes-all” final day.

1	George Szabo	USA	Edoardo Natucci	ITA
2	Diego Negri	ITA	Sergio Lambertenghi	ITA
3	Xavier Rohart	FRA	Pierre-Alexis Ponsot	FRA
4	Augie Diaz	USA	Arnis Baltins	USA
5	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	POL	Dominik Zycki	POL
6	Johannes Polgar	GER	Markus Koy	GER
7	Torben Grael	BRA	Guilherme de Almeida	BRA
8	Robert Stanjek	GER	Frithjof Kleen	GER
9	Hubert Merkelbach	GER	Claus Olesen	DEN
10	Paul Cayard	USA	Josh Revkin	USA
11	Jochen Schümann	GER	Ingo Borkowski	GER
12	Caleb Paine	USA	Ian Coleman	USA
13	Vasilij Zbogar	SLO	Zsombor Bercez	HUN
14	Sime Fantela	CRO	Antonio Arapovic	CRO
15	Tonci Stipanovic	CRO	Ante Sitic	CRO
16	Tom Burton	AUS	Andrew Palfrey	AUS
17	Jonas Høgh-Christensen	DEN	Steve Milne	GBR
18	Sam Meech	NZL	Craig Monk	NZL
19	Robert Scheidt	BRA	Henry Boening	BRA
20	Mark Mendelblatt	USA	Brian Fatih	USA
21	Eric Monnin	SUI	Pascal Rambeau	FRA
22	Facundo Olezza	ARG	Frederico Melo	POR
23	Jorge Zarif	BRA	Bruno Prada	BRA
24	Nick Thompson	GBR	Steve Mitchell	GBR
25	Taylor Canfield	ISV	Mark Strube	USA

The regatta will start with the Opening Ceremony held at the Government House of Bahamas on Monday November 28^th and on Tuesday morning the 25 teams will leave the docks of Nassau Yacht Club and head out to the racecourse for the Qualifying Series.

SSL QUALIFYING SERIES

25 teams will take part in multiple races over four days with only the Top 10 will make the SSL Final Day and no points are carried through but the winner and runner up get a just reward. For the SSL Final Day, the winner of the Qualifying Series gets a double bye, the runner-up in the Qualifying Series gets a single bye.

SSL FINAL DAY

SSL Quarter Final - Teams ranked 3^rd -10^th from the Qualifying Series contest a single race. Only the top 5 survive.

SSL Semi Final – The remaining 5 survivors are joined by the runner up from the Qualifying Series to contest a single race. Only the top 3 survive.

The SSL Final – The remaining 3 survivors are joined by the winner from the Qualifying Series to contest a single race. The first to correctly cross the line is the winner.
(See the diagram below)

The winner will be crowned as winner of the 2016 SSL Finals, together with the biggest share of the prize fund.

LIVE COVERAGE

Since our audience is present in all parts of the globe, Internet will be our stadium. From November 29^th to December 4^th, regattas will be streamed live and free on http://finals.starsailors.com. A complete live video stream of the races as well as additional insights provided by the state-of-the-art tracking system developed by Virtual Eyewill allow people from over the world to follow their favourites and cheer for them. Many prestigious sailing websites around the globe will also share our live broadcast on their homepage.

Armchair sailors can also race the course with Virtual Regatta.

WHAT’S NEW

For the first time the SSL Finals will have 25 teams instead of 20. On Sunday, December 4^th, the day after the final day and the SSL Official Prize Giving Ceremony on Saturday evening at Nassau Yacht Club, some SSL sailors will join the local sailors in their annual Sloop regatta in Montagu Bay, for a never seen before challenge.

For more information visit
finals.starsailors.com

Lausanne, CH, November 9th, 2016

__________________________

Press enquiries to:

Rachele Vitello
SSL Media Manager
rachele.vitello@starsailors.com
+39 328 21 40 680
Skype: rakvit99

2016 SSL Finals

STAR SAILORS LEAGUE (SSL)

From the initiative of some of the world's best sailors, the Star Sailors League (SSL), launched an international circuit of regattas in January 2013. This new league has been built on the existing circuit of over 220 International Star regattas around the world, using a unified world ranking, created based on the ATP World Tour ™, established by tennis players in 1972. Drawing on this inspiration from tennis, the SSL also awards substantial prize money to the best-ranked sailors. In December 2015, the third edition of the SSL Finals took place in Nassau, Bahamas. By 2020, the objective of the SSL is to organize four Grand Slams and the SSL Finals every year. The annual SSL Finals is exclusive to the top athletes and the Grand Slams will offer fierce competition. In order to create a world ranking representative of the skills of each athlete and to balance the odds for each one of them, the Grand Slams will take place at venues known for different conditions:
• "SSL LAKE GS" organized on a lake
• "SSL BAY GS" organized in a sea bay
• "SSL CITY GS" organized in an urban environment
• "SSL BREEZE GS" organized on a windy area
In September 2015, the SSL organized the first Lake Grand Slam, on lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, hosted by the Cercle de Voile de Grandson, and in May 2016 the first City Grand Slam took place in Hamburg Germany, by Norddeutscher Regatta Verein and Hamburger and Luebeck Bay Star Boat fleets. On the first week of December 2016 the 4th SSL Finals will be held in Nassau Bahamas at Nassau Yacht Club.