Light Winds Help Brun to Sailing Victory

SAN DIEGO —  Vince Brun doesn’t usually like light, shifting winds, but such conditions may have saved his sailing victory Friday at the Star Class North American Championship.

Brun, in first place by a narrow margin after the first five races in the six-race event, was in trouble Friday in the final competition on the open sea off Point Loma. His chief rival, Paul Cayard, was in second place late in the race, three spots ahead of Brun. If their positions remained the same at the finish line, Cayard would win the championship.

However, Cayard was running out of time. Because of the light winds, which dipped as low as five knots, no sailor finished the 11-mile course in the required 3 1/2 hours. So, under international Star Class rules, Friday’s final race was canceled.

Brun was declared champion for because he led after the first five races, with Cayard finishing second.

“This is something I’ve been working on for a long time,” said Brun, 36, who was raised in Brazil and now lives in Point Loma. “I feel like it’s been a long time coming.”

Brun has finished second three times at Silver Star, or continental, competitions. He was the host San Diego Yacht Club’s first North American champion since John Driscoll won the meet in 1982. Driscoll, who was leading Friday before the cancellation, placed eighth this year.

Brun said he would have preferred a completed race Friday rather than the cancellation. He admitted the results might have been difference if the wind conditions would have allowed the race to be completed.