To quote the late George Elder: "The Star is the common ancestor of all expanding one-designs. It paved the way, and classes with similar objectives later followed in its wake.

Whether the countless thousands in these classes realize it or not, the Star's ancient history is in a sense that of their own organization. In the days of yore, when the huge regal racing yacht reigned supreme, the Star fought the small boat's battle and gained it recognition. It is actually largely responsible for the present small boat era." Much of what follows is abridged from Elder’s book "Forty Years Among the Stars" or from Stan Ogilvy’s book "A History of the Star Class, the First Eighty Years". For those who want to read about the Star in greater detail, the latter is available from the ISCYRA central office.

The Star Class began its existence in what is now the ISCYRA First District. Francis Sweisguth drew the lines in William Gardner’s office in 1910.

The lines were similar to those of "the Bug class" a smaller keelboat designed in Gardner’s office in 1905. Both boats were actually descendants of the New Haven Sharpie. The first 22 Stars were built by Isaac Smith in Port Washington, New York, and delivered in May 1911 at a cost of "about $260" each. Boats had been ordered from Port Washington, New Rochelle, and Rye, all harbors on Long Island Sound.

During the fall of 1910, members of the Nahant Dory Club in Massachusetts ordered 11 Stars to be built by Richard T. Green & Co. in Chelsea, Massachusetts. These boats were called the Nahant Bugs, but carried a Star on their sails.

The first Star race was held by the Harlem Yacht Club on May 30, 1911, off Execution Light, at the western end of Long Island Sound. The order of finish was reported in “The New York Herald”.

The first Star rig was the sliding gunter, presumably English. It consisted of a gaff (or yard) almost as long as the boom. It looked quite different from the average gaff rig of those days, which had a shorter gaff that set at perhaps a 30° angle to the mast. The first Stars had only one set of shrouds. The mainsail was laced to the gaff and the boom and the luff was lashed to old fashioned wooden mast hoops, which were supposed to slide up and down the mast but often jammed.

In 1921 the short Marconi was made optional. Owners were rather skeptical about this, because an experiment a few years before on Star No. 46 proved a failure. The mast was the combined length of the old mast plus the distance the gaff had extended above it. Because good skippers had always kept the old gaff peaked up so high that it was practically parallel to the mast, the mainsail could be used on the short Marconi by simply putting slides on the luff. The boom remained unchanged. The track and slide idea was so convenient that it was immediately applied to the boom also. From then on skippers began to own sails of different draft and bent them on just before a race. The rig varied considerably. Some used long wooden spreaders and others none at all. This rig was retained for nine or ten years, and in case of some fleets for even longer.

The tall Marconi was made optional by the Star class in 1930. Enrique Conill (France) was trying to develop the Star class in Europe, but reported that the European yachtsmen would not adopt any such antiquated rig as the Star still had. Actually the short Marconi, with its long boom, was a bastard rig. The only excuse for it was to make it possible to use the same mainsail. Modernizing the rig had already been discussed, but economy in those days was the underlying thought that governed any proposed revision of the rules.

It was obvious that the Star was beginning to look pretty seedy and out of date. Those intending to have new Stars built, both abroad and in America, did not own old mainsails and were not interested in that angle of it. Conill's arguments, however, were the deciding factor. A tentative tall Marconi rig was demonstrated by Frank Robinson during the World's Championship at New Orleans in October of 1929. The mast was lengthened by almost five feet and the boom shortened, but the annual meeting, which adopted the rig in principle, insisted that the sail area remain the same. A committee consisting of Earnest Ratsey, Prescott Wilson, Frank Robinson and Larry Bainbridge worked out the new specifications. They are the same specifications that apply today. This was the starting signal for the really worldwide development of the Star class on all continents. It made a remarkable difference in the boat's appearance, which can best be described in Commodore Corry's own words: "The Star now looks like a slim, graceful, young girl, instead of a fat dumpy little old woman." Spar flexing, is an operation. It was the fourth major phase in Star development, but it was not really a change of rig. Spar diameters were slightly reduced, especially that of the boom. The latter was trimmed from about its mid-point to a bar across the center of the cockpit. Spar diameters and method of rigging had always been optional. Only the length of spars and size of sails were regulated. This maintained uniformity in design, but gave the skipper enough leeway to use his ingenuity and this policy has been responsible for the continued improvement in Stars. Flexible spars can be credited to Walter von Hutschler. They originated in Germany in 1936, although von Hutschler claims that he was simply trying to lighten his spar and did not realize the advantage to which they could be put until he raced his "Pimm" in the 1937 World's Championships on Long Island Sound (which he came 2nd in, whilst he won the 1938 and 1939 Championships).

In the Early days the "Star Class Association of America" governed the class. The "international" class organization as we know it came into being at the Hotel Astor in New York City on January 20, 1922. The charter fleets, in order of size, were Western Long Island Sound, Lake Erie, Detroit River, Eastern Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay. Each fleet was entitled to as many votes as it had Stars owned by different members in good standing, a tradition that follows to this day.
The delegates voted to publish a yearbook, to be known as "The Log of the Star Class." In addition to the constitution and by-laws, it was to contain a register of all Stars. George A. Corry was elected president and Henry Watterson, of Cleveland, vice-president and George Elder was made secretary-in-chief. Charles Burlingham, of Black Point, became the first treasurer

Stars made their Olympic debut in 1932. Star sailors stole the show that year at Los Angeles, three out of the four yachting events being won by Star skippers. Aside from their own series, Jacques Le Brun, of France, won the little single-handed one-design (Monotype) crown. Owen Churchill was at the helm of Babe, U.S. winner among the Eight Metres. In contrast to other yachtsmen from different countries, Star members were old friends and spent much of their time ashore together. It was the first time that the rest of the yachting world was able to witness the comradeship already developed by the I.S.C.Y.R.A.

The Star Class has been a part of the Olympics since then except for the Montreal edition in 1976 when the class was deemed "too old" and replaced by the Tempest. However the Star Class has always evolved and kept up to date in its building methods and rig. While many Olympic classes have growth spurts in the year preceding the Olympic Games followed by diminished activity, the Star has always remained strong in the off years and actually grew stronger after being dropped for the 1976 games.