US Team Racing

Competitors from around the country are preparing for the U.S. National Team Racing Championship

Starting this coming Friday at Larchmont Yacht Club (LYC) and Long Island Sound will be challenging some of the nation's finest team racing sailors, and the weather gods, by hosting two of the United States' most prestigious team racing regattas in a simultaneous but separated format. The two events, US SAILING's U.S. Team Racing Championship and the Hinman Masters Championship, feature exciting competition over three days, from 14-16 October. In total, 25 teams comprised of 150 world class skippers and crews from across the country are arriving at LYC throughout the week to compete in these two separate regattas this weekend.

Jointly with US Sailing, the national governing body for the sport, LYC will host the U.S. Team Racing Championship for US Sailing's Hinman Trophy. The list of competitors for the upcoming US Sailing US Team Racing Championship looks like a Who's Who in the world of sailing in the U.S.: from well-known high school and college sailors to US Sailing Team-members, Olympians, and World Champions. The 14 teams of six sailors each will vie for the National Championship title and the Hinman Trophy. The U.S. Team Racing Championship is sailed in Vanguard 15s supplied by Vanguard Sailboats and sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., Nautica, Prestige Toyota, Heineken, and Dry Creek Vineyard.

For teams Cape Cod WHishbone and Silver Panda, the National Championship comes less than two weeks after finishing first and second respectively at the Grey Goose ISAF Team Racing World Championship. The team of Cape Cod WHishbone - made up of Tim Fallon, Tim Wadlow, Karen Renzulli, Matt Lindblat, Erin Largay, and Karl Ziegler - is the two-time defending champion of the U.S. Team Racing Championship and is trying to make it a hat trick this year. This will not be an easy feat, considering the competition they'll have to face: 13 teams and a total of 78 well-known sailors from across the country.

The New York Yacht Club's Invitational Regatta for the Commodore George R. Hinman Masters Trophy, also referred to as the Hinman Masters Championship, brings together the country's best team racers over the age of 40. The Hinman Masters, sailed in Ideal-18s, is a regatta where teams representing yacht clubs race against each other. A total of 11 Masters teams will compete against each other, including hosts Larchmont and New York Yacht Club teams; Southern Yacht Club (who lost its clubhouse in Hurricane Katrina); Annapolis Yacht Club; Eastern Yacht Club; St. Petersburg Yacht Club; the Storm Trysail Club; and Long Island Sound clubs Pequot, American and Noroton Yacht Clubs. Coming from across the Atlantic Ocean to compete is the Royal Thames Yacht Club from England.

Team racing features many races per day on challenging and exciting race courses. The public can go out on spectator boats provided by Larchmont Yacht Club. For on-shore spectators, live commentating will be done by Gavin O'Hare, chairman of US Sailing's U.S. Team Racing Championship and coach of the sailing team of the U.S. Naval Academy.