US Champion of Champions

20 class champions to fight it out for the 'best of the best'

This week, 20 of the US's top one-design sailors are meeting on the race course off Grande Maumelle Sailing Club in Little Rock, Ark. to compete in US Sailing's U.S. Championship of Champions.

More than 30 different one-design classes applied to have their National or North American champion compete in the event, which is limited to 20. Selected skippers range from a 13-year old Flying Scot champion to a 67-year-old grand master. The one-design class champions are competing in Y-Flyers for US Sailing's Jack Brown Trophy. Racing begins on Thursday, Oct. 26 and finishes on Saturday, Oct. 28.

On Friday, October 27, competitors and local sailors will have the unique opportunity to meet U.S. Olympic hopefuls Sally Barkow and Carrie Howe in person at the US Sailing Mount Gay Rum Speaker Series. Barkow and Howe, who along with Deb Capozzi are campaigning for a spot to go to China in 2008 in the three-person Yngling class, have a remarkable record sailing various one-design classes.

Barkow, 2005 US Sailing Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, and Howe will talk about their sailing experiences, such as winning the Yngling Women's World Championship and Women's World Match Racing Championship in 2005, their recent trip to Qingdao in China (site of the 2008 Olympic Regatta), and much more. Tickets to this speaker series event, which will take place at the Little Rock Country Club, have already been sold out.

The competition at the U.S. Championship of Champions will be fierce, as these sailors are all reigning champions in their respective classes. Among the competitors are August "Augie" Barkow, C-Scow National Champion and Sally Barkow's brother, 13-year-old Flying Scot Jr. Champion Mac Cady, and Etchells World Champion Bill Mauk.

Competitors who have been selected to race in the 2006 U.S. Championship of Champions, as well as the events through which they qualified are:

Paul Abdullah (Jacksonville, Fla.) - Interlake National Champion
August Barkow (Pewaukee, Wis.) - C-Scow National Champion
Matt Bounds (Commerce, Mich.) - Hobie 17 North American Champion
Matt Burridge (St. Louis, Mo.) - Lightning North American Champion
Mac Cady (Houston, TX) - Flying Scot Jr. North American Champion
Dave Ellis (St. Petersburg, Fla.) - Windmill National Champion
Alan Field (Los Angeles, Calif.) - Marin 242 North American Champion
Grant Frautschi (Madison, Wis.) - Inland 20 National Champion
Ernie French (Johnson Lake, Neb.) - Santana 23 National Champion
Will Hanckel (Charleston, S.C.) - Y-Flyer National Champion
Joe Kutschenreuter (East Troy, Wis.) - X Boat National Champion
Bill Mauk (Miami, Fla.) - Etchells World Champion
Fred Meno (Fort Worth, TX) - Force 5 North American Champion
Stuart Robertson (Huntington Beach, Calif.) - Lido 14 National Champion
Mitch Schroeder (Anaheim, Calif.) - Cal 20 National Champion
Chuck Sinks (San Diego, Calif.) - Naples Sabot Masters Champion
Ed Spengeman (Louisville, Ky.) - Highlander National Champion
Dave Spira (Denver, Colo.) - Buccaneer 18 North American Champion
Ryan Staszko (Cohasset, Mass.) - 210 National Champion
Newt Wattis (Surf City, N.J.) - Mariner National Champion

For more information on the U.S. Championship of Champions, you can visit http://www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/CofC