In the nick of time

US Match Racing Championships squeezed in before Hurricane Jeanne arrives in Florida

The weather gods seemed to be on the side of US Sailing and St. Petersburg Yacht Club in Florida last week and the U.S. Match Racing Championship was held as planned, finished just in time before the arrival of Hurricane Jeanne.

The team from Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, with skipper Karl Ziegler and crew Dean Brenner and Michael Welch got to take home US Sailing’s Prince Of Wales Bowl after defeating ten other teams at the National Championship. The winning team got the last flight out of the area before Hurricane Jeanne arrived. Ziegler is only the third person ever who has won both the U.S. Team Racing and U.S. Match Racing Championships. For Brenner, this is a record fourth U.S. Match Racing Championship title.

The U.S. Match Racing Championship was raced in the following format: one full 11-team round robin, followed by the top eight teams from that round robin moving into the second round, and then followed by the top four teams from round two competing in semifinals and then a final. Team Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club was 9-1 in the first round robin, 7-0 in the second round robin, and then defeated Southern Yacht Club 2-0 in the semifinals. In the finals, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club demonstrated great teamwork, both in strategy and sail handling, and had three straight wins against the San Diego Yacht Club Team of skipper Bill Hardesty and crew Jeff Nelson and Brian Bessel. Last year’s winner Nathan Hollerbach and his team from Bayview Yacht Club won two straight against Southern Yacht Club for the third spot.