Day three of the United States Multihull Championship again shook up the results after a tough day of racing on the water in some shifty breeze.  The day started off in a healthy 13 knots as Pitt/Shafer stood atop the leader board with a 9 point lead over returning champions, Casey/Williams.  The early racing in the morning saw several lead changes and the team of Ken and Ian Marshack, who had been consistently placing well in A-fleet, struggled and dropped back to B fleet where they have not been able to escape for the rest of the day.  After three completed races (six heats), the Marshacks have dropped from third to sixth.   The team of Tomko and Billings, who had suffered from an OCS penalty yesterday, posted good finishes of 5, 3, and 4 in a-fleet and once we reach the end of the 8^th race, are standing in 4^th place. 

The most surprising event today was that the teams of Pitt/Shafer, leading the event, and Krantz/Lennard were involved in a collision that resulted in a DSQ for Pitt dragging them down the leader board as they were relegated to B-fleet.   Currently Pitt/Shafer, our leaders through day 2, now stand in 3^rd position 2 points behind a 2-way tie for first between returning champs, Casey/Williams, and another team quietly posting solid A-fleet results, Watters/Burd.  At the end of Day 3, Watters/Burd, even after hitting a sandbar and damaging the daggerboard well of their boat for the last race, have been the consistent sailors finding themselves now tied for first place with two days of racing left.

With 8 complete races recorded to date, we’ve seen a multitude of changes in the standings for the Championship.  Once we achieve ten complete races, the sailors will benefit from a second throw-out, which will undoubtedly have an interesting affect on the scores.  Tomko, who was at the front of the fleet early but suffered an OCS penalty, will suddenly find himself back in the hunt as will Pitt / Shafer.   With two days of racing still remaining, the U.S. Multihull Championship is up for grabs as a handful of the best U.S. Multihull sailing teams are still in contention for the win.