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2006 2.4 mR Champion Roger Cleworth
photo:J. Hussein |
Beautiful skies and a moderate breeze greeted the
competitors in the 15th running of the North American Challenge
Cup and 17th running of the Independence Cup. After battling
both light fluky winds and thunderstorms over the last few days, it was
great to get the racing off to a fast start on Championship Monday.
Our Freedom 20 Class was split into two divisions for
Monday’s racing, the Gold Fleet and the Silver Fleet. Our Silver Fleet was
won by Ken Kelly of Victoria, BC and crew Bob Jones of Issaquah, WA. They
battled some good sailors and some tricky conditions as the promised 15-20
knots of breeze never came through.
Our 2.4mR Fleet saw some unbelievable tight racing at
the top of the standings. Roger Cleworth, of Lithia, FL is our champion, by
winning the tie breaker with John Ruf of Pewaukee, WI. Roger and John were
tied at the end of each day’s racing, and that held true all the way to the
end of the 12 race regatta. A tremendous job by both men, and our third
place competitor Mark Le Blanc of New Orleans, LA. The whole 2.4mR Fleet
had great fun and great racing.
It’s almost baffling in that the Freedom 20’s also still
had a tie at the top, with defending champion Karen Mitchell of Deerfield
Beach, FL and Chicago native Mike Jaffe locked in a tie with 9 points
after 5 races. On
the final day, Tim Flynn and Paul
Choquette won the
first race to tie Jaffe. But
Mitchell and Grimm won the second race to cinch the title
and Flynn and Choquette took 2nd on tie
breaker. “It’s fun
to come from behind,” said Karen.
A special thank you to all our race sponsors, and a
special thanks to lead sponsors Rolex Watch USA Inc, American Airlines,
Hyatt, Cook-Illinois, USG, and Quizno’s.
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