Oyster Bay, NY. (October 20, 2007) - New York Yacht Club Silver Panda wins the 2007 US Team Racing Championship, beating 21 of the best teams in the county.  WHishbone captured second place and the Woonsocket Rockets beat San Diego Yacht Club to earn the bronze medal.  Racing was close and the conclusion was not settled until NYYC Silver Panda captured the best of three races over WHishbone as the sun was setting over Oyster Bay Harbor in New York.

Twenty-two teams completed the third and final day of the 2007 U.S. Team Racing Championship beautiful 70-degree summer-like weather and 0-10 knots of wind.  The racing was halted due to a lack of wind during the afternoon, but resumed on a shortened schedule.   The regatta consisted of over 200 races during the three day event.  

Team members of NYYC Silver Panda were Pete Levesque (Annapolis, MD), Colin Merrick (Portsmouth RI), Clay Bischoff (New York), Amanda Callahan (Canton MA), Lisa Keith (Boston, MA) and Elizabeth Hall (Washington, DC).  These members had just returned from Spain where they had won the Team Racing Worlds three weeks ago and are the defending U.S. Team Racing Champions from 2006.

 WHishbone is made up of Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.), Karen Renzulli (Somerville, Mass.), Erin Largay (Beverly, Mass.), Tim Fallon (N. Falmouth, Mass.), Richard Bell (Narragansett, R.I.), and Graeme Woodworth (Baltimore, Md.).

 The Woonsocket Rockets team members were Frank Ustach (Hull, MA), Joel Hannenman (Newport, RI), Nick Ewenson (Charleston, SC), Adrienne Patterson (Corona del Mar, CA), Meredith Nordhem (Chicago, IL) and Hilary Wiech (Newport, RI).

 Regatta Chair, Bruce Cook who was umpiring the event, commented that “these were world-class sailors who sailed aggressively but accepted their penalties in a sportsman-like manner.  It was a highly competitive regatta which tested the best of the best!”

Last evening at a dinner sponsored by Nautica, Francis Charles from MIT was awarded the Gay Lynn Award in recognition of his contribution to team racing.  Franny in addition to being the head coach for MIT, runs the Charles River Team Race, one of the largest, if not the largest, team racing event in the nation.

 For the complete entry list and other information on the U.S. Team Racing Championship, please visit the event website at www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/ustrc. The U.S. Team Racing Championship is part of US SAILING’s National Adult Championships series.