TOP U.S. TEAM RACING SAILORS COMPETE AT
LARCHMONT YACHT CLUB FOR NATIONAL TITLES

Larchmont, N.Y. (Oct. 11, 2005) – Starting this coming Friday, Larchmont Yacht Club (LYC) and Long Island Sound will be challenging some of the nation’s finest team racing sailors, and the weather gods, by hosting two of the United States’ most prestigious team racing regattas in a simultaneous but separated format. The two events, US SAILING’s U.S. Team Racing Championship and the Hinman Masters Championship, feature exciting competition over three days, from October 14th through October 16th. In total, 25 teams comprised of 150 world class skippers and crews from across the country are arriving at LYC throughout the week to compete in these two separate regattas this weekend.

U.S. Team Racing Championship
Jointly with US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, LYC will host the U.S. Team Racing Championship for US SAILING’s Hinman Trophy. The list of competitors for the upcoming US SAILING U.S. Team Racing Championship looks like a Who’s Who in the world of sailing in the U.S.: from well-known high school and college sailors to US Sailing Team-members, Olympians, and World Champions. The 14 teams of six sailors each will vie for the National Championship title and US SAILING’s Hinman Trophy. The U.S. Team Racing Championship is sailed on Vanguard 15s supplied by Vanguard Sailboats and sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., Vanguard Sailboats, Nautica, Prestige Toyota, Heineken, and Dry Creek Vineyard.

For teams Cape Cod WHishbone and Silver Panda, the National Championship comes less than two weeks after finishing first and second respectively at the Grey Goose ISAF Team Racing World Championship. The team of Cape Cod WHishbone - made up of Tim Fallon (N. Falmouth, Mass.), Tim Wadlow (Beverly, Mass.), Karen Renzulli (Needham, Mass.), Matt Lindblat (Newport, R.I.), Erin Largay (Osterville, Mass.), and Karl Ziegler (Norwalk, Conn.) - is the two-time defending champion of the U.S. Team Racing Championship and is trying to make it a hat trick this year. This will not be an easy feat, considering the competition they’ll have to face: 13 teams and a total of 78 well-known sailors from across the country.

The U.S. Team Racing Championship is part of US SAILING’s National Adult Championships series. Demonstrating a continuing commitment to sailing and team racing, the U.S. Team Racing Championship is sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., sponsor of all US SAILING National Adult Championships; Vanguard Sailboats, manufacturer of the Vanguard 15 boats used in the event; Nautica, the Official Apparel Supplier to the US Sailing Team; and Dry Creek Vineyard. In addition to the national sponsors, the event is also sponsored by Prestige Toyota and Heineken.

Hinman Masters Championship
The New York Yacht Club’s Invitational Regatta for the Commodore George R. Hinman Masters Trophy, also referred to as the Hinman Masters Championship, brings together the country’s best team racers over the age of 40. The Hinman Masters, sailed in Ideal-18s, is a regatta where teams representing yacht clubs race against each other. A total of 11 Masters teams will compete against each other, including hosts Larchmont and New York Yacht Club teams; Southern Yacht Club (who lost its clubhouse in Hurricane Katrina); Annapolis Yacht Club; Eastern Yacht Club; St. Petersburg Yacht Club; the Storm Trysail Club; and Long Island Sound clubs Pequot, American and Noroton Yacht Clubs. Coming from across the Atlantic Ocean to compete is the Royal Thames Yacht Club from England.

For the Masters, skippers must be at least 45 years old and crews 40. The sailors competing in this event are certainly not new to the sport and sailors nationwide will recognize the names of many of the events’ competitors. For example, consider the team from Pequot Yacht Club, captained by racing rules expert Dave Perry with skippers Dave Dellenbaugh and Ched Proctor. The ten other teams will certainly give the strong Pequot team a run for their money. For instance, the local teams from both Larchmont Yacht Club’s team, led by Andy Kaplan, and including Jamie McCreary and Kerry Klingler, as well as New York Yacht Club’s team of Phil Lotz, Dann Rugg and Bill Tripp are looking like strong teams.

Spectators Invited
Team racing features many races per day on challenging and exciting race courses. The public can go out on spectator boats provided by Larchmont Yacht Club. For on-shore spectators, live commentating will be done by Gavin O’Hare, chairman of US SAILING’s U.S. Team Racing Championship and coach of the sailing team of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Information on both events is available at Larchmont Yacht Club’s website at www.larchmontyc.org.  For additional information on the U.S. Team Racing Championship, including a complete list of competitors, please visit the event website at www.ussailing.org/championships/adult/ustrc.  

About US SAILING
As with all U.S. Championships, the U.S. Team Racing Championship is managed by US SAILING, national governing body for the sport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US SAILING’s mission is to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing in the U.S. US SAILING offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the US Sailing Teams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.

About Larchmont Yacht Club
Larchmont Yacht Club, organized in 1880, is one of America’s oldest and most honored yacht clubs featuring a 12 month venue for a broad mix of recreation and instructional sailing including an active frostbite fleet that sails from November to May. Annually it hosts a large number of regional, national and international regattas for the sailing community, including this year the Shields districts, and later the Shields nationals, the Taylor Match Racing Championships, and the National Offshore One Design (NOOD) regatta.

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