SAN DIEGO, Calif. (September 11, 2023) – After three days of racing in Mission Bay, California, team Los Huevos cinched their first Hinman Trophy win. The team remained dominant throughout the competition, coming into the quarterfinals on top of the fleet and winning three straight matches in the finals to claim the George R. Hinman Trophy.
“Winning the Hinman is unbelievable,” said Justin Callahan, a skipper on Los Huevos. “The majority of us have done this regatta for the last two years and we’ve absolutely loved it. We were 10th the first year, then 7th last year, so to come home with the win this year is an awesome culmination of our hard work.
This was great training for college, and a great regatta – we can’t thank the volunteers and supporters enough, this is probably the best regatta I’ve ever been to.”
The team, made up of Justin Callahan, Marbella Marlo, Mitchell Callahan, Sara Schumann, Lachlain McGranahan, and Libby Redmond, are and experienced team racing group, with four of the six having helped Harvard to a win at the 2023 ICSA Team Racing Championship together last spring. Callahan credits their event win to past experience and their chemistry together as a team and as friends.
“We’ve been training hard together for the last couple months. This regatta was that, plus putting friends together and saying, ‘let’s go do this regatta and have a good time’ and let the end result be the end result,” he noted.
Second place team Fast and Curious, comprised of Campbell D’Eliscu, Carolina Gaston, Chris Williford, Rebecca McElvain, Stefano Peschiera and Chloe Dapp, had a strong showing in the quarter- and semifinals, but were unable to carry that through into the finals. For some on the team, this is their first time back to team racing since embarking on Olympic campaigns.
Third and fourth place teams SDYC White (Jack Reiter, Samantha Obel, Jack Egan, Ximena Escobar, Aidan Hoogland, Molly Matthews) and East Coast Drifters (Mackenzie Bryan, Kate Klempen, Spencer Cartwright, Carly Kiss, Cameron Wood, Michaela O’Donnell) traded races in the Petit Finals, each putting up a good fight for the bronze medal. SDYC White came out victorious, sailing cleaner with fewer penalties than their opposing team.
“It’s been a fantastic three days, it’s been our pleasure to host this championship at Mission Bay Yacht Club,” said John Fretwell, Mission Bay Yacht Club Event Chair. “The thing about these events is that no single part of organizing them is that complex, but what’s critical is that each of the essential parts is in place, and with luck you get some decent conditions. I think we’ve been lucky this weekend to get the right ingredients to make this an awesome championship.”
Also crowned at the championship was the winner of the Goslings Rhumb Line Awards. Members of the US sailing community submitted their yacht club’s house drink to see whose house drink, made with Goslings, was the best in the nation. Online voting narrowed the list to two finalists, the Ivaloo Special and the Good Jibes. Competitors at the Hinman could try both at the complimentary bar and vote for a favorite. After a night of voting, Severn Sailing Association’s Good Jibes was awarded the winner. Emily Gosling presented the winner with a bag of Goslings goodies and the title of Best House Drink.
US Sailing would like to thank Mission Bay Yacht Club, Commodore Steve Cooper and John Fretwell for their help in running this marathon event. US Sailing would also like to thank title sponsor AeroVanti Yacht Club, national sponsor’s Goslings, who provided complimentary drinks and hats for competitors, and Gill Marine, who provided dry bags to each competitor.
Photos: https://usst.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000XDNBnxMZumE/2023-AeroVanti-U-S-Team-Racing-Championship
Full scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qwrtcJiV7s6UjG39iJIQsHN39Fzre0MqLcJOKV-DOfM/edit#gid=1788099660