Record fleet for Club 420 Midwinter Championship

Wiley Rogers with crew Jack Parkin from Texas Corinthian Yacht Club topped a record 101-boat fleet to win the 2015 Club 420 Midwinter Championship, held at the US Sailing Center Martin County on February 14-16 in Jensen Beach, FL.

The team of Rogers and Parkin were the model of consistency with all top 10 finishes except for one. They seemed to have the speed they needed to separate from the fleet. Rogers had also won the 2014 title with a different crew.

Finishing second was Campbell and Briggs D’Eliscu from Newport Harbor Yacht Club, who were also very consistent and leading going into the last day. The D’Eliscu brothers had exceptional speed especially in the lighter conditions, able to post single digit finishes except for one race, but in the end could not hold off Rogers and Parkin. Rounding out the top 3 was Jack McGraw and Johannes McElvain from Southwestern Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club. The top female team was Martina Sly and Ciara Rodriguez from Coral Reef Yacht club finishing 4th overall. The top Junior team was Eli and Henry Burnes from Wianno Yacht Club finishing 11th overall.

The class has made a few changes to its regattas to improve the on the water experience for all levels. One of these changes was a new format for the Midwinter championship, which had the first two days of sailing as seeded qualifying rounds. On the third day, the top 50% of the finishers were moved into a gold division and the rest into the silver division. This new format allowed for the top sailors to battle for the championship and also gave the silver fleet sailors a chance to battle for the top of their fleet. The other change this year was that the class provided for a coach – Coast Guard Academy Coach Chris Klevan – to assist anyone who wanted it.

Club 420 Midwinter Championship results: Gold fleet – Silver fleet

The Midwinter Championship was the final event of the inaugural Club 420 class Winter Series. The Winter Series also included the Orange Bowl in Miami (Dec. 26-30) and the Boomerang Regatta in Ft. Lauderdale (Jan. 24-25). All three regattas were evenly weighted using a low point scoring system. The team of Martina Sly and Ciara Rodriguez won the series by winning both Orange Bowl and Boomerang and finishing fourth at the Midwinters. Finishing second in the series was Ivan Shestopalov and Adrianne Han of Coral Reef Yacht club with Jack McGraw and Johannes McElvain in third. Results.

Source: John Vandemoer, Executive Director, Club 420 class