Monin wins Grand Slam Finale

Eleven teams from eight different countries gathered for the 2017 Oakcliff International Grade 2 Match Race Regatta, held August 30 to September 3 in Oyster Bay, NY.

Among the field was Women’s Match Race World Champion, Anna Östling and her all-women’s team from Sweden. In addition to Oakcliff regulars like Pearson Potts and Peter Wickwire, there was a surge of European competitors. Marek Stanczyk from Poland and Eric Monnin from Switzerland both advanced to the semifinals against two American teams, Chris Poole and Peter Holz, but it was Monnin who came out on top, while Poole took second, Stanczyk third, and Holz fourth.

The event saw rapidly changing conditions everyday, from 17-18 knots to near drifter conditions. Day four added one more thing: rain, and lot’s of it! With shifty and dying winds, Race Committee struggled to move forward with semifinals until a 9-knot Westerly gusting 12 finally filled in.

Stanczyk and Monnin had a fierce bout that ended with Monnin on top. Poole and Holz had a heated prestart battle that turned into a split start but it was Poole who advanced to the finals. “I had a pretty good bout with Peter in the sudden death winner-take-all semi-final,” Poole remarked, “He was leading and we were about even in boat speed but we were able to work a few shifts and get by him.”

Stanczyk won two-straight against Holz in the Petite Finals and Monnin won two-straight against Poole in the Finals. “Our teamwork and our maneuvers were really, really good,” said Monnin. “Even when I made little mistakes at the prestart I knew we could come back and put the pressure on.”

This was the final stop in the Grand Slam Series, which also included events in Chicago and Detroit, and is a part of the Match Race Super League. Overall Grand Slam Series winner, Harry Price (AUS), garnered an invitation to the Grade 1 2018 Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA. A wild card invitation was also extended to Eric Monnin.

Full results: http://www.matchracingresults.com/2017/usa-grand-slam-oakcliff-international/

2017 US Grade 2 Grand Slam events
August 18-20 – Chicago, IL
August 24-27 – Detroit, MI
August 30-September 3 – Oyster Bay, NY

Grand Slam Winners
2011 – Laurie Jury, NZL
2012 – Taylor Canfield, ISV
2013 – Nicolai Sehested, DEN
2014 – Pierre Antoine Morvan, FRA
2015 – Sam Gilmour, AUS
2016 – Harry Price, AUS
2017 – Harry Price, AUS

Source: Oakcliff Sailing