Competing for grants toward Tokyo 2020

The third and final stage of the 2018 Oakcliff Triple Crown Series attracted 32 teams competing in in five Olympics classes – 470W, 470M, 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 – on October 20-21 in Oyster Bay, NY.

With heavy, shifty breeze and competitive fleets, no class was dominated by a single team except for the 470 Men’s in which Olympians Stu McNay/Dave Hughes took a commanding victory. The racing came to a close with below freezing temperatures and near 40 knot gusts.

The shifty, puffy conditions gave teams that fell behind a chance at redemption so the top teams had to make some quick decisions to stay ahead. “What put us ahead in most races was really aggressive decision making,” said Mac Agnese who took first in the 49er class with skipper Nevin Snow. “It was very shifty and unpredictable so we had to just trust what we saw and go for it full force.”

In the 49erFX, young bucks Sam and Will Bonin took first place. They won a three-way tie with Canadians Alexandra Ten Hove/Mariah Millen and Olympian Paris Henken with crew Nate Housberg. “We didn’t get caught up in what other boats were doing,” said Sam Bonin. “We just tried to sail our race and keep the boat fast.”

Eduardo Mintzias/Trevor Bornarth took second in the 470 Men’s and local sailors Cormac Murphy/Elliot Trester took third. Nikki Barnes and Lara Dallman-Weiss won the 470 Women’s followed close behind by Carmen and Emma Cowles. These young up-and-coming sisters won the 2017 420 Youth World Championship and were nominated for the Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year. Olympic silver medalist Amanda Clark and Nora Brugman took third place.

In the Nacra 17 class, Sarah Newberry and David Liebenberg took first place. Just one point behind were there training partners Caroline Atwood and Ravi Parent. In third place were Max Flinn and Allie Surrette who trained at Oakcliff earlier this summer in the Foiling Acorn program.

The three stage Oakcliff Triple Crown Series allocates $500,000 dollars of prize grants annually to help Olympic hopefuls fund their campaigns for Tokyo 2020.

According to the Notice of Race, “Prize Grants for the Triple Crown Series will be allocated as follows: Each class will have a $100,000 Prize Grant Pool to be split between the three (3) Triple Crown Series events as described in NOR 5.4 and subject to NOR 14.3.

“The prize grants will be distributed for each event within the classes as follows: 1st – 50% ($16,666 per class, per event) 2nd – 20% ($6,666 per class, per event) 3rd – 10% ($3,333 per class, per event) 4th–8th – 4% ($1,333 per class, per event).”

Note that only the 49er class received that full amount as the rest of the classes received half of that because there were not eight boats, a requirement specified in the NOR for full prize grant disbursement.

Event details – Results

Stage 1 (470): July 14-15
Stage 1 (49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17): August 25-26
Stage 2 (all classes): October 12-14
Stage 3 (all classes): October 19-21

Notice of Race – Request for Invitation – Questions

Source: Francis George, Oakcliff