QUALIFIER: US Match Racing Championship

Published on June 5th, 2013

Regional qualifiers for the US Match Racing Championship for the Prince of Wales Bowl began on June 1-2, 2013 at Sausalito Yacht Club for US Sailing Areas GHJL. Eight teams of four sailors each competed in a blustery and challenging weekend of racing on the nearly new fleet of J-22s supplied by the St. Francis YC.

Just off a flight from London, where she competed on the St. Francis YC team that crushed the competition in two-on-two team racing in J-80’s at the Cornerstone Cup at Cowes, three time Yale All-American skipper Nicole Breault and her talented team of St. Francis members Evan Brown, Chris Trezzo and Hannah Burroughs nearly ran the table with only one loss in 14 matches. This was a remarkable feat given the experienced competition and frequent 60 degree wind shifts, with winds ranging from zero to 25 kts on the course set off Belvedere Point at the entrance to Richardson Bay, an arm of SF Bay.

PRO Jeff Zarwell kept the program rolling and managed to get off all the matches with few delays despite the radical conditions. In second place was another college sailing All-American, Jackson Benvenutti, who coaches high school teams at San Francisco Yacht Club. Third place was nabbed by Redwood High School senior Scotty Buckstaff, who will be attending Stanford in the fall.

In winning this event, Breault qualified for the US Match Racing Championship finals to be held at Sail Sheboygan on September 18-22.

San Diego YC will host the second GHJL Qualifier on June 15-16, also in J-22s.

Next up for Breault is the Grade 2 New York Women’s Invitational Match Racing event at Oakcliff Sailing Center, the US stop for the Women’s International Match Race Series.

Submitted by Bruce J. Stone, Us Match Racing Area G Representative

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