Peter Schoen wins Gill Scuttlebutt Sailing Club Championship

Virgin Gorda, BVI (October 29, 2015) – After the participants at the Bitter End Yacht Club’s 29th Annual Pro Am Regatta had a layday yesterday, which tends to redefine event layday, it was back to the track to determine the Gill Scuttlebutt Sailing Club Champion.

Peter Schoen, from the Tiburon Yacht Club in California, put the lessons he’s learned this week while crewing for the pros to good use, getting thee bullets in the five races to take the title. Schoen collected a three point win over George Huntington from Long Island, NY, followed by Santa Cruz 27 and I-14 skipper Ron Boehm (Santa Barbara, CA) in third.

The Gill SSC Championship was sailed in the same IC-24s used for the Pro Am Regatta – in truly glorious Caribbean trade winds and bright sun. In addition to a pile of SWAG, the top three finishers all won free nights at the BEYC for next year’s 30th Annual Pro Am Regatta.

Earlier in the day, the six invited pros at the Pro Am (Sally Barkow, Taylor Canfield, JJ Fetter, Annie Haeger, Anthony Kotoun and Dave Ullman) staged an exhibition team race – the boys against the girls.
Within the battle there were a couple sub-plots, such as between Sally Barkow and Taylor Canfield, both past match racing world champions. Also, Olympic 470 hopeful Annie Haeger and her Olympic coach Dave Ullman had a special, good-natured rivalry. While the fans wanted the girls, in the end the boys won 4-1.

The pros get back to work tomorrow for the match racing finals to determine the 2015 BEYC Pro Am champion. Event website.