Australians win Detroit Cup and USA GRANDSLAM

Detroit, MI (August 28, 2016) – Thanks to warm, humid and unstable weather, today’s expected final shootout to determine the winning team of the 9th annual Detroit Cup fizzled with a lack of suitable wind conditions, leaving the overall series leader declared the winner after just over two round robins of racing. On an impressive score line of 17-2, this leading team demonstrated their skills to be a suitable new champion of this World Sailing Grade 2 event.

Representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Harry Price and his team of Murray Jones and Cameron Seagreen sailed extremely well throughout the four days of competition. When not winning their pre-starts, this team defeated their rivals through excellent readings of the tricky race course, being fast both upwind and downwind, and flawless crew work throughout their maneuvers. Considering this team had never sailed an Ultimate 20 before arriving at Bayview, this team’s mastery of the boat throughout a wide range of conditions was impressive.

Harry Price (left) and his team of Murray Jones and Cameron Seagreen

And for winning here in Detroit, Price and team have also won the USA GRANDSLAM Series based on their overall scores earned from Grade 2 events at the Oakcliff Sailing Center in New York, Chicago Yacht Club, and the Detroit Cup. The top prize for this win is an automatic invitation to the highest-ranked match racing event in the US, the Long Beach YC’s venerable Congressional Cup. This World Sailing Grade 1 event will be held in Long Beach, California over March 27 – April 2, 2017.

On scores of 15-3, runner-up was Jeremy Koo and his team from the Royal Selangor YC in Malaysia, and in third place was Bayview’s Nathan Hollerbach.

“We are very proud to have such diverse and talented field of competitors this year,” said event chairman Lind Rosiek. “Nine teams from six nations fought hard all week, and congratulations to Harry and his team for their outstanding performance. We’re pleased to see this event continues to attract such impressive talent from around the world, who often go on to greater achievements in the sport. 60% of the skippers on the World Match Racing Tour had at one time been competitors at Detroit Cup.”

Final results summary, 2+ round robins:
1. Harry Price (AUS)
2. Jeremy Koo (MAY)
3. Nathan Hollerbach (USA)
4. Clinton Hayes (USA)
5. Ryan Seago (USA)
6. Landon Gardner (CAN)
7. Connor Miller (GBR)
8. Chantal Hearst (CAN)
9. Andres Guerra (ESP)

USA Grand Slam Series results:
1. Harry Price (AUS)
2. Jeremy Koo (MAY)
3. David Storrs (USA)
4. Peter Holz (USA)
5. Christophe Killian (USA)
6. Steve Lowery (USA)
7. Connor Miller (GBR)
8. Dave Perry (USA)
9. Hector Guzman (MEX)
10. James Wagner (USA)
11. Alexis Gesualdo (USA)

Event details – Detroit Cup results – Grand Slam results

2016 Schedule*
Oakcliff International – August 11-14
Chicago Grand Slam – August 19-21
Detroit Cup – August 25-28

*The crew size for all events except Oakcliff International is 3 or 4 people at a maximum weight of 262.5 kg. For Oakcliff International, teams can sail with 5 or 6 people at a maximum weight of 437.5 kg.

For more information visit www.usamatchracing.com and the Notice of Series can be found here.

PREVIOUS GRAND SLAM WINNERS
2011 – Laurie Jury, NZL
2012 – Taylor Canfield, ISV
2013 – Nicolai Sehested, DEN
2014 – Pierre Antoine Morvan, FRA
2015 – Sam Gilmour, AUS

Report by Event Media

US GRAND SLAM EVENT CONTACT INFO
www.usamatchracing.com
Oakcliff International – bsimon@oakcliffsailing.org
Chicago Grand Slam – info@chicagomatchrace.com
Detroit Cup – thedetroitcup@byc.com