Beneteau First 36.7 North Americans

Strong winds were the theme for the 2018 Beneteau First 36.7 North American Championship held September 7-9 in Detroit, MI. The mostly Corinthian fleet of 11 teams endured 18-25 knots of northerly wind on Lake St. Clair, completing three races each on the first two days but stronger winds on day three cancelled the racing.

The top two teams, Arwen and Tequila Mockingbird, proved to have a slight edge in the challenging conditions, with the northerly wind causing short, choppy waves in the shallow lake waters.

As the two teams traded bullets through five races, the decisive final race for the championship had Arwen leading and Tequila Mockingbird fighting for second place. During the rounding of the last upwind mark, Tequila Mockingbird got penalized in traffic, and after two penalty turns, dropped to seventh.

Joonas Sandholm’s Arwen team is from Finland and had won the 36.7 World Cup in Helsinki just 2 weeks before. The team participated in the North Americans for the second time, now with a boat chartered from Mike Elliott (Caseville, MI).

Event details – Photos

Final Results
1. Arwen, Joonas Sandholm , FIN – 3 -1 -2 -1 -2 -1 ; 10
2. Tequila Mockingbird, Chris Duhon , USA – 1 -3 -1 -2 -1 -7 ; 15
3. As You Wish, Dave Simon , USA – 6 -2 -4 -3 -3 -3 ; 21
4. Patriot, Ken Sharpe , USA – 4 -6 -3 -6 -4 -2 ; 25
5. Gail Force, Robert Duker , USA – 5 -4 -6 -4 -7 -5 ; 31
6. Natalie J, Philip and Sharon O’Niel III , USA – 2 -8 -5 -8 -5 -4 ; 32
7. Weather Edge III, Colt Weatherston , USA – 9 -5 -7 -9 -6 -8 ; 44
8. La Buena Vida, William Gilbride, Jr. , USA – 10 -10 -11 -5 -8 -6 ; 50
9. Manitou, John C. Burke , USA – 8 -7 -8 -12 -12 -12 ; 59
10. Abino, Philippe Drouin , CAN – 7 -11 -10 -10 -9 -12 ; 59
11. Wind Chill, Mark Schimley , USA – 12 -9 -9 -7 -12 -12 ; 61