2023 U.S. Match Racing Championship

Chris Poole and his team of Andres Guerra and Austin Colpaert clinched their first U.S. Match Racing Championship title held September 22-24 in Rochester, NY. Ten teams competed in Sonars, with Poole going 3-1 against Dave Dellenbaugh in the finals. Clinton Hayes bested Jack Egan in the petit final to take third place overall.

“I’ve gotten silver at this event more times than I’d like to admit, but it’s nice to finally get the win!” said Poole. “I had a great team with me – we had great teamwork, communication, and were able to get in a good mode going into these challenging, windy, and wavy conditions.

Competitors saw three days of strong breeze, peaking with stormy conditions with gusts over 25 knots for the semifinals and finals.

The first day had the lightest conditions of the regatta, but the race committee was able to finish most of the qualifying round robin stage. The round robin was finished the following day with the top eight then completing the quarterfinals. Poole, Dellenbaugh, Hayes, and Egan came out on top of the quarters, seeding the semifinals.

On the final day, the semifinals saw match ups between Poole and Hayes with Dellenbaugh against Egan. Both Poole and Dellenbaugh went straight 2-0 to advance to the finals, with the final match sailed in the strongest breeze of the championship.

Event details – Results – Photos