IC37 North American Championship

By the narrowest of margins, Chris Lewis and his Qubit team won the 2025 IC37 North American Championship on September 26-28 in Newport RI. After seven races, Lewis’ team finished a single point ahead of a trio of teams tied on points for second. With the tiebreakers applied, Patrick Shanahan and Wes Bright’s Bronco team took second and Steve Liebel’s New Wave crew finished third.

“It’s a relief,” said Lewis. “The Annual Regatta in 2022 was our last win. We’ve always been up there; lots of podiums and we’re super consistent. If you look at our results in this regatta, consistency was our hallmark.

“We had the best throwout as well. Not too many great risks, but just trying to start well. We have a team that really gels, just like many of the other competitors out there. And this one went our way. I’ve been racing for 55 years, and I don’t remember a championship with such a close finish.”

Patrick Shanahan, who helmed the Bronco to second place and top Corinthian team in the North Americans, is still on the steep part of the team-building learning curve.

“It’s been a very stressful process at times,” said Shanahan, who is just a few years removed from sailing two-person dinghies on the collegiate circuit. “We’re very lucky that people are willing to do it. It’s hard.

“We’re young, we’ve got to take time off from work to sail, so you need to get people who can fill in here and there. You don’t get a lot of practice time. Day 1, you show up, and there’s a bit of a learning curve. By the end, you feel much better. It’s been great so far, and we’re very fortunate to be out there racing.”

The Bronco team started the final race two points out of first. But with so many boats in contention, it was almost impossible to draw up a tactical game plan.

“We had a funny quote on our boat,” said Shanahan. “Our tactician Ford McCann said, ‘Every time I look at scores, it just comes down to, OK, let’s go out there and have the best race we can.’ So that was our goal, to go out there and do well. On the last downwind, I think we got one or two boats right at the end. Today, [picking up a single boat] was everything.”

Details: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu/50116

Source: NYYC