Chicago center helping to grow U.S. match racing

Coming off its fifth and most successful year yet, the 2013 season at the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC) offered more sailors than ever before the opportunity to match race. Last year’s events at CMRC attracted a wide spectrum of racing talent, from brand new amateurs to the seasoned pros on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour.

Match race centers like CMRC, Sheboygan (WI) and Oakcliff Sailing (NY) have played an important role in the overall growth of match racing internationally and in the U.S. at the grassroots level. Of the 322 participants who raced in 11 CMRC events in the 2013 season, nearly half were new faces. In the 2013 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship alone, two dozen female sailors were introduced to match racing in the CMRC’s TOM 28 class keelboats.

The results help tell the story. Since CMRC was founded in 2008, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of US-based skippers in the top-100 of the ISAF match race rankings. Every one of the 14 skippers in the latest ranking list has been the skipper of a Grade 3 or higher event at CMRC.

“Growing US match racing was a primary goal when CMRC was founded, so to see quantitative results in the rankings is a positive sign,” noted Program Director Tod Reynolds. “We look forward to reaching new groups of sailors next season, specifically with the North U Youth Clinic coached by Dave Perry this coming June and Grand Prix class owners through our Level A membership program.”

In addition to helping new match racers get started, CMRC has been a valuable home training facility and base of support for a few of the game’s top players. The highest ranked male skipper, Taylor Canfield and Team US One, and the highest ranked US female skipper, Stephanie Roble and Epic Racing, owe much of their success to their extensive training and racing at CMRC over the past four years.

Canfield is the reigning ISAF World Match Racing Champion, and his Team US One will continue using CMRC as a training hub for their coming season. CMRC’s co-founder Don Wilson, currently ranked 21st in the world, has also shown consistent improvement that is exemplified by his last two consecutive Grade 2 wins in the 2103 season. CMRC’s Jen Wilson also claimed the 2013 US Women’s Match Racing Championship title.

Besides these US teams, in 2013 CMRC attracted overseas talent as well: 52 skippers from 13 nations competed this past year in a total of 721 individual match races run in 11 events, ranging from Grade 5 to the Grade WC Alpari World Match Racing Tour Chicago Match Cup. In fact, 60% of the top 50 skippers on the current ISAF ranking list have been competitors at CMRC, and many have kept returning, making Chicago a regular stop on their yearly racing programs.

The 2014 season includes five two-day Grade 3 events, two Grade 2 events, a North U Youth Clinic and regatta coached by Dave Perry, and CMRC’s signature event, the Chicago Match Cup. For more information about the schedule, qualifiers and prizes, and to request invitations to the events, visit www. chicagomatchrace.com/events or contact invites@chicagomatchrace.com with any questions.