(October 8, 2010) New York Yacht Club's Silver Panda won their fourth U.S. Team Racing Championship (Hinman Trophy) in five years and their record fifth overall. After losing in the final series in 2009 to Team Extreme, 3-2, they won this year's finale over the perennial power house from Great Britain, the West Kirby Hawks.
Silver Panda, the 2009 ISAF Team Racing World Champions, returned four of the six competitors from last year, including Amanda Callahan (Canton, Mass.), Colin Merrick (Portsmouth, R.I.), Peter Levesque (Tiverton, R.I.), and Carrie Amarante (Wayne, N.J.). They were joined this year by Caroline Hall Levesque (Tiverton, N.J.) and re-joined by Clay Bischoff (Newport, R.I.).
The Championship series between Silver Panda and the Hawks was deadlocked at 2-2 after four races. Due to darkness and significant wind shifts, the fifth and deciding race could not be finished. The tie-breaker edge on margin of victory in the finals went in Silver Panda's favor. Silver Panda went 2-0 against West Kirby during the round robin races. They were a perfect 7-0 in the final eight-team round robin and 17-3 in the first two round robin stages.
