(Fort Worth, Texas)– The historic US Sailing National Championship got
underway Wednesday, September 22 and concluded Saturday, September 25,
the event was hosted by the Fort Worth Boat Club on the beautiful Eagle
Mountain Lake. The U.S. Adult Championship honors the traditional club vs. club competition by mixing the best elements of the former Mallory Trophy and Adams Cup events, while recognizing that sailors may be representing a community sailing organization. Any sailing community can field a team to compete in the regional area events and national levels. This year, teams competed in a J/22 round robin format with a minimum of three crew including the helmsperson. Ten races were scheduled.
A
balanced field and limited racing usually leads to close races and a
crowded leaderboard. This was the situation on Eagle Mountain Lake for
the last day of racing on Saturday. After just two races over the
previous three days due to lack of wind, Saturday afternoon featured
three races for the fleet of talented J/22 teams. Following another
lengthy delay, the late afternoon breeze returned, and the race
committee scrambled to set up the race course. Faget won Races 3 and 5
and three out of five for the regatta.
In
the end, the Southern Yacht Club’s Benz Faget (Metairie, LA), Randall
Richmond (New Orleans, LA), and Thomas Sweeney (New Orleans, LA) came
away with the championship. The win for Faget represents his third
Mallory Trophy (’99, ’94) and the first for the Southern Yacht Club.
Faget is also a member of the New Orleans Yacht Club. While not
technically a “three-peat” (meaning three in a row), it’s still
impressive to win this coveted crown three-times!Behind them in second place was the Paul Wilson, Brett Davis, Reilly Scull and Sonya Stevens crew from Vineyard Haven Yacht Club in Massachusetts. Third were the “local heroes”, the Matt Arno, Craig Johnson and Bryan Dyer team from Fort Worth Boat Club, Texas. And fourth was yet another local team from Fort Worth Boat Club, the Meno/Schwinn/Keller team.
A “Texas-style” welcome reception, with a barbecue buffet, was wildly popular with the crews on Wednesday night. Sailors wore western attire and two-stepped to live country music. Plus a few crew tried the mechanical bull riding challenge and failed miserably! For more US Adult Sailing Championship sailing information
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