(San Francisco, CA)- Last weekend, the St. Francis YC hosted the first
of two U.S. Match Racing Championship Qualifiers being held at the Club
this year, with the second event on Sept 5-6, 2015. Conditions were
challenging with an ebb tide shifting to a flood, and winds from 13 to
23 kts from the westerly quadrants beneath Golden Gate Bridge.
The
winner, Russ Silvestri, dominated the event with 13 wins and only one
loss, earning a berth at this year's U.S. Match Racing Championship on
October 10-12, 2015 at Oakcliff Sailing Center, Oyster Bay, NY. In
second place was Nicole Breault with 11 wins and three losses. Both had
been favored to be on top of the leaderboard, as they had earlier
qualified to represent North America in the upcoming Nation’s Cup
match-racing event in Vladivostok, Russia. Up-and-coming college
sailors Jack Thompson and Jack Barton tied for third, with Thompson
winning on the tie-breaker.This Qualifier was held using the Club’s fleet of identical J/22s and was the second of seven U.S. Sailing Match Race Qualifiers taking place across the country this summer. According to Regatta Chair Bruce Stone, who also heads the U.S. Match Racing Championships Committee for U.S. SAILING: “In a major change from the past, Qualifiers are now open to competitors from around the country regardless of their home area, and skippers can apply to race in more than one Qualifier – Oakcliff Sailing Center, St. Francis YC, San Diego YC, Bayshore YC (Detroit), Chicago Match Race Center, and Annapolis YC - in a variety of keelboats, April through September. In previous years, qualifiers around the country were limited to people from that region. We have opened it up so people can venue shop, traveling to places that are interesting to them or play to their skills, i.e. windy or light conditions, or different types of boats used by the host club.” There are still slots open for some of the remaining Qualifiers. Sailing photo credits- Chris Ray. For more U.S. Match Racing Series sailing information.
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