| LARCHMONT, NY. USA-(17-10-2005) “Our motto’s going to be ‘keep our sticks up’”, yelled one boat from Team Trouble to another as they sailed into the final race of the semi-finals, down one race already. With winds gusting to 40 mph at one point, the final day of sailing at US SAILING’s U.S. Team Racing Championship for the George R. Hinman trophy was wet, wild and thrilling. Who would have thought that Team Trouble - made up of Matt Allen (Glen Oaks, N.Y.); Timothy Cain (Marlborough, N.J.); Brad Funk (Belleair Bluffs, Fla.); Heather Pescatello (Westerly, R.I.); Anna Tunnicliffe (Norfolk, Va.); and Mark Zagol (New York, N.Y.) - would take home the National Team Racing Championship title.
“Keeping your sticks up” turned out the phrase of the day as sixth-ranked Team Trouble won its semi-finals against Team Racing World Champions Cape Cod WHishbone. In another upset, second-ranked Silver Panda lost its semi-final match to eighth-ranked Route 3 Split with Silver Panda capsizing at the start of both of its matches.
With the breezes continuing to build, the final races saw Team Trouble facing Team Route 3 Split - made up of John Storck (Huntington, N.Y.), Stu McNay (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), Sarah Callahan (Canton, Mass.), Kaitlin Storck (Huntington N.Y.), Patrick Rynne (Scituate, Mass.), and Eivind Karlsen (New Haven, Conn.). Team Trouble won the first race, despite having to do spins earlier on. In race 2, Team Trouble once again had to spin and surprised spectators by capsizing when a strong puff blew through. It looked like Route 3 Split had another win in the bag when a second puff blew down one boat from each team. This gave Team Trouble’s boat that capsized first and had by now righted, a chance to get back in the game. With two boats in the water, the scores were tied. It would all come down to how fast the sailors could right their boats and how they would then tactically manage to finish. All of this was done in a fairly steady 30 knots of wind with higher gusts.
In the end, Team Trouble had the winning combination and are now the 2005 U.S. Team Racing Champions. “Having only squeaked into the Gold Fleet, it’s especially satisfying to have won,” said Tim Cain. `Especially after then being down 1-0 in the semis` said Brad Funk, a member of the 2005 US Sailing Team.
All of the competitors had nothing but high praises for this year’s hosts, Larchmont Yacht Club who ran this event in conjunction with the Hinman Masters, an enormously complex undertaking chaired by Ed “Buttons” Padin. “When we originally scheduled this regatta for October, we thought we’d have great breezes. Our judgment was sound, given the average of 25 knots of wind we sailed in. This made for challenging, and spectacular, team racing.”
A total of 11 teams competed in the Hinman Masters Regatta and to the surprise of some, host club Larchmont Yacht Club won the Commodore George R. Hinman Invitational Masters trophy. The Larchmont team won all its races in the final round, beating out a highly competitive team from Pequot Yacht Club in second and Eastern Yacht Club in third.
During the awards ceremony on Sunday, Betsy Altman, past U.S. Team Racing Championship chair, was awarded the 2005 Gaye Lynn award for her contributions to team racing in the United States. Altman’s tireless work and effective leadership during her four years as chair has helped build the championship to the level it is today.
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