U.S. Team Racing Championship - Team Extreme claim the title

by Jake Fish on 25 Oct 2012 At the 2012 US Team Racing Championship, in Larchmont, New York Yacht Club’s Team Extreme captured their second title over the weekend. The twelve teams finished their second Round Robin stage and the top six teams advanced to the Gold Round Robin Finals where points were doubled. In the end, it was Team Extreme winning their second Hinman Trophy.

Team Extreme, who won their first US Team Racing Championship in 2009, finished the second Round Robin stage as the number one seed with 20 points. The 2010 US Team Racing Champions and five time winners of the Hinman, Silver Panda was the number two seed with 18 points. The upstarts from the home team, the Larchmont Yacht Club was third with 15 points. The Rhode Island Pistols were fourth (11 pts.); The Woonsocket Rockets (11 pts.) were fifth; and the West Kirby Hawks (11 pts.) were sixth.

Team Extreme was a perfect 5-0 in the Final Gold Round Robin stage to seal the title with 30 points. Larchmont Yacht Club had a strong round to edge Silver Panda by a point for second place and 23 points. Larchmont was 4-1, including a win over Silver Panda who was 2-3.

Team Extreme, who is comprised of former Yale varsity sailing team members, was Runner-up to Minor Threat in 2011. Minor Threat finished eighth this year.

Team Extreme includes skippers Zachary Brown (San Diego, Calif.), Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI), Stuart McNay (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), and crew Emmet Smith (New Haven, Conn.), Marla Menninger (New York, N.Y.), and Michael Hession (Chicago, Ill.).

'I was really impressed with how the team adapted so quickly after not competing together since last year's Hinman,' said McNay. 'I thought we were able to come from behind in some situations and we sailed well with the lead too. There were no easy races.'

The second place team from Larchmont featured Danny Pletsch (Greenwich, Conn.), Clay Bischoff (New York, N.Y.), Michael Menninger (San Francisco, Calif.), Jennifer Watkins (New Orleans, La.), Kendra Emhiser (New York, N.Y.), and Meredith Powlison (Newport, R.I.).

Racing got underway after 10:00 am outside the harbor in a westerly wind at about eight knots. Seas were relatively flat under sunny skies.

'The volunteers made this a great event,' said McNay. 'The Larchmont Yacht Club members really stepped up and allowed teams to use their Full results US Team Racing Championship website