U.S.A. Grand Slam Series - Ten teams ready for action

by Conrad Volle on 12 Aug 2015 Ten teams will compete August 13-16 in Match 40s at the Oakcliff International, a Grade two match racing event and second stop on the 2015 U.S.A. Grand Slam Series.

An international field will compete for the $10,000 in prize money at stake as well as an invitation to the 2016 Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA, the prestigious Grade one event.

The teams are diverse in origin and experience, representing Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United States, and holding current ISAF match racing rankings between third and 288th

“Oakcliff Sailing is proud to host a stop on the USA Grand Slam Series tour,” said Dawn Riley, Executive Director of Oakcliff Sailing, the event host. “The series attracts top talent and is a great stepping stone for sailors to compete at the highest level and launch their careers.”

The top four seeded teams, all ranked above 15th are international competitors, skippered by Eric Monnin (SUI), winner of the Knickerbocker Cup, Chris Steele (NZL), Matthew Jerwood (AUS), and Sam Gilmour (AUS). The six American teams include the top two ranked American match racing skippers, David Storrs and Chris Poole, plus a two-time Youth U.S. Match Racing Champion, Christophe Killian.

The Oakcliff International will see all the teams from the Knickerbocker Cup, the first stop on the Grand Slam Series, plus two additional teams. Joining the fray will be four-time U.S. Match Racing Champion Dave Perry, mentor to many of the sailors in the event who have attended his match racing clinics across the country. Having taught and competed with sailors on most of the American teams, it will be a test of Perry’s teaching skills against his match racing acumen to hold off the rising American skippers.

With events in Chicago, Detroit, Port Washington, NY, and Oyster Bay, NY, the Grand Slam Series has become well known and invitations are highly sought after by high-level match racers from around the world. In addition to tough competition, sailors are enticed by the prizes that the Series offers.

The Knickerbocker Cup and Oakcliff International have, respectively, $11,000 and $10,000 in prize money that is distributed among the top ten finishers, and the winners of the Detroit Cup and Knickerbocker Cup receive invitations to the Bermuda Gold Cup, a stop on the World Match Racing Tour. The winner of the overall series will receive an invitation to the 2016 Congressional Cup in Long Beach, CA, the prestigious Grade One event.

Racing will consist of two round robin competitions, followed by quarterfinals, semifinals, petit finals and finals, weather permitting.