New year, new partnership - CMRC and Chicago Yacht Club

by Chicago Match Race on 23 Dec 2015 Chicago Yacht Club and Chicago Match Race Center are proud to announce a new partnership for the 2016 season - CMRC at CYC. The new venture will introduce match racing as part of Chicago Yacht Club's regular programming and feature one Grade two and two Grade three events.

'Chicago Match Race Center has set the bar for training and producing the top match race sailors in the world,' said Chicago Yacht Club Commodore Greg Miarecki. 'Together with CMRC, we will be introducing more sailors to this aspect of the sport and continue hosting top-level events and clinics.'

The new match racing program will be held on CYC's Sonars that are also used for youth and adult keelboat training. 'New match racers will be at an advantage of already being familiar with the Sonars when they move into this aspect of the sport,' explained CYC on the Water Director Jay Kehoe. 'People will not face the challenge of a different boat while also learning new skills and tactics.'

The Chicago Match Race Center will continue to be a staple in the world of match racing with the organization's focus shifting onto the M32 Series and the arrival of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Chicago event June 10-12, 2016. 'With the America's Cup and World Match Racing Tour now both in multi-hulls, the core training platform for the Chicago Match Race Center will now be the M32 Catamaran.' Said Tod Reynolds, CMRC Program Director, 'However, we think that mono-hull match racing will continue to be an important facet of the sport especially at a grassroots level. Partnering with Chicago Yacht Club is the ideal way to continue what has been the foundation of the CMRC program while introducing new sailors to the match racing game.'

The new CMRC at CYC program will be centered around Tuesday match racing practices and a couple of weekend clinics open to members of both organizations. Practices will be held on Tuesday evenings running May-September and led by one of CMRC's top-level coaches.

Dates are already set for the US Match Racing Qualifier June 24-26 and a Grade two event August 18-21. The events are expected to attract the world's top match racing athletes to Chicago. Regattas will be run by CMRC's Race Committee and support boats including the iconic houseboat, which will be used for rotations.

'It has been encouraging to watch Chicago Yacht Club's programming evolve over the past few years including the addition of a Club fleet of Sonars.' said Don Wilson, founder of the Chicago Match Race Center and a CYC member. 'With this partnership the quality of events will remain unchanged, and we look forward to continuing our eighth season of match racing in the Windy City with Chicago Yacht Club.'