U.S. Singlehanded Champions crowned at Laser Nationals

by Jake Fish on 11 Jul 2016 The race organizers from the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club put the finishing touches on the 2016 Laser Class U.S. National Championships and U.S. Singlehanded Sailing Championships on Sunday. The four-day regatta closed out with one more race Sunday, as new champions were crowned.

Entering the day, there was little doubt who would claim both the Full Rig division of the U.S. Laser Class Championship and the U.S. Singlehanded Men’s Championship. Henry Marshall (Auburndale, Mass.) took control of the fleet on Thursday and never looked back. He won seven of 11 races for the championship in the 49-boat fleet. Placing 17 points behind Henry for second place was his brother, William Marshall. The three Marshall brothers finished in the top five, as Jack Marshall finished fifth.

Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) captured the U.S. Singlehanded Women’s Championship and placed ninth overall for the Laser Class U.S. Nationals. Consistency was the key for Weis, as she placed in the top 10 in nine of 11 races. She sealed the championship with a sixth place finish in today’s only race. Carly Broussard finished in second place for the U.S. Singlehanded Women’s Championship. Winning the outright 101-boat Radial fleet for the Laser National Championship was Andrea Aldana. Blaire McCarthy won the 4.7 fleet.

The fleets completed four races each on Friday and Saturday with two races on Thursday.

Sailors eligible for the U.S. Singlehanded Sailing Championships must be U.S. citizens and at least age 17 in the calendar year of 2016.

Weather and Conditions

• Sunday – very light air, six knots max, and sunny skies
• Saturday – wind from the west, big swells, 12-15 knots with gusts
• Friday – 8-12 knots with limited swells

Quotes and Commentary

• Henry Marshall (on his racing this week) – “Yesterday was a lot of fun with nice conditions and beautiful sailing. It doesn’t get any better than that. The chop was tough to get through. You have to use a lot of technique. I think it brought out the best sailors. It feels normal to race against my brother. We’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s cool I have both my brothers here and we are at the top of the fleet.”
• Anna Weis (on Sunday’s racing) – “Usually light air is not my best conditions, but I have the confidence I can sail well. My legs hurt after yesterday, but everyone was hurting, so you need that mental toughness to get through it.”
• Jamie Jones (PRO on the regatta) – “I think it went really well this week. We got two days of great breeze and two days of light. It was really light near the end of the first race today, so we made the call to stop racing for the day.”
• Gage Wilson (on Saturday’s racing) – “It was gnarly out there, and it was fun going down those six foot faces.”
• Joseph Hou (on Saturday’s racing) – “It (swells) was a lot heavier than the wind conditions were like. It was fun when the winds got up to 16-17 knots.”
• John Shockey (event co-chair on Saturday’s racing) – “Today was everything we hoped it would be when hosting this championship.”

Awards

• Henry Marshall received the George D. O’Day Trophy for the highest placing eligible male in Laser Full Rig.
• Anna Weis received the Helen Willis Hanley Trophy for the highest placing eligible female in Laser Radial.
• US Sailing medals were awarded to the top three positions in each fleet.