Swedish Match 40 match race training in the U.S.

by Dave Perry on 5 Jun 2009 The Oak Cliff Yacht Club in Oyster Bay, New York, hosted an intensive three day match race training session in their six Swedish Match 40’s and six Shields, May 7-9.

The coaches were Dave Perry, the current US National Match Race Champion, Dave Dellenbaugh, former winner of the America’s Cup as starting helmsman and tactician on A3, and Ralf Steitz, a veteran crew on several America’s Cup efforts.

Participants included Sally Barkow, ranked #8 in the World Match Racing rankings. The session also included an umpire training session led by national umpire Bruce Cook, with opportunities for real-time umpiring and debriefing during the match race training.

The Swedish Match 40 is the boat used in many of the World Match Racing Tour events. The Oak Cliff Yacht Club has purchased six of them with the goal of providing the opportunity for area and national sailors to hone their match racing skills and become more proficient in the US and internationally. In addition, their fleet of six Shields provides the opportunity to train on a smaller boat with more classical lines.

Plans are already underway for the first annual Oak Cliff Invitational Match Race in July, which will be a three-day training session followed by a graded match race regatta. Other match race sailing, training and racing opportunities are available as well.

US sailors who may be training for national or international match race competition and who may be interested in training and racing at the Oak Cliff Yacht Club should contact Bill Niedringhaus at: fasttackmarine@gmail.com.