U.S. Offshore Sailing Championship - protest decides outcome

by Jake Fish on 28 Sep 2009 U.S. Offshore Sailing Championship - Bruce Kuryla and his crew representing the New York Yacht Club posted a pair of second place finishes today to pull out a victory at US SAILING’s 2009 U.S. Offshore Sailing Championship.
Saturday’s leader, Mike Gable, and his Davis Island Yacht Club team slipped out of first by dropping a pair of sixth place finishes on Sunday. A race 6 protest propelled Kuryla into first place at the end of the day.

A lingering low pressure system and a cold front hovered over Annapolis early this morning dumping rain with little wind as competitors arrived for the final day of competition. Fortunately, a nice southwesterly breeze of 7 to 9 knots filled in and allowed the race committee to get the first of two scheduled races underway on time. The wind was trending right as the front was literally passing overhead and the entire fleet converged at the committee boat end in an effort to get to the favorable right side. Jason Mazzoni’s (Annapolis, Md.) Navy team won the race, but not without argument and red flags. Norm Dawley’s (Lusby, Md.) Southern Maryland Sailing Association team was a close second and Kuryla (Milford, Conn.) pulled out a third. However, a critical protest from the start of race 6 resulted in Mazzoni being disqualified. Kurya finished a crucial second and Dawley grabbed the bullet.

For the final race of the series there were still six teams with a shot at the title, and given the scoring shuffle with each race tension was high. A six leg course was set up as the breeze settled onto a light west southwest axis. Gable (Seffner, Fla.) nailed the boat end while Kuryla started mid-line. Gable opted to cover Mazzoni who suffered a poor start and had tacked right. The left paid off well with better breeze. Kuryla led by a large margin at the first mark. Gable was back in sixth while Mazzoni was in seventh. Kuryla and crew held their lead until the final run where R.J. Di Mattia (Quincy, Mass.) and his Hingham Yacht Club crew snuck by on better pressure to the west and got the gun by two lengths. Kuryla took second and Friday’s leader, Ken King (Charlestown, S.C.) grabbed third. Gable and Mazzoni never recovered finishing sixth and seventh respectively.

Kuryla edged out Gable and Di Mattia by one point; and Dawly and King by three. Just three points separated the top five of eight teams competing on Chesapeake Bay. The championship was sailed in Navy 44s and hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy.

The U.S. Offshore Sailing Championship is sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., PredictWind, Sail Proud. For complete results, recaps and more, go to the event website: http://championships.ussailing.org/Adult/USOffshoreChampionship.htm.

Pos,Skipper, Yacht Club, Results, Total Points

1. Bruce Kuryla, New York / Milford, 4-7-4-2-6-2-2- ; 27
2. Mike Gable, Davis Island Yacht Club, 6-1-1-6-2-6-6- ; 28T
3. Ralph J Di Mattia, Hingham Yacht Club, 3-4-6-3-8-3-1- ; 28T
4. Norman Dawley, SMSA, 7-2-7-4-4-1-5- ; 30T
5. Kenneth King, CORA,ChYC,CYC, 2-3-2-8-7-5-3- ; 30T
6. MIDN 1/C Jason Mazzoni, US Naval Academy, 5-8-3-1-3-9/DSQ-7- ; 36T
7. Thomas (Todd) Wheatley, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, 1-6-5-7-5-4-8- ; 36T
8. Steve Rhyne, Lakewood Yacht Club, 8-5-8-5-1-7-4- ; 38

- Race report contributions made by Jahn Tihansky.