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Etchells North Americans – Congratulations to new champion

by Nicole Jacques on 22 Sep 2015
2015 Etchells North American Championship Paul Moore
Congratulations to Steve Benjamin and crew Luke Lawrence, George Peet, and Julian Sudofsky, the new 2015 Etchells North American Champions.

In a fleet of past Worlds and North American Championship winners, this really was the A-Team. Not only did they win the NAs, they won both the Etchells Labor Day Regatta - sailed September five - and the Long Island Sound Championship - sailed September six and seven. That's quite the trifecta!

In the North Americans, team Benjamin finished first overall, fifteen points ahead of second place boat NZL 1381 skippered by past Etchells World and North American Champion Dirk Kneulman, sailing with past North American Champion Hank Lammens and Kent Paisley.

A very respectable third place went to USA 1305, Clean Execution, skippered by Michael Gavin sailing with Bill Abbott, Guy Rittger and Austin Shaefer and followed by Gumption3, helmed by Kevin Grainger, with Scott Norris and Max Skelley. Fifth place ended in a hard-fought tie, and Steve Girling, sailing with Zeke Horowitz and David Lutian, won on countback over AYC Commodore Peter Duncan, sailing with longtime sailing partners Tom Blackwell and past World and North American champion Jud Smith.

Winning the Corinthian team division was the fearsome threesome of Senet Bischoff, Clay Bischoff and Ben Kinney sailing on USA 1349, KGB. Running in second place in the Corinthian Division, Canadian Jerry Wendt, sailed a great set of races with Irek Zubko and Alex Baker. Not far behind were recent San Franciscan transplant to the East Coast, John Edenbach, sailing a borrowed boat from Team KGB with TJ Pascalides and Will Christenson in third place. Tied in points but winning on countback were Don Brush, sailing Landed Gentry, with Ken Felis and Rick Stevens in fourth place, and the Hardenburgh brothers (Ted, Jamie, and Mark) sailing Natasha, a boat named after the yacht in which their father wooed their mother.

Congratulations to all 36 teams who enjoyed the changing Long Island Sound weather conditions managed by PRO Don Dowd and his race committee - in an event punctuated by schools of bluefish, breaching whales and a nearby pod of dolphins - to sail a wonderfully competitive North American Championship hosted by American Yacht Club in Rye, NY.
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