Chris Poole wins U.S. Match Racing Championship at Rochester Yacht Club
by US Sailing 24 Sep 2023 17:07 PDT
September 21-24, 2023
Austin Colpaert, Andres Guerra, and skipper Chris Poole celebrate after their win at the 2023 U.S. Match Racing Championship © Lexi Pline / US Sailing
Chris Poole and his team of Andres Guerra and Austin Colpaert clinched their first U.S. Match Racing Championship title on Sunday, sailing on Sonars out of Rochester Yacht Club.
After three days of intense racing on Lake Ontario, Chris Poole (Seawanhaka Yacht Club) faced off against sailing legend Dave Dellenbaugh to go 3-1 in the final round. Clinton Hayes (Eastern Yacht Club) bested Jack Egan (San Diego Yacht Club, Yale University) in the petit final to take third place overall.
"I've gotten silver at this event more times than I'd like to admit, but it's nice to finally get the win!" said Poole. "I had a great team with me - we had great teamwork, communication, and were able to get in a good mode going into these challenging, windy and wavy conditions.
It's been a good two years for us, just trying to constantly improve and work on the way we do our prestarts. We have five days off, then we're headed to Bermuda for the World Match Racing Tour finals!"
Ten teams competed for the Prince of Wales Bowl, with racing beginning Friday, September 22 and culminating on Sunday, September 24. Competitors saw three days of strong breeze, peaking with stormy conditions with gusts over 25 knots for the finals and semifinals on Sunday.
On Friday, the lightest day of the regatta, race committee was able to finish most of the round robin. On Saturday, the round robin was finished out and quarterfinals were completed. Chris Poole, Dave Dellenbaugh, Clinton Hayes, and event newcomer Jack Egan came out on top of the quarters, seeding the semifinals.
Sunday's semifinals saw match ups between Poole v. Hayes and Dellenbaugh v. Egan. Both Poole and Egan went straight 2-0, gearing up for an exciting finals series. Breeze picked up to its strongest point during the finals series, where Poole went 3-1 after a close and action packed four race series.
"It went great, we had three days of great racing, great competitors," said Regatta Chair Jeff Sullivan. "In all the regatta I've ever run, I've never met a kinder group of people than these guys."
US Sailing would like to thank Rochester Yacht Club for hosting, and to Goslings and Gill Marine for sponsoring this event. Goslings provided a complimentary Dark N' Stormy bar for competitors throughout the weekend, while Gill provided event dry-bags for each sailor.
Full results can be found here.