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Tie-Breakers and Heartbreakers on Final Day of U.S. Disabled Championship
Rye, N.Y. (June 9, 2008) - Going into the last day of racing today at the U.S.
Disabled Sailing Championship, it was not a sealed deal for Paralympic Team
members Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Tim Angle (Marblehead, Mass.), and Bill
Donohue (Brick, N.J.) in the Sonar. While they had been in the lead since the
regatta started on Saturday, their fellow US Disabled Sailing Team AlphaGraphics
members Paul Callahan (Newport, R.I.), Roger Cleworth (Lithia, Fla.), and Mike
Hersey (Hyannis, Mass.) were hovering nearby, anxious to take over the lead. And
when the athletes got off the water today, Doerr and his team won only after
coming out ahead in the tie-breaker. In the 2.4mR and Ideal 18 classes,
Canadians Bruce Millar (Richmond, BC, CAN) and John McRoberts/Stacey Louttit
(both from Victoria, BC, CAN) took home the top honors respectively.
After beating rival Paul Callahan in the hotly contested regatta, an exhausted
but elated Rick Doerr said "We pushed all week long and fought hard right to the
end. We knew we had to win the last race to win the Championship... It feels
great to know that we are the top U.S. team."
The Sonar fleet wasn't the only one with tight racing: the Ideal 18 fleet was
filled with talented athletes. And, as in the Sonar, it all came down to the
final day to determine the new champion. Sarah Everhart Skeels (Tiverton, R.I.),
sailing with new crew Jim Donahue (Danvers, MA), was in first place overall
going into the final day, but not even her two first-place finishes today were
enough to stay ahead of McRoberts. She finished just two points behind the
Canadian.
In the 2.4mR, Bruce Millar held a comfortable lead throughout the regatta to
secure his win, 13 points ahead of fellow Canadian Paul Tingley (Halifax, NS,
CAN). US Disabled Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans,
La.) finished third, just one point behind Tingley.
The racing today, in what the County of Westchester in New York proclaimed as
Disabled Sailing Day, was held under sunny skies with variable conditions with
the race committee managing to pull off four races. Throughout the regatta, host
clubs American and Larchmont Yacht Clubs opened their doors to athletes,
families, and spectators.
The U.S. Disabled Championship is sponsored nationally by Rolex Watch U.S.A. and
Dry Creek Vineyard, as well as by UBS, The Carlyle Group, Heineken and EMA
Clocks.
Next year's U.S. Disabled Championship will return to the Long Island Sound when
Riverside Yacht Club in Greenwich, Conn., will host the event. With the addition
of the SKUD-18 sailing next year, it promises to be a great event.
About the American Yacht Club
The American Yacht Club (AYC) was founded in 1883 in New York City and this year
is celebrating its 125 anniversary. Originally a club for steam yachts, AYC is
now a premier sailing and racing club. In the past, Club members have been
America's Cup Defenders, Trans-Atlantic, and Bermuda Race winners. AYC sailors
have been Long Island Sound, North American and World Champions in a number of
classes. They have competed in the Olympics and captured Olympic medals - most
recently in 1996, when Courtenay Becker-Dey took a bronze in the Europe class.
Four AYC skippers have won the U.S. Women's Sailing Championship. AYC is proud
to promote yacht design and prominent sailboat designers such as Bill Tripp and
the Herreshoffs are or have been members. Located at the tip of Milton Point in
Rye, New York, the club currently has about 900 members. For more information
and directions, please visit www.americanyc.com.
About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING) is the national governing
body for sailing. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island,
the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the United
States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and
race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities,
issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight
of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and
the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please
visit www.ussailing.org.
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