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Press ReleasePress Release
September 24, 2010
tember 24, 2010

RACING BLOWN OUT, HARDESTY WINS CMRC’S AUTUMN OPEN A

The Windy City got too windy, with gale force winds forcing cancellation of all but two flights of racing today

Media Inquiries:
Beth Paul
Phone 312-542-1505 or Beth@ChicagoMatchRace.com

RACING BLOWN OUT, HARDESTY WINS CMRC’S AUTUMN OPEN A Chicago, IL – The Windy City got too windy today, producing gale force blasts gusting to over 35 knots to force early cancellation of the remainder of the racing format in the ISAF Grade 3 Chicago Match Race Center’s (CMRC) Autumn Open A regatta. So, on the basis of his team’s undefeated 9-0 record in the first Round Robin, Bill Hardesty (USA) and his Team Line Honors of Austin Dias (Main)‚ Dan Lipton (Jib)‚ Mandi Markee (Floater)‚ and Matt Cassidy (Bow) have won the overall prize, their second in this year’s CMRC 2010 season of events.

“We tried to keep each race close in this weather – even when behind – because there are opportunities to make up time," said the 2009 US National match racing champion. Of the quality of the competition among the field of 10 teams hailing from 4 countries in this event, Hardesty said “It helps to train in these boats - it helped that Sakamoto and his team joined the CMRC last week to get an opportunity to train in the boats as much as possible. I encourage others to join if they will be in town in advance of a race."

RACING BLOWN OUT, HARDESTY WINS CMRC’S AUTUMN OPEN A A predictable pitch for the Director of CMRC, but the results speak for themselves: runner-up Danielle Soriano (USA), also a CMRC member, has earned her best-ever score in a match race event, beating Sakamoto Wataru (JPN) on a tie-break of their 7-2 scores. “It was really tough racing out there, you couldn’t count anyone out even when leading, and I’m really happy with my team,” she said.

Reviews of the event and the venue from newcomers to CMRC were unanimous, and indicate a strong desire to develop similar match race centers around the world. Rosinski Krzysztof (POL) from Gdynia, Poland was slightly disappointed in not being able to place higher than fifth in the standings despite being second-seed in this event, but still was enthusiastic about his experience at CMRC.

“I have been running a match racing center in Poland for 3 years now, since we decided to open our own center when we were only allowed to enter 2 of 13 match races in Poland," Krzysztof explained. “The CMRC has very nice boats, very easy to handle. This is very well-organized, with lots of sailing, and no waiting – we really admire the CMRC very much."

RACING BLOWN OUT, HARDESTY WINS CMRC’S AUTUMN OPEN A Ninth-placed Bruce Stone (USA) echoed these comments, saying “CMRC is superb in what they are doing, and we want to build a similar program in San Francisco.”

Of the level of the competition, Stone said “Last week I won a Rolex at the Big Boat Series, but here at CMRC there is no mercy!”

The Autumn Open A regatta has concluded, but match race sailing continues tomorrow at the CMRC Autumn Open B regatta, similarly ranked Grade 3 by ISAF. Returning from the A group will be Clay Bischoff (USA), Eric Christman (USA), Soriano, Stone, Rosinski, and Wataru, but rounding out the new group of ten will be CMRC Founder Don Wilson (USA), winner of the CMRC Spring Invitational; Don’ sister Jennifer Wilson (USA) who had been sailing as crew for Tod Reynolds in the A event; Austin Dias (USA), who had been trimming main for Hardesty, and Steven Lowery (USA), a regular competitor at numerous CMRC events.

Racing tomorrow is intended once again for a 9:00 AM start, and live commentary will again be provided by Tucker Thompson of T2P Productions, with live streaming video of the action also available on the CMRC website.

Shoreside activities on the lakefront including competitor briefings, press conferences, umpire debriefs and awards ceremonies will be held before and after racing in and around the CMRC floating regatta center moored at the North end of Belmont Harbor.

 

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