 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
Rob Hitchcock on USA 1105 is 2008 New England Champion Recap of regatta: August 16-17, in Newport, RI The 2008 Rhode Island Cup and New England Championship were awarded to Rob Hitchcock of Fleet 19 and his crew on USA 1105 following two days of solid racing off Newport, RI, August 16-17. A light to moderate breeze filled Narragansett Bay in the afternoon on the first day of races. In an effort to get as many races run as possible, the race committee started out with a four-leg course and then switched over to two-leg courses for two of the five races. After turning back to clear himself of an OCS in the first race, Rob Hitchcock fought his way around the course, passing all of his competitors to take the first bullet of the championship. The subsequent short courses proved more difficult for Hitchcock, and Kurt Winkelman moved to the top of the fleet with two firsts. By day's end, Hitchcock and Winkelman were tied with 11 points each and identical scores; the lead went to Hitchcock whose bullet in the final race gave him the slight advantage. Day Two of the New England Championships began with dueling breezes causing 30-degree shifts and inconsistent pressure. Fowlling a brief postponement during which the RC set and re-set the windward mark and pin, the southwesterly seabreeze prevailed and the pressure became 10 knots and building, eventually gusting into the low 20s by mid-afternoon. In the first race of the day, both Hitchcock and Winkelman were out-sailed by Marblehead skipper John Stitzer. The first-place tie that was carried over from the day before was broken by Hitchcock who took second and moved into a four-point lead. Hitchcock then sailed another strong race in which he took a bullet and added another two points of separation. Keith Longson sailed strongly in the big breeze, taking a bullet in the third race. The final race of the day was three legs sailed in dramatic windshifts. Hitchcock began the final race as the leader, but had lost his comfortable point-spread following a sixth place in the next-to-last race. Winkelman caught several favorable shifts that launched him to the head of the fleet, while Hitchcock dropped back several spots into fourth around the final leeward mark. Winkelman ultimately won the battle and took the final bullet, but it wasn't enough to win the war. Hitchcock finished fourth, winning the championship by only a couple of points. A complete list of scores is online.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| contact us schedule news results class rules tactics join the class photos crew classifieds marketplace | |
 |