Sailing Blog
Eurex Match Cup Wrap-Up – Chicago Match Race Center »
July 11, 2011
If there is an example of taking a lofty idea and making it a reality, the Chicago Match Race Center is just that. Over three years ago, Don Wilson had the vision of building a world class match racing facility at a vibrant city front venue that would eventually attract the top sailors in the world to compete. Together with world class media production, live commentary and top notch umpiring and race committee work, the Chicago Match Race Center has solidified itself as a premiere sailing destination that has become regular stop on the match racing circuit.
This past weekend, I had the privilege of sailing with Don Wilson, Steve Hunt and Eric Doyle at the Grade 3 Eurex Match Cup. For non-match racing aficionados, Match Race regattas are given a Grade Classification based on criteria outlined by ISAF. A Grade 3 match race usually has 3-4 very high ranked match racers, but often ends up being a more regional event without any prize money. If you are able to win a Grade 3, the helmsman will improve his/her ISAF Match Race ranking which will allow them to have consideration to be invited to a Grade 2, or Grade 1 match race regatta. Grade 2 regattas feature a much deeper field of Match Racers with most being ranked in the top 150 in the world, while Grade 1 regattas attract and admit only the best match racers in the world, often with a sizable amount of prize money.
At the Eurex Match Cup this past weekend, 3 helmsman were ranked in the top 80 in the world (Taylor Canfield #29, Don Wilson #54, Steve Lowery #77), 2 were ranked in the top 150 (Jordan Reece and Guy Mossman) and the remaining field of eight were hoping to have a successful event and drop their ranking. Over the course of the weekend, 3 round robins, a consolation bracket, semi finals, petit-finals and finals were completed resulting in 3 long, action packed days of racing in changing conditions. The great thing about match racing is the races are sailed on very short courses, and for spectators either watching from shore, or the CMRC House Boat which is always stationed just off the starting line, there is no shortage of action. After making it through to the finals on Sunday, our team had completed 31 races with plenty of bumps, bruises and a well deserved off day from the gym on Monday.
Being new to match racing this season, I have done my best to get familiarized with the nuances of this form of sailboat racing. To summarize, success in match racing is based much more on formulas and exactitude when it comes to time and distance to the starting line. Plays are often used when trying to win a desired area of the line or course, and similar to fleet racing the ability to add-lib and pull off some stellar boathandling is a must. The biggest challenge for me has been having to verbalize laylines and time to the starting line. In fleet racing, if you are in the ballpark, it usually does the job, but when going up against a top match racing team, if you are late to turn up to the starting line by 2-3 seconds, or off on a layline by half a boat length, it can cost you the race.
Another challenge this weekend was moving from my traditional spot of trimming jib and spinnaker to the bow. Doing bow is a lot like being a goalie in soccer or hockey as you are often alone and if you do everything right, you have simply done your job, but if you make a mistake it often results in losing a race. The hardest part about doing bow is continually going over a moving a checklist of 15-20 minor things that need to be prepped before a mark rounding and forgetting one of them will hurt the overall performance of the boat. Not to mention moving like a cat and crawling up to the pointy end of the boat with sometimes very aggressive rudder movements making you wonder if they are intentionally trying to throw you overboard. There is seldom a comfortable moment when doing bow and once the kite was hoisted for the final run and the finish horn signals a W, I found myself taking a deep breath, looking up and thanking the powers that be there were no majors. I have a new appreciation for bow people around the world.
As for the racing, we had 3 decent round robins, but always seemed to drop a race with a unforced error like misjudging our final approach to the line, or heading to the wrong windward mark (oops). We qualified 3rd headed into the semis which meant our semi-final opponent would be determined for us as the winner of the round robins selects who they would like to race in the elimination round. We would be paired with Steve Lowery who we battled tightly in our 3 previous races. Luckily, we came out of the gates flying in the semis and handled Lowery by sweeping him 3-0 which was a relief as we knew he could take a win from us at anytime.
Canfield, winner of the round robin, would close out Jordan Reece and his young team from Australia in the other Semi-final, and it was game on in a best-of-three final. After getting a penalty and losing the pre-start in the first race, we quickly went down 0-1. The second start we took advantage of our starboard tack advantage in the pre-start, and when the starting signal sounded, we had a nice 2-3 length lead. Halfway up the beat, we had defended on 6-7 tacks nicely and held our lead, but things were about to get ugly. 3/4 the way up the beat on a routine tack, our spinnaker twing got entangled in the winch forcing an override in the jib sheet. Once cleared, we tacked back to port and having lost 2-3 lengths, Canfield had now tacked to Starboard and had a big piece of us. Being downspeed, Don did his best to pull a tight leebow but could not turn the boat fast enough and we fouled for tacking too close. One mistake led to the other, and we went from being ahead and in control, to close behind with a penalty. Canfield and his team would go onto clinch the series with an easy victory, and we were left scratching our heads as to how a twing line got snarled in a winch.
Racing at CMRC is a very cool experience as they are big on making it as spectator friendly as possible with live commentary from the always entertaining Nate Hollerbach and Dobbs Davis, awesome media with on-board footage and daily press conferences where the sailors are asked tough questions like, “When you lost the race with that move, what were you thinking?” Unlike other sports where the umpires retreat to their changing rooms, Match Racing Umpires hold a daily debrief to answer why they made the calls they did. And when they get them wrong, they have to answer to a room of competitors. There was a huge Eurex Sponsored party on Friday with many VIPs from Eurex and their clients coming on the water to check out the action while slugging cocktails and snacking on food. The next event is a Grade 2 August 8-11 which will move from CMRC’s home location of Belmont Harbor, to the tourist hub of Navy Pier which will make for some awesome spectating with the racing taking place just 30-40 yds away from the seawall.
Very cool video Wrap-Up from the Eurex Match Cup
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