With No Wind on the Final Day, Round-Robin Winner Pearson Potts Is U.S. Match Racing Champion Again
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (October 6, 2019) – The Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship in San Francisco Bay started with two days of long postponements that yielded what chief umpire Glenn Oliver termed “champagne conditions.” The scheduled 28 total matches over two round-robins went as planned. But with no significant winds to permit the start of semifinal racing, Sunday at St. Francis Yacht Club turned into a “lay day” that nobody wanted. Not even Pearson Potts (Newport, R.I.), the chief beneficiary of the cancellation.
Potts, who sailed to a 12-2 record over the Friday and Saturday sessions to take first place in the round-robin, thus successfully defended his national championship. After racing was called off, Potts raised the Prince of Wales Bowl as he did in Chicago last year, and the Boston resident has been named U.S. champion for the third year running. With the victory, Potts also earns a berth in next April’s Ficker Cup at Long Beach Yacht Club.
“We came in to defend; we never really saw ourselves [that way],” Potts said, “so we tried to win rather than defend. Any time you come to St. Francis…there are so many currents and variables.” Potts and his crew of Robert Savoie (Bristol, R.I.), now also a repeat champion, Lucas Adams (Middletown, R.I.) and Tim Siemers (Mapple Grove, Minn.) sailed the USMRC under the name Guardians of the Monohulls, a nod to the incumbent, classic America’s Cup design.
Peter Holz (Glennview, Ill.; Chicago YC) ran second to his close friend Potts with a 10-4 mark over the two days, for the best USMRC finish of his career. By going 7-0 on Saturday to finish 9-5 for the weekend, 17-year-old Jeffrey Petersen is thought to be the youngest skipper in USMRC history to stand on the podium, finishing in third. The other semifinalist Nicole Breault ended up in fourth, also the best USMRC finish of her decorated match-race career.
“We love going against Potts,” said Holz, who skippered a USMRC entry for the fourth time in five years. “We’ve got a pretty even record against him over the years, and it’s always a good battle, so it’s pretty disappointing that San Francisco didn’t turn it on today.” Holz’s Windy City Racing crew included IG Schottlaender, John Hammond and Ellis Tonissi.
“When I come up to these regattas, I want to show that youth sailors can do just as well anyone else in the room,” said Petersen, who in 2017 set the mark for youngest-ever skipper at this championship, when he sailed to ninth place as a 15-year-old. “I’ll tell you this,” Petersen added, “I’m gonna try to be the youngest winner of the [Prince of Wales] Bowl in the coming years.” His Cricket Racing crew this week consisted of Max Brennan and Ken Sherb, both 18, and Daniel Pegg, 16.
“I feel good about our results. I know we made mistakes, and I wish I could get those races back, because they ended up counting a lot,” said Breault, who competed with longtime Vela Racing teammates Dana Riley Hayes and Hannah Burroughs, and with Jack Barton, who was sailing with Breault for the very first time.
“For two days, we had very challenging conditions but excellent boat handling and highly competitive teams. The seawall came into play and some teams played it very, very well,” said Event Chair Bruce Stone, who also noted the significance of both a female skipper and a youth crew among the final four. “This is a very difficult place to sail—anywhere else in the country, they would have been able to get a race off, but we have some current here and we had some unusual wind direction today because of the excessive heat, so we couldn’t really race across current and set a fair racecourse.”
That said, Stone was quick to praise the Race Committee, headed by St. Francis Race Director Graham Biehl, match umpires and the rest of the organizing team for running the best races possible. “I think they did a phenomenal job. I mean, the wind and tide lined up perfectly on the first two days of racing, so we were racing into a flood. The ebbs picked up at the end of each day and we were able to readjust the racecourse pretty quickly without losing any time. The mark boat team are very accomplished at that and I think we have a great group of volunteers here making it happen.”
The final standings of the 52nd U.S. Match Racing Championship:
1. Pearson Potts, Boston, Guardians of the Monohulls
2. Peter Holz, Glennview, Ill., Chicago YC
3. Jeffrey Petersen, Santa Ana, Calif., Balboa YC
4. Nicole Breault, San Francisco, St. Francis YC
5. Chris Nesbitt, San Diego, San Diego YC
6. Ryan Seago, Grosse Pointe, Mich., Bayview YC
7. Cameron Feves, Long Beach, Calif., Cabrillo Beach YC
8. Allie Blecher, Long Beach, Calif., California YC
St. Francis Yacht Club’s official photo website, stfycphotos.com, contains photography from all three days of the 52nd U.S. Match Racing Championship.
For additional information about this Championship, visit the event website.
The 2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship is sponsored by Kilroy Realty, Hobie Polarized and Regatta Craft Mixers.
St. Francis Yacht Club
Scott Armstrong, sarmstrong@stfyc.com
US Sailing
Jake Fish, communications@ussailing.org
About US Sailing
The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for sailing, provides leadership, integrity, and advancement for the sport in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. 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 US Sailing Team. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.
About St. Francis Yacht Club
St. Francis Yacht Club was founded in 1927 and has been host to many of the most prestigious national and international championships in sailing. With over 40 regattas on its calendar annually, StFYC is widely regarded as having one of the top racing and race management programs in the country. In addition to enjoying a worldwide reputation for on-water excellence, Platinum Clubs of the World named the St. Francis Yacht Club the Number One Yacht Club in the United States in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2019 and Boardroom Magazine recognized it as the first yacht club to be a Distinguished Emerald Club of the World.
All of the regattas hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club meet or exceed Gold Level Clean Regatta status from Sailors for the Sea, the world’s only sustainability certification for water-based events. St. Francis Yacht Club utilizes a voluntary, self-assessment tool to benchmark its environmental footprint with goals for reducing waste generated by events and continuously improving the long-term sustainability of the club and the environment.
(Photo credit © Scott Armstrong/St. Francis Yacht Club)
Day 2 Report
Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019
San Francisco, Calif.
The Field of Eight Is Down to Four at the 2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship
Shortly before the Saturday morning competitors’ briefing at the Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship, the San Francisco area experienced a 3.5-magnitude earthquake. That little morning jolt portended a day of racing at St. Francis Yacht Club that also featured its share of faults and tremors from the eight competing boats.
After a spirited Second Round Robin that kept the race umpires busy, four sailors advanced to Sunday’s knockout stage of the 52nd USMRC: Peter Holz, Jeffrey Petersen, Nicole Breault and defending champion Pearson Potts.
While many skippers can list two or more USMRC titles on their résumés, a Potts victory here would make him only the third skipper in the history of this regatta to repeat as the winner. Mason Woodworth lifted the Prince of Wales Bowl three straight years from 2000-02, and Ed Trevelyan captured back-to-back titles in 1976 and 1977.
Of note, Potts (Boston; Guardians of the Monohulls) is already attempting a “three-peat” of sorts as the reigning two-time national champion. David Storrs hoisted the Prince of Wales Bowl at the 2017 event by defeating Potts in the finals—an achievement Storrs, who passed away in March, cherished—but Potts was named the U.S. champ because Storrs competed with an international crew.
As they did Friday, Potts and his crew sailed to a 6-1 record on Saturday, with a loss to Petersen the only blemish. In fact, Petersen (Santa Ana, Calif.; Balboa YC) didn’t lose to anyone today. He and his crew ran the table to surmount their 2-5 mark after Day 1.
“We made a huge change to our pre-start routine,” Petersen said when asked about the turnaround. “We just said, ‘Look, we are going to get the start that we want and we’re gonna be more aggressive in forcing other people’s hands in the pre-start,’ and I think that was the key to today.”
Petersen’s final victory to complete the Saturday sweep came against Breault (San Francisco; St. Francis YC), who has already achieved her best-ever result at the USMRC by reaching the semifinals. “I am so psyched,” said Breault after learning she had clinched the semis berth. “This was my goal going in…I’m very happy. And that’s gonna take some pressure off my shoulders and hopefully I just come out to play. And it’s anyone’s game, really.”
The homestanding Breault, who went 4-3 both Friday and Saturday, has estimable experience with teammates Dana Riley Hayes and Hannah Burroughs. Yet here in a national championship, she is sailing with the other crewmember Jack Barton for the first time. “We’ve never sailed together before,” Breault said, and Barton “brings a totally awesome energy to the team. When you’re starting off new against [opponents] like this, it can be challenging—you have to do a lot of communication and talk through things.”
Meanwhile, Holz (Glennview, Ill.; Chicago YC) has bested his quarterfinal finish at his home club last year, and credits his crew for their overall 10-4 record in the round-robin. “We got around the track relatively cleanly, which I think was the biggest component to our success,” he said. “Today was a bit more [about] boat speed than yesterday, being a bit breezy.”
The small-by-California-standards quake, centered four miles off the coast of neighboring Pacifica, came about five hours before racing began. Participants sat through a three-hour delay to wait for the breeze to arrive, compared to a two-hour holdup on Friday. At the first start, the Bay featured light flooding conditions with wind at 8 knots, conditions that persisted throughout the afternoon.
The faster track contributed to several pileups, near-misses and disputes, which made for compelling viewing from the St. Francis Race Deck, where spectators could eavesdrop on a good portion of the competitors’ dialogue. Noting a shift in the current, the Race Committee adjusted the courses for the final few flights of Day 2. “You could not ask for a better breeze,” Petersen added. “I mean, the current’s always tricky here, but you just had beautiful 10 to 12 knots out of the west.”
A wind delay is again anticipated for the final day of racing, with temperatures possibly flirting with the 80-degree mark. If the semifinals, petite finals and finals follow the narrative of the round-robin, then viewers can expect to see close-in skirmishes tight around marks when these four elite sailors reconvene here on Sunday.
To follow the racing as it unfolds, visit @StFYC on Twitter.
Scott Armstrong
Communications Director
St. Francis Yacht Club
415-820-3706
sarmstrong@stfyc.com
(Photo credit © Chris Ray/St. Francis Yacht Club)
Day 1 Report
Friday, Oct. 4, 2019
San Francisco, Calif.
Defending Champion Potts Leads after First Round Robin of
2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship
Skipper Pearson Potts and crewmember Robert Savoie made up half of the winning team at the 2018 U.S. Match Racing Championship at Chicago Yacht Club, under conditions that reinforced the stereotype of the City of Broad Shoulders’ other, weather-related nickname.
When Potts, Savoie and their 2019 teammates Lucas Adams and Tim Siemers arrived in Baghdad by the Bay—the late columnist Herb Caen’s nickname for his beloved San Francisco—to defend the USMRC crown, they encountered stereotypical conditions for October here. It’s nice. Sometimes too nice to run a match race.
Patience, however, was a virtue: When racing began at midday Friday in San Francisco Bay after a two-hour delay, Team Potts posted six victories from seven matches, returning to the docks of host St. Francis Yacht Club with the lead after Day 1.
“We’re happy to be where we are, but we’re more concerned with how we finish rather than how we start,” Potts said back at the clubhouse. “We have yet to sail the perfect race and until we do, we will keep marching.”
Patience was also a virtue for the Race Committee, led by StFYC Race Director Graham Biehl. “October in San Francisco can be a little bit more challenging in terms of the regular wind conditions,” Biehl said. “And we were patient and let the breeze fill in…we set our course quickly and got racing going.”
The regatta thus began in a strong current, an increasing flood, and marginal hiking conditions. More interactive and aggressive match racing took place later in the round-robin as the teams gained comfort with the Bay and the courses. Team Potts, sailing the 52nd USMRC under the moniker of Guardians of the Monohulls, posted four wins before taking a loss to skipper Peter Holz and the Chicago YC group. “[Our] mindset was, ‘Hey, we’re not the underdog anymore; we’ve been at the top before and we can do it again,’” Potts added.
The victory for Holz, who posted a 5-2 mark to end Day 1 in second place, over Potts amounted to a small measure of revenge. Potts knocked out Holz last year in the quarterfinals.
By virtue of winning their matchup in Flight 1, San Diego YC’s Chris Nesbitt stands in third place ahead of St. Francis YC’s Nicole Breault; the two ended the day with identical 4-3 records. Breault demonstrated her knowledge of her home course with some nifty maneuvers around marks, and won her Flight 7 match over Jeffrey Petersen of Balboa YC, who could not recover from a penalty served during that race.
The bottom half of the table lists Bayview YC’s Ryan Seago, who took fourth last year in Chicago; Petersen; Allie Blecher of California YC; and Cabrillo Beach YC’s Cameron Feves. Earlier in the season, Blecher succeeded Breault as the U.S. Women’s Match Racing Champion; Breault had held that title three years running before vacating it to compete elsewhere during the USWMRC.
Similar wind conditions and warmer temperatures are expected over the weekend. To follow the racing as it unfolds, visit @StFYC on Twitter.
Scott Armstrong
Communications Director
St. Francis Yacht Club
sarmstrong@stfyc.com
Top Men’s and Women’s Match Racers to Compete for 2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (October 1, 2019) – A collection of the nation’s best match racers will go “one-on-one” on San Francisco Bay at the 2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club. The 52nd U.S. Match Racing Championship features eight talented teams comprised of both men and women skippers and crew, who will race over three days for the coveted Prince of Wales Bowl. Racing gets underway at this US Sailing National Championship on Friday, October 4 and concludes on Sunday, October 6.
Made popular by the America’s Cup, match racing pits one boat against another around a short two-lap windward/leeward course. This race format emphasizes the need for great boat speed, strong boat handling, teamwork and communication. The tournament-style format makes it fun by maximizing the number of races per day.
Pearson Potts (Newport, R.I.) and his team returns to this year’s event after winning the Prince of Wales Bowl at the 2018 U.S. Match Racing Championship in Chicago on Lake Michigan last October. Potts and his crew also claimed the title of National Champions at the 2017 event in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
Potts will be joined by crewmates Robert Savoie (Bristol, R.I.), Lucas Adams (Middletown, R.I.), and Tim Siemers (Maple Grove, Minn.). Savoie crewed for Potts in 2018 and 2017. Potts is the #2 ranked match racer in the United States. Potts and his team represent the Guardians of the Monohulls.
Potts and his team are excited to defend their title. “Let the fiberglass and the Yankee flags fly,” said Potts. “We are excited to have the targets on our backs as defending champions of the Prince of Wales trophy. It is what drives us. We are also hoping for an epic battle royale in the stormy seas of San Francisco Bay. Bring it on!”
“When you look at where the rubber meets the road, it is boat handling that determines many, if not all, match races. We have stockpiled a significant amount of J/22 experience. We raced in the Nations Cup last April in San Francisco and now we consider ourselves locals of the venue. A couple of our crew have sailed in many J/22 events. Meanwhile, we have more combined days on the water in similar disciplines than any other team this summer,” explained Potts.
Potts is a major advocate of match racing. “We enjoy the symphony of sounds from action-packed racing, the winches grinding, the feet stomping, the waves crashing and the blocks turning. We enjoy the camaraderie of sailing with a group of friends on a boat and improving with that same group. We enjoy match racing as the closest thing sailing will be understood as a contact sport and its non-apologetic ruthlessness. We enjoy the simplicity of win or lose.”
The defending champion will be challenged by seven other teams, including Ryan Seago (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), the #5 ranked match racer in the country, and his team including William Cyr (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), Chris Cyr (Grosse Pointe, Mich.), and Evelyn Hull (Mountain View, Calif.). Seago and his team represent the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, Mich.
Two of the top women match racers in the country will be competing this week, including three-time U.S. Women’s Match Racing Champion, Nicole Breault (San Francisco, Calif.) of the St. Francis Yacht Club. She is the #1 ranked women’s match racer in the country and #4 in the World. Breault is racing this week with Hannah Burroughs (San Francisco, Calif.), Dana Riley Hayes (San Rafael, Calif.), and Jack Barton.
“I am eager to take on some of the top U.S. match racers here in my home waters,” said Breault. “I’ve historically had my hands full with this field of competitors, and I love the challenge. Plus, I have the home team edge going into the first matches.”
“I am sailing with two long time connections to Vela Racing, Dana Riley and Hannah Burroughs. We have a successful track record of getting around the course together in some spirited match racing, so our tune-up practices are enough to recharge our muscle memory on the J/22s. Our new teammate for this event is Jack Barton, hailing from the north shore of the Bay and fine-tuned as a match racer in his own right. We went head-to-head in last year’s Prince of Wales Bowl at Chicago Yacht Club, and we are both psyched to join forces for this one.”
Breault was also feeling positive about having two women skippers racing this week. “We are dang good and belong in the game,” she added.
The 2019 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Champion, Allie Blecher (Long Beach, Calif.), and her team representing the California Yacht Club, including Beka Schiff (Los Angeles, Calif.), Molly Noble (Hood River, Ore.), and Alicia Blumenthal (Bellport, N.Y.) will be competing this week. Blecher is the #2 ranked women’s match racer in the nation.
Invitations to race at this Championship were delivered to the 2018 champion, the top ranked U.S. female match racer, the winner of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Match Racing Championship, and winners from U.S. Match Racing Championship Qualifier events at Oakcliff Sailing (N.Y.), St. Francis Yacht Club (Calif.), Bayview Yacht Club (Mich.), San Diego Yacht Club (Calif.), Rochester Yacht Club (N.Y.), Chicago Yacht Club / Chicago Match Race Center, and the Long Beach Yacht Club (Calif.).
Teams will be racing in the J/22 and the intended course area will be San Francisco Bay City Front.
“St. Francis has one of the best venues in the world to match race, because the breeze aligns perfectly with the clubhouse, allowing for front row seats as the teams duel their way around the course,” said Graham Biehl, Race Director of the St. Francis Yacht Club. “The big breeze and tough conditions we are known for also adds to the excitement. St. Francis has invested heavily in a club boats program to attract high level match racing and run championship events. This event is part of our goals for the program, and we’re excited to see it through.”
Racing Format (subject to change)
- First Stage – Round Robin
- Second Stage – Quarterfinals
- Third Stage – Semifinals
- Fourth Stage – Finals and Petite Finals
For results, standings, photos, Twitter updates, and more information from the 2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship, please visit the event news and coverage site. Updates to be posted following the start of the event on Friday, October 4.
For additional information about this Championship, visit the event website.
The 2019 Kilroy Realty U.S. Match Racing Championship is sponsored by Kilroy Realty, Hobie Polarized and Regatta Craft Mixers.
Communications Contacts:
St. Francis Yacht Club
Scott Armstrong, sarmstrong@stfyc.com
US Sailing
Jake Fish, communications@ussailing.org
About US Sailing
The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for sailing, provides leadership, integrity, and advancement for the sport in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. 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 US Sailing Team. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.
About St. Francis Yacht Club
St. Francis Yacht Club was founded in 1927 and has been host to many of the most prestigious national and international championships in sailing. With over 40 regattas on its calendar annually, StFYC is widely regarded as having one of the top racing and race management programs in the country. In addition to enjoying a worldwide reputation for on-water excellence, Platinum Clubs of the World named the St. Francis Yacht Club the Number One Yacht Club in the United States in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2019 and Boardroom Magazine recognized it as the first yacht club to be a Distinguished Emerald Club of the World.
All of the regattas hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club meet or exceed Gold Level Clean Regatta status from Sailors for the Sea, the world’s only sustainability certification for water-based events. St. Francis Yacht Club utilizes a voluntary, self-assessment tool to benchmark its environmental footprint with goals for reducing waste generated by events and continuously improving the long-term sustainability of the club and the environment.