Sailors rally in Houston for U.S. Team Racing Championship

The esteemed George R. Hinman Trophy will be decided on Galveston Bay this weekend at the 2011 U.S. Team Racing Championship. This US SAILING National Championship comes to the Gulf Coast from Shoreacres, Texas for three days of racing on Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 2. Fifteen teams will compete in Vanguard 15s. The U.S. Team Racing Championship is hosted by the Houston Yacht Club.

Team Extreme, the 2009 U.S. Team Racing Champions, come into this year’s event as the favorites. All six of Team Extreme’s crew returns to action from the 2009 Championship team and last year’s squad that finished third. Zachary Brown (New Haven, Conn.), Emmet Smith (New Haven, Conn.), Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, USVI), Marla Menninger (New York, N.Y.), Stuart McNay (Boston, Mass.), and Michael Hession (Chicago, Ill.) make up Team Extreme. The all Yale team is comprised of former 2008 Olympians, McNay (470) and Barrows (Laser). They have had another successful year by finishing second at the 2011 Team Racing World Championships. Team Extreme won the New York Yacht Club Team Racing Championship last summer and is a three-time Wilson Trophy Champion in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Last year’s fourth place team, the Woonsocket Rockets, returns four of their six members from 2010. The Woonsocket Rockets include Joel Hanneman (Newport, R.I.), Alexa Schuler (Marblehead, Mass.), Justin Law (Newport Beach, Calif.), Jane Macky (New York, N.Y.), Nick Ewenson (Newport, R.I.) and Hilary Wiech (Newport, R.I.). Earlier this year they finished second at the New York Yacht Club Team Racing Championship. Three members of the Woonsocket Rockets competing this week led the team to a third place finish at the 2011 Team Racing World Championships.

A new team to this year’s U.S. Team Racing Championship is Minor Threat. All six members of Minor Threat have been an ICSA (Intercollegiate Sailing Association) All-American at least once. All three skippers are three-time ICSA All-Americans. Members of Minor Threat include Cy Thompson (St. Thomas, USVI), Kelly Stannard (Salem, Conn.), Tyler Sinks (San Diego, Calif.), Lucy Wallace (Middletown, R.I.), Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Alex Taylor (Boston, Mass.). Buckingham garnered College Sailor of the Year honors for 2011.

The Spinnaker - BUSA Team representing the British University Sailing Association will be contending this week. BUSA tours through the U.S. and competes against ICSA teams. This year they placed second at the U.K. Team Racing National Championships. In 2010, they won the Irish Team Racing Nationals. BUSA members include Ben Saxton (Ashwell, Baldock, Hertfordshire GBR), Tim Saxton (Ashwell, Baldock, Hertfordshire GBR), Mark Powell (Hayling Island, Hants GBR), Isobel Walker (Newport, R.I.), Sam Littlejohn (Worthing, West Sussex GBR) and Toby Lewis (Wimborne, Dorset, UK GBR).

Other notable teams include the SoCal Luchadores, featuring Andrew Campbell (Washington, D.C.), Nevin Snow (San Diego, Calif.) and Brian Bissell (San Diego, Calif.). Campbell is a 2008 Olympian in the Laser class and current member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics as a Star class sailor. He is a four-time Collegiate All-American at Georgetown University, 2006 College Sailor of the Year and 2006 College Team Racing National Champion. Bissell is also a former All-American at Georgetown and a member of the 2001 College Team Racing National Champions. Snow, a former U.S. Junior Singlehanded Champion, won the A Division at the High School Fleet Racing Championship and the High School Singlehanded National Championship the past two years. They are joined by crew Allie Blecher (Fullerton, Calif.), a four-time ICSA All-American at the College of Charleston and the 2010 Quantum Female College Sailor of the Year, Jacqueline Campbell (Washington, D.C.) and Rebecca Nygren (San Diego, Calif.).

The team representing the Larchmont Yacht Club also hopes to be factor in the outcome. They return four sailors who won the 2010 New York Yacht Club Team Racing Championship. Larchmont also finished second at the 2010 Team Racing World Championships in Gandia, Spain. The LYC team includes Danny Pletsch (Greenwich, Conn.), Megan Magill (Greenwich, Conn.), Cardwell Potts (Greenwich, Conn.), James Gilman (Stamford, Conn.), Michael Menninger (New York, N.Y.) and Madeline Jackson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.).

The U.S. Team Racing Championship is sponsored by Rolex Watch U.S.A., LaserPerformance, Gill North America and Old Pultney Single Malt Whiskey. Please visit the event website for results, standings, daily reports, photo galleries, videos and more. Also, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/ussailing and for regular updates from Houston. The Championship is a Sailors for the Sea - Clean Regattas certification event.