New Yorkers lead the way at Schull

A STRONG performance by a veteran squad from the New York Yacht Club laid down the gauntlet in Schull yesterday as the United States 1 team won 10 out of 11 races at the ISAF Team Racing World Championships.

A fresh easterly breeze and warm sunshine for most of the day provided an ideal start for the fleet of 24 identical TR3.6-metre dinghies built specially for the championship at the Fastnet Marine and Outdoor Education Centre at Schull Community College.

The NYYC ‘Team Extreme’ consists of Stu McNay, Michael Hession, Pete Levesque, Marla Menninger, Zach Brown, and Emmet Smith. Each has won at least two, if not three of the triple-crown trophies in team racing.

Two of the three British teams at the event are tied for second after sailing 10 races so far and a runaway group of leading crews could be forming at this early stage of the round robin phase.

Ireland is also fielding three teams in the open championship and youth event. Ireland 1 from Royal St George YC is in joint fifth with Australia and Britain 2 as the series unfolds. All three tied teams have a scoring record of 54% for the day of race wins to losses. In the youth event, Ireland is joint leader with Spain.

The national youth champions from Schull comprise Connor Miller, Ellen O’Regan, Oisin O’Driscoll, Katie Moynihan, Jay Stacey and Kasper Snashall and yesterday won six out of seven races.