Looks like Dalton and Ben were in fine form on the East Coast. Congrats and thanks for doing the PNW proud. Here’s the report from US Sailing.
STAMFORD, Conn. (October 6, 2019) – The Championship of Champions, hosted by Stamford Yacht Club came to a close Sunday afternoon after three days of exciting racing in windy conditions on Long Island Sound. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.) and Ben Glass (Seattle, Wash.) won the event to claim the 2019 Jack Brown Trophy.
RS Aero North American Champion, Bergan, and his crew, Glass, established a dominant lead early on. They won six of the total 13 races, including both races that occurred on the first day of the regatta. With a considerable lead, they officially sealed their victory after winning the second to last race of the event.
Bergan attributed their success to their consistent focus on the water, “We put a lot of effort into setting up the boat before every race.” Glass added, “We went upwind to check our settings over and over again without resting much between races. It seems to have paid off.”
Both of the victors enjoyed the Championship’s unique crowd of fellow competitors, “We didn’t really know what to expect from the competitors at this event,” said Glass. Bergan noted, “It was really interesting to compete against such a broad spectrum of sailors. This is the only place where you’d see this group of people racing against each other in the same fleet.”
To qualify for the Championship of Champions, competitors have to first claim victory at a National or North American Class Championship. This year featured a particularly wide array of competitors. Nine of the sailors were under age 21 and several of the young competitors raced alongside their sibling.
Unlike the sibling teams, Vincent Porter (Chicago, Ill.) and Andrew Barrett (Houston, Texas), hadn’t spent much time sailing with one another and ended up in a tight race for the silver medal. “This is the first time we’ve ever sailed with one another; it was our first time on a boat together. We were college roommates and we decided to do this regatta kind of on a whim,” said Porter. The pair’s lack of practice time didn’t hold them back, though. On the second day of racing, they consistently placed in the top-five and moved up the leaderboard into the silver medal position.
Despite the solid lead over third-place sailors, Chris Raab (Sunset Beach, Calif.) and Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.), Porter and Barrett kept things exciting after finishing 18th in the second to last race, maintaining just a two-point lead over Raab and Ewenson.
“Well, we had just had our worst race of the regatta and honestly at that point, we didn’t worry about the points. We just figured, what the heck, let’s have fun and a good last race,” said Porter. The pair did just that, winning the final race to solidify their spot in second overall, earning Raab and Ewenson the bronze.
For additional information about this Championship, visit the event website.
The 2019 Championship of Champions is nationally sponsored by Hobie Polarized.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
