Lowtide


U.S. Offshore Championship to Compete in Elite Championship


by Joshua May Seattle’s “Flash” crew travels to Annapolis


Having recently completed the epic Telus


Van Isle 360 aboard Steve Travis’ One Design 48, the crew of Flash came home with the benefit of being much closer as a successful race crew. We had built camaraderie and team dynamic over the last year, that was reinforced by time spent on the water racing together. With the long multi-leg Van Isle 360 under our belts we felt, as a team, that we could take on any racing challenge. It wasn’t long after that we receive an email from Steve Travis informing us that he was thinking of sending in an application to the US Sailing Offshore Championship. The team responded to Steve’s email with a unanimous, Yes! The only problem was that there were only eight boats being provided for the regatta. With eight signed up, it was a waiting game to hear from the selection committee. It wasn’t until a few weeks before the Championship that we received notice of our selection. Ecstatic, we were off to Annapolis, Maryland with the privilege of racing on the Navy 44 against some of the top racing teams in the United States.


Photo by Doug Hansen. Each year US Sailing selects up to nine teams to


compete in its three day, United States Offshore Championship. These teams are typically selected from nine regions across the U.S. based on an application process that takes into account proven performance and time racing as a team. Six teams in total were selected for the 2011 Championship Regatta. The teams selected came from San Diego, California; Charleston, South Carolina; Seattle, Washington (team Flash representing the Corinthian Yacht Club); Cleveland, Ohio; Westbrook; Connecticut and New York. The team from New York, representing the New York Yacht Club, was also the returning champion from 2009. The remaining teams had no experience in the boat selected for the regatta; the Navy 44 MkII The US Offshore Championship is hosted every odd


Team “Flash” (left to right) top row: Ken Blalock, Rob Mitchell, Bill Heston, Tom Sullivan, Midshipman Chris Paulson. bottom row: Doug Hansen, Joe Russell Steve Travis, Josh May. Photo by midshipman Adam Albrecht.


48° NORTH, NOVEMBER 2011 PAGE 22


year by the US Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland in conjunction with the Academy’s Navy 44 Lloyd Phoenix Trophy. The goal of holding the regatta at the academy is to expose midshipmen and women on the academy sailing team to competitive teams from across the country. The Academy’s varsity team would race against the six of us in the regatta to test their skills. Each boat also had a


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