The Oyster Bay Youth Match Racing Clinegatta, hosted by Oakcliff Sailing and the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, wasn’t decided until the last moments of the last leg.
Bermudian Peter Miller ended up 3rd at the The Oyster Bay Youth Match Racing "Clinegatta".
Miller will be a senior next year at Connecticut College and was captain of the sailing team this past season.
The week began with six teams gathering to learn from Dave Perry, coach for the U.S. Sailing Team AlphaGraphics women’s match race team.
Race day one was a challenge for the race committee, but the final day of racing was a brilliant blue sky and 8-12 knots of wind.
Clinton Hayes’s team and the British team led by James French sailed down the final leg with Hayes in front but carrying an outstanding penalty.
The British team did a great job of not getting overlapped all the way down the last leg. They just had to stay close enough so that Hayes couldn’t do the turn and finish in front. There were at least 40 jibes as the umpires watched intently as both teams fought to maintain their precarious position.
In the last moments, Hayes was able to pull French close enough, brush him off on the committee boat, spin into a tacking penalty turn and then cross the finish line ahead. Meanwhile, French made a gallant effort, throwing the dice and trying to do a reverse dip of the finish line, but the jury ruled that he did not abide by rule 28.1 and thus did not sail the course properly, giving Hayes the win.
Hayes recently graduated from the University of Vermont, finishing third was Peter Miller’s team.
