PRESS

Congratulations to Don Wilson and Team Convexity for winning the 2008 Windy City Match Race

CHICAGO, 24 Sept., 2008 – Donald Wilson and team, sailing his Chicago-based Farr 40 Convexity, won 3-0 in the final round against Bob Hughes’ Heartbreaker (Holland, Mich.) to take the second annual Windy City Match Race. In the petite finals, two Chicago boats went head to head with Helmut and Evan Jahn on Flash Gordon defeating Richard West’s Gravitas. The three-day event took place Sept. 19 – 21, 2008 at Chicago Yacht Club’s Belmont Station.

The victory is a testament to Wilson and his accomplishments as an amateur sailor and budding match race talent. Relatively new to the Farr 40 fleet (this is Wilson’s third regatta on the Farr 40), and with match racing pro Bill Hardesty calling tactics, Convexity finished second in the rigorous triple round-robin stage. He earned the right to meet the current Canada’s Cup champion in the finals.

Continuing a keen interest in match race sailing, Wilson and his crew finished 4th in this year’s Long Beach Yacht Club Ficker Cup, are competing now in the U.S. Sailing Match Racing Championship, and have accepted an invitation to the prestigious Bermuda Gold Cup next month. At the ISAF Grade WC World Match Racing Tour event, Wilson may possibly face current World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams, this time as skipper. Over the weekend, Williams was calling the shots for Hughes aboard Heartbreaker.

It was close racing throughout the weekend, with many lead changes in all matches. Hats off to Principal Race Officer Wayne Bretsch (Annapolis, Md.) and the Chicago Yacht Club race committee, for completing the triple round robin format in this ISAF Grade 4 match race event. Chief Umpire Steve Wrigley (Fayetteville, N.C.) and his team hailing from all over the U.S., kept a close eye on the competition, calling the shots fairly throughout the weekend.

Interested viewers may check out video footage from each day’s racing, compliments of Breeze Productions. In addition, Kattack Performance Applications provided GPS tracking of the matches. Both will be available via the event Web site: www.windycitymatchrace.org, by the end of the week. In addition, photos are now posted of the event.

WCMR is a key fundraiser for the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and the Chicago Yacht Club Foundation. WCMR wishes to thank its premier sponsors DRW Trading Group and Fort Dearborn Brokerage Group, in addition to host Chicago Yacht Club, Breeze Productions, Kattack Performance Applications, Conrad Hotels, Line Honours, AV Chicago, Advertising Edge and Experient, in addition to numerous silent auction donors.

Plans are underway for the 2009 WCMR, and an announcement on event date will be made by year-end.