Recently I had the privilege to compete in the Qualifier for the United States Match Racing Championship at Long Beach Yacht Club in the Catalina 37’s. My team (Cricket Racing) was composed of Bowman-Tyler Wolk, Pit-Clare Costanzo, Trimmer-Chris Bretchger, Trimmer-Matthew Huges, Main and Tactics-Porter Killian, Floater-Preston Woodworth, and Skipper-Jeffrey Petersen (me). This regatta was one of the most competitive qualifiers with many big names in Match Racing such as Charlie Welsh, Dave Hood, Scotty Dickson, and Bill Durant. It
was a fantastic event with close and competitive racing.
During our two days on the water, we saw everything from pre-start hoists to black flag penalties and men overboard to insanely close finishes. We had it all! My team and I placed fourth after racing ended and although we did not finish as well as we had wanted to, we learned a lot of valuable lessons that we will take with us to our next event. This being my 6th match race as a skipper ever, we were very proud with our performance though the results do not tell the whole story. We sailed like a first place team, the racing was just that close. Many of the races would come down to 3 feet or less.
All in all, this was probably one of the best regattas I have sailed due to the many lessons taken away. I can’t wait for the next time I get to implement the things I learned. I would like to thank Balboa Yacht Club’s Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation for their support at
this event.