CHICAGO MATCH RACE CENTER ANNOUNCES 2010 SEASON SCHEDULE
10/25/2009

Doubles number of events from inaugural 2009 season

CHICAGO, October 25, 2009 –After a highly successful first season this year, the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC) is pleased to announce its 2010 season schedule, expanding to double the number of events offered in 2009. In all there are six ISAF Grade 3 Open events, two Women’s match race clinics with two Grade 3 events, and one Grade 2 Open event, the Chicago Match Cup.

“This is an aggressive plan, but now that we have our TOM 28’s, the Elliott 6M’s on their way for the women, the regatta headquarters barge, the umpire boats, a great race management team, and the experience of running four events this past year, we feel ready to make this commitment,” says Bill Hardesty, CMRC Director. “The overwhelming positive response we received from the 25 skippers and teams who participated this year has urged us to expand and offer more regattas and racing for next year.”

To break up the long winter hiatus, the CMRC’s first event will be in Key West over January 23-24 at the Key West Match Race Invitational. This will be the second year of this Grade 3 event, and will be sailed again in Melges 24’s. Those interested in an invitation should contact CMRC as soon as possible, as entries are limited to eight teams.

Then the first CMRC event held in their home waters will be the Grade 3 Spring Invitational, with racing held over May 15-16 off Belmont Harbor. This will be the first event of the season sailed in the CMRC’s fleet of eight equally-matched TOM 28’s.

Next up in the schedule is a new division of Women’s match race sailing at CMRC, starting with a Match Race Clinic held over June 1-3 in four brand-new Elliott 6M yachts which will arrive at CMRC next March. The Elliott 6M is a 20-foot keel boat chosen by ISAF to be used in the next 2012 Olympic Games in the Match Race discipline for Women in Weymouth, UK. Immediately following this clinic will be a Women’s Grade 3 match race regatta held in the Elliotts over June 4-5, while after this Open match racing resumes with the Open Grade 3 June Invitational held in TOM 28’s over June 6-7.

The same clinic-regatta arrangement for Women and Open competitors will be repeated in July with an Elliott Clinic to be held over July 13-15, followed by a Grade 3 Elliott regatta held over July 16-17, and followed in turn by the Open Grade 3 July Invitational held over July 18-19.

Then over August 20-22 will be the highest-graded event of the CMRC season, the Open Grade 2 Chicago Match Cup, which will once again attract a dozen top-ranked teams from all over the world to compete off Belmont Harbor. The Chicago Match Cup is one of a string of three consecutive Grade 2 events in the US which includes sthe Detroit Cup and the Knickerbocker Cup.

Then finally the season will end as it had this year, with two back-to-back Grade 3 regattas: the CMRC Fall Invitational A and B regattas, held over September 23-24 and 25-26.

“This has been such a great start to our goals of building and promoting Open match race sailing, we’re very excited to continue and expand this for next year,” said CMRC Founder Don Wilson. “And having the Elliotts here we hope will encourage women’s teams to come to CMRC to both train and race on their road to the Games.”

About CMRC CMRC is the only center of its kind in the US founded to promote and grow the sport of match race sailing. Besides being used in the America’s Cup, match race sailing has recently also been adapted as a Women’s discipline in the 2012 Olympic Games. As part of its mission, CMRC has ordered for delivery next year 4 Elliott 6M class yachts, the type that will be used in the Games, and will use them to train and race teams with O