The Eastern YC Team narrowly defeated the Boston Yacht Club Team, 3-2, in an exciting finale to the summer-long Harbor Challenge Team Race Series. The Series opened with a practice night in mid-June, along with a new format. New for this year, all three clubs EYC, BYC, and Cortinthian raced every night in a continuous series of round robins. Over the course of the series, win-loss records were counted, with the two teams with the best records advancing to the Finals. Each evening's racing was followed by a gathering in the Barker Room at Eastern - where competitors enjoyed food and drink, rehashed races, and reviewed video of the night's sailing.
Over the course of the five night regular season (six nights were scheduled, one had no wind), 23 races were sailed, with Eastern sailing to an impressive 11-3 win-loss record. Just two protests were heard over the entire series, as the sailors maintained a high level of sportsmanship and took self-policing very seriously, opting to accept one-turn penalties and sail back into races, rather than risk a loss in the protest room. Boston YC was second in the regular season with an 8-6 record, with Corinthian in third at 2-12.
The Finals featured a best of five format. Eastern had a great start in the first race and went on to win it in a 1-2-5 combination. The two teams were very evenly matched, however, and Boston bounced right back, taking the second race with a 1-2-6. The Clubs continued to trade wins - with Eastern grabbing a one race lead and Boston tying things up in the next race. The closest race of the night had the teams locked in a 1-4-5 v. 2-3-6 battle. This combination makes for lots of team racing, as both teams are close to a stable winning combination, but just not quite there. The back and forth continued up the last beat, with each team having a chance to win - for Eastern it would mean taking the series, while Boston looked to tie things up once again. Across the line, it was Boston, finishing in a 1-3-6 to force a winner-take-all fifth race. Eastern was able to take the start in the final race and never looked back, holding a 1-2 all around the race course and winning the 2009 Harbor Challenge.
Click for - results.
