GLOUCESTER, MA - 8/5/10 - Racing in his first 210 Class regatta, Ben Richardson won the 2010 National Championship earlier this afternoon.  Ben and his crew went into the day tied with Cohasset skipper Wiley Wakeman; Ben and Wakeman were within a point of each other throughout the entire event, pulling away from the 13-boat field early in the regatta.  Going into today's race, the leaders were tied on points, with Ben holding the advantage with a better throwout race.  Upon arriving at the Eastern Point Yacht Club, however, it didn't look good for racing, with heavy fog and very little breeze.  "The RC ran a race in essentially the only hour of the day we could have raced," explained Ben.  "We tailed Wiley a bit before the start, but nothing too agressive.  We went off the line near the pin, to windward of Wiley and we were able to hang although we weren't on his breeze.  He eventually had to tack and duck us - we covered and we rounded 1, 3 [Ben & team in first, Wiley in third].  From there we legged out on the fleet and went on to win the race."

This is the first National Championship for Ben.  Ben campaigned for the 2000 and 2004 Olympics in the Laser Class; represented the US at the 2003 Pan Am Games, and has been ranked as high as 49th in the ISAF World Laser Rankings.