19 Aug Cormac Murphy Wins August Grade 3
Competitors battled hard in light winds at Oakcliff’s August Grade 3 August 14-15. Cormac Murphy took first place, continuing his winning streak from July, where he took the win at the Grade 5 and Grade 4 regattas. Jack Parkin took second, while World Match Racing Tour Academy trainee Jonathan Bailey took third.
“It feels great to come back and win this event with such tight racing,” said Cormac. “We have a lot of experience in the Match 40s since we sail at Oakcliff so often, and that definitely gave us an advantage.”
While Cormac came out on top in the end, Parkin and Bailey tied for second place, coming down to a tiebreaker.
“Yesterday we were really on it with the boat handling and tactics, but today our prestarts suffered – likely because we put too much pressure on ourselves to do well,” said Jonathan Bailey. “But in general we worked together well as a team, which was great.”
Two teams in the Grade 3 were part of the World Match Racing Tour Academy at Oakcliff, a two-week intensive program where trainees get one-on-one coaching from pro sailors like America’s Cup bowman Hayden Goodrick.
“Hayden was a fantastic coach,” said Bailey. “I haven’t really had a lot of coaching in my life so I was able to learn a ton from his explanations of the more detailed parts of match racing.”