Puerto Rico Sailing - Lincolnville man is world sailing champion

Lincolnville man is world sailing champion
By Staff

NEWPORT, R.I. (Sep 17): Lincolnville native and Sophie II crew member Cam Lewis was part of a team that won the 10-Boat Modern Division at the 2009 Six Metre World Cup held Sept. 8-12.

Over five days, competitors at the World Cup encountered every condition that Narragansett Bay could serve up.

Pictured, from left, are Jonas Haggbom, Cam Lewis, Lars Linger, Brendan McCoy (with trophy) and Hugo Stenbeck; and in back, Luis Balzac, who represents the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico, as Rums of Puerto Rico and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company presented the event. (Image courtesy of SallyAnne Santos/Winldlass Creative)

The sunshine and light air that opened the regatta on day one yielded to heavy winds and leaden skies for the balance of the series.

On the penultimate day of the championship, during the second race of the day, visibility shut down to less than 100 yards when driving rain squalls went through the course.

While two races were run for each division, wind readings of 25 knots eliminated plans to run additional races.

The final day of the series was a light air chase in low visibility courtesy of the stalled low pressure system that generated frequent heavy downpours.

In the 10-Boat Modern Division, all was set for a duel between Scoundrel, driven by Rob Gray of Great Britain, and Sophie II, with New York native Hugo Stenbeck of Sweden at the helm, who were tied or within a point of each other for much of the series.

At the end of the penultimate day of racing, a disqualification picked up by Sophie II looked like it might be her undoing. However, even a first-place by Scoundrel in the final race of the series was not enough to win her the championship.

Tied with 17 points each, Sophie IIwon by having two second-place finishes to Scoundrel’s one, as each had won three races.

"This is the first world championship I’ve ever sailed in any class," said Stenbeck. "By the skin of our teeth we managed to stay ahead of a very experienced group that we never thought we would be able to compete with."

Stenbeck’s crew included Lars Linger, Jonas Haggbom, both of Sweden, Brendan McCoy of Alabama and 1993 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Lewis of Lincolnville, who was sailing his first regatta with this team.

Among the fleet of Sixes, which represented ten countries — Bermuda, Canada, Finland, France, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States — one of the highlights was the participation of Scout, which was brought from New Zealand by Martin Farrand of Auckland.

Organized by Sail Newport, and held on the grounds of the Museum of Yachting, the 2009 Six Metre World Cup was presented by Rums of Puerto Rico and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company.