“This boat rewards teamwork.”

Peter McClennen and his Gamecock crew walked away with another win in Fort Lauderdale for the IC37 Winter Series – but once again – by just one point.

“These boats are the tightest when it comes to one design. I do a lot of other design racing in the Melges 20 and 24 and nothing is more than one design than an IC37.”

With each individual race coming down to feet at the finish line after miles of racing, no lead is considered comfortable in the highly competitive Corinthian fleet. McClennan described a 15-boat length lead coming down to 6 inches in the end.

“The racing is tight, the boats are identical but also the esprit de corps is wonderful across the fleet and it is great to see everyone helping each other and just enjoy sailing,” added McClennen.

The sailors experienced a little bit of everything thrown at them during the Floridan event so it was all about transitioning into the different modes to keep the boats moving in the challenging conditions.

“To get this boat around the racecourse you need 9 people working together because it is all about executing the maneuvers. We have been lucky enough to be sailing together for a long time with a crew list of about 12 that we can rotate people in for different events between their day jobs.”

As the class enters its fourth year, all the IC37 teams in Florida are looking ahead to the next regatta – the MidWinter Championships but then in just a few months time, the teams will be back up north again for the summer season in New England with 20 NYYC Charter boats joining the nearly dozen private boats.

The three-event IC37 Winter Series attracted seven teams for the second stage on February 4-6 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Final Results (6 races, 1 discard)
1. Gamecock, Peter McClennen , USA – 4 -1 -3 -4 -[5] -1 ; 13
2. Zing, Robert Hesse , USA – 1 -3 -1 -[5] -4 -4 ; 13
3. New Wave, Steve Liebel , USA – 2 -[5] -4 -3 -1 -3 ; 13
4. Midnight Blue, Alexis Michas , USA – [5] -2 -5 -2 -3 -2 ; 14
5. Arethusa, Phil Lotz , USA – 3 -4 -2 -6 -[7] -5 ; 20
6. Ticket, Whitmore / Greenhouse , USA – 6 -[7] -7 -1 -2 -6 ; 22
7. Next, Jon Desmond , USA – [7] -6 -6 -7 -6 -7 ; 32