Steve Benjamin Wins Champ Of Champs Event

In a unique teamwork and test of skill, Steve Benjamin the 2017 Etchells World Champion, and Phil Trinter his crew and Christopher Larson won the US Sailing Championship of Champions of the year 2017.


In the event one-design class champions (Thirteen) were selected to take part in race Jack Brown Trophy (JBT) which last for over three days in the Sonar.

In the conclusion of the event, Benjamin’s team slightly out struggled with Chris Raab the 2010 Champion to earn the Jack Brown Trophy (JBT) for the first time in his so far career. Raab with his crew Robert Kinney and Peter Kinney had a lead in the first seven races of the championship. By winning the Lido National Championship of 2017, they get qualified to compete for this title.

Each year, US Sailing invites one guest as the special honor to join this competition. For 2017, Benjamin received the special guest invitation and the team Benjamin made the most of the opportunity. While competing in 13 races they tallied 37 points, become the winner of championship by five points beating Raab. Out of 13 races in which team participated, Benjamin team won three and secured the top five positions in another 10 races.

Paul-Jon Patin, North American Champion 2016 JY15, and his crew, Peter Beardsley and Steve Shepstone had a great showing to place third overall during the weekend, which include their Sunday’s performance, when they won Race 12.

After the races, Benjamin said, “For all of us, today was the most exciting day. The wind was in our favor all though, it was up to 15 knots and the gusts were up to 25. The conclusion of fantastic, what I believe, made the whole championship wonderful as the competition was tough extremely.”