Competitors for the Etchells North American Championship at San Diego Yacht Club left the dock Sunday morning for the final two races of the regatta with a lot of work still in front of them to determine the winner. While the top two teams were feeling confident heading into the final race, six teams were within nine points of the lead—they all still had a shot.

In Race 7, John Dane (Here We Go Again) led around every mark and through the finish, jumping back into contention for the championship. Meanwhile Peter Duncan (Oatmeal) climbed from 8th around the first mark to 3rd place by the end of the downwind leg and would hold on to finish 3rd taking over the regatta lead, two points ahead of Luke Lawrence (Bayou Hustler). Duncan climbed back into the race on Leg 3, rounding just four places behind Lawrence, but couldn’t make up ground on the final windward leg. Lawrence pulled away to finish 4th in the race and secure the Championship. Duncan would end up fourth overall by just a few points.

Lawrence was ecstatic about his team’s victory. “Another amazing week in San Diego! Thanks again to Austin Sperry for the opportunity of a lifetime. It was amazing to sail with some of my heroes. John Kostecki and Brian Ledbetter were such a pleasure to be around for the week. We learned a lot about Etchells and San Diego. We can’t wait to come back next year!”

Last year’s North Americans champion John Dane had the best final day of the fleet with a 4-1-6 to finish 5th overall.

In the Corinthian division two teams stood out: Will La Dow (Second Chance) and Ethan Doyle (Capricorn). Both finished top 20 in nearly every race. La Dow and Doyle battled throughout the final race with Doyle needing to make up six points on La Dow. Both teams again finished in the top 20, but La Dow was able to stay close enough to win the Corinthian division by 1 point over Doyle. Paul Taylor was third Corinthian.

Mark Foster served as PRO for this year’s North Americans and gave his perspective on today’s racing and the regatta overall: “Nice sunny conditions on the water, just a Chamber of Commerce day for sailing in San Diego. Thank you to San Diego Yacht Club for inviting me and putting the team together to make this regatta so successful and make my job extremely easy.”

Etchells sailors from around the world are invited back to San Diego a year from now for the 2026 Etchells World Championship. Casey Schnoor, 2026 Worlds co-chairman, said, “SDYC is very excited to build upon the success of this great North American Championship regatta by hosting the 2026 Etchells Worlds! Our organizing team is already hard at work preparing to deliver what we believe will be a truly world-class championship, in both on and off the water experience, highlighting the highest standards of competition and hospitality. Please join us in May 2026.”

1st Place: Luke Lawrence, Brian Ledbetter, John Kostecki
2nd Place: Simon Cooke, Anatole Masfen, Micah Wilkinson
3rd Place: Peter Duncan, Mark Mendelblatt, Ben Cornish
1st Corinthian: Will La Dow, Jake La Dow, Alex Curtiss, Autumn Sanders
2nd Corinthian: Ethan Doyle, Matt Hecht, Theo Card, Johnny Fewell
3rd Corinthian: Paul Taylor, James Stewart, Anna Taylor, Eve Trotter