CHICAGO, 22 Sept., 2009 – The 2009 Windy City Match Race, a charity event benefitting Children Affected by AIDS, kicked off today three returning Farr 40 competitors: defending champion Convexity, Flash Gordon both hailing from Chicago, Heartbreaker (Holland, Mich.), and event newcomer Spaceman Spiff, from Cleveland, Ohio.

Despite morning fog and cloudy skies, racing was held in perfect 10-14 knot conditions. Two round robins and the start to a third were completed, and after seven flights Don Wilson’s Convexity tops the board with 6 ¼ points, followed by Helmut and Evan Jahn on Flash Gordon with 5 ¾ points, Bob Hughes’ Heartbreaker with 4 ½ points and Rob Ruhlman’s Spaceman Spiff with 0 points.

“The fractional point scoring system was devised,” said Chief Umpire Steve Wrigley, “to reward increasing points through the course of the competition: first round winds were worth 1 point, second round wins 1 ¼ point, third round 1 ½ point, and so forth. Four rounds are planned, though more may be sailed tomorrow if the breeze permits.”

Racing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Please join us for Wednesday night’s award ceremonies and silent auction. Festivities kick off at 6 p.m. with a special guest speaker Scott Myers of World Sport Chicago and committee member for Chicago’s Olympic bid for the 2016 Games. He’ll turn it over to Dobbs Davis, who guarantees a lively panel discussion featuring sailing greats Eric Doyle, Bill Hardesty, Dave Scott and Wally Cross. The topics promise to range from Olympic sailing, match race sailing, the America’s Cup, sailing secrets, and a few surprise questions to keep our panelists on their “A” game.

The silent auction is now live and features great items such as SLAM gear, tickets to Oprah, great Chicago restaurants, a Weber Grill, and much more.

Benefiting from the event will be the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, the only organization solely devoted to providing social, educational, recreational and other critical support programs to vulnerable children impacted by HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and other countries. While other pediatric AIDS organizations search for the cure, the organization is dedicated to caring for children who are infected or affected by this epidemic now. For more information, please visit www.caaf4kids.org.

About the Chicago Yacht Club
Founded in 1875, the Chicago Yacht Club is one of the oldest and most respected yacht clubs in the world and is one of the preeminent organizers of regattas, races and predicted-log events in the United States. In addition to the Windy City Match Race, these events include the world famous Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac in its 101st running this year, the high performance Verve Cup Regatta, the National Offshore One Design Regatta and the North American Challenge Cup, a regatta for disabled sailors. For more information please log onto www.chicagoyachtclub.org.