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Merrick, Cline take 6th at sailing World Championships
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Colin Merrick |
February 14, 2003
AUCKLAND, New Zealand—Hobart College assistant sailing coach Colin Merrick ’01 and senior John Cline (St. Georges School/Stuart, Fla.) joined four other sailors on Team Silver Panda at the International Sailing Federation World Championships, finishing in sixth place out of 16 teams. The other team from the United States, Team Whishbone, grabbed the title after finishing second the previous two years.
Silver Panda qualified for the Gold League Round Robins after finishing in the top half of the initial round-robin event. The team continued to race well going 12-9 in the three round robins to finish fourth just behind Whishbone (15-6). However, due to the rules a country can advance only one team to the final round of four, therefore Silver Panda was bumped out of the semifinal round.
“It’s an unfortunate rule, but since it’s a race of nations and the other team from the United States beat us all three times in the Gold Round, they ended up advancing,” Merrick said. “It was frustrating, but it was a great experience.”
Merrick and Cline qualified for the World Championships after winning the 14-team Hinman Championship this past November.
A native of Portsmouth, R.I., Merrick was a three-time member of the Coed All-America Sailing Team during his four years at Hobart. Cline represented HWS on the Mid-Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association All-District Team in the fall of 2001 and 2002.