Chapman Petersen ’22 earned a dramatic victory at this year’s NESSA Single Handed Championships over the weekend of Sep. 25-26, his third such title in four years.

Petersen has won the event each of the three years it has been contested while he was at Hotchkiss (last year’s event was canceled due to COVID). But this year’s title may have been the most dramatic, with Petersen needing a win in the final race to secure the title, and getting it.

In the end, he finished tied with a sailor from Brunswick with 22 points over the eight-race series, but won the title due to having one more first-place finish (4) than the Brunswick sailor, making the final race even more pivotal.

“After winning my freshman year, I remember looking at the New England Championship Trophy to read the famous names on there, and noticing that while someone had one it twice, no one had ever one it 3 times, and I knew at that moment that that would be my goal,” said Petersen.

The event augured well for the future of Hotchkiss Sailing, with Cal Kinnear ’25 finishing fourth, including four top-five finishes and second-place finishes in two of the last three races.

The event got off to a tough start for Petersen, with a ninth-place finish in his first race. But he rebounded quickly with wins in two of the next three races, and top-five finishes in every other race, setting the stage for the dramatic final victory.

The win earns Petersen the chance to defend his title at the ISSA National Single Handed Championship, which he won in 2019.