U.S. Youth Championship – Day 3

Corpus Christi, TX (August 15, 2013) – The second to last day of racing at the U.S. Youth Sailing Championships, hosted by the Corpus Christi Yacht Club, was crucial for sailors trying to tack up the leaderboard in their respective classes to be in contention for Friday’s final races.

Racing was postponed this morning due to insufficient wind and racing got underway after 12 pm CST. The delay gave sailors bonus time to recharge their batteries and meet with coaches to discuss everything from strategy and tactics to equipment.

US Sailing has provided coaches for all seven fleets this week. US Sailing Junior National Coach Rich Feeny discussed the impact these US Sailing coaches are having on the development of youth sailors who are competing at US Sailing National Championships.

“Our coaches are comprised of Olympians, as well as World and National Champions. They have the ability to recognize what is going on with the advanced sailors to take them to next level. They can also coach up those sailors who are not as experienced in some of these classes,” said Feeny. “The bottom of the fleet is learning so much and improving every day. The top sailors are also challenged by the competition that gets better each day.”

Feeny went on to discuss the coaching strategy from start to finish this week. “The basic schedule during racing days begins with a pre-briefing in the morning. Every afternoon there is a formal debrief with the coaches and the athletes. The format can be a general Q&A or it can be very technical in terms of the sailors’ specific needs. The private coaches that are here are encouraged to come and attend the debriefings,” explained Feeny.

Racing Notes
Breeze was slow to build on Corpus Christi Bay. However, by the end of the day the wind was blowing steady at 15-20 knots with gusts over 20 for the final race.

Duncan Williford (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Matthew Mollerus (Larchmont, N.Y.) have sustained their double digit lead in the 29er fleet.

“We’ve seen a little bit of everything out there this week,” said Williford. “We have been able to make up for our mistakes by having good speed all week. Over the summer, we’ve taken our physical training more serious and that has really helped us on the water.”

“One thing I want to get out of this event is having a better understanding of how to sail in smaller fleets,” explained Mollerus. “We’ve had a lot of practice sailing in Europe with 50 boat fleets. It’s an entirely different animal here. You need to be at the top of your game in every race.”

Top 3
1. Duncan Williford/Matthew Mollerus: 1-1-1-1-2-1-1-1-2-2-1-3-2-[5]- ; 19
2. Quinn Wilson/Riley Gibbs: 4-3-3-2-1-2-4-[10/DNF]-1-1-2-1-3-2- ; 29
3. Nic Muller/Kai Friesecke: [10/OCS]-4-4-3-3-3-3-4-3-3-4-4-4-3- ; 45

It appears to be a two team race for the title in the International 420 fleet. Wade Waddell (Palm Beach, Fla.) and Henry Fernberger (New York, N.Y.) have a one point lead over Jack Parkin (Riverside, Conn.) and Florian Eenkema van Dijk (Darien, Conn.).

Top 3
1. Wade Waddell/Henry Fernberger: 1-[5]-1-1-1-2-1-3-2-1-2- ; 15
2. Jack Parkin/Florian Eenkema van Dijk: 2-1-2-3-[4]-1-2-1-1-2-1- ; 16
3. Russell Clarida/Finn Mundinger: 6-2-3-2-[9]-5-3-5-4-3-4- ; 37

Mitchell Kiss (Holland, Mich.) finished strong today with two wins to take a six point lead over Stephen Long (Santa Barbara, Calif.) in the Laser fleet.

Top 3
1. Mitchell Kiss: 5-2-2-4-2-[12/OCS]-3-3-2-1-1- ; 25
2. Stephen Long: 2-1-3-3-5-3-2-1-[7]-6-5- ; 31
3. Richard Didham: 3-6-1-[9]-6-1-1-8-3-2-4- ; 35

Luke Muller (Fort Pierce, Fla.) more than doubled his lead from Wednesday in the Laser Radial fleet and bulleted the final two races to take an 11 point lead into Friday over Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Forest, Ill.).

Top 3
1. Luke Muller: 1-1-1-1-2-3-2-[12]-1-1- ; 13
2. Malcolm Lamphere: 3-2-5-3-3-1-1-[10]-3-3- ; 24
3. William Marshall: 4-3-2-5-4-2-3-[15]-2-6- ; 31

Despite a strong effort from Max Simmons (Rowayton, Conn.) and Riley Legault (Bonita Springs, Fla.) today, Nicholas Sertl (Rochester, N.Y.) and Elizabeth Pemberton (Osterville, Mass.) are in good position after another steady day in the Club 420 fleet.

Top 3
1. Nicholas Sertl/Elizabeth Pemberton: 1-3-4-1-2-6-3-2-[11]-5-3- ; 30
2. Max Simmons/Riley Legault: [11]-2-2-6-10-9-2-1-2-3-4- ; 41
3. Scott Sinks/Storm Brown: 9-1-8-3-5-2-[33/OCS]-25-4-4-8- ; 69

The F16 multihulls have completed 14 races and Ravi Parent (Bradenton, Fla.) and Nico Schultz (Sarasota, Fla.) have won every race except for 1 and 14. They have a 24 point lead.

Top 3
1. Ravi Parent/Nico Schultz: [6]-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2- ; 14
2. Sophia Schultz/Joseph Bello: 2-4-[6]-6-2-2-2-3-3-2-4-2-3-5- ; 40
3. Ben Brown/Andrew Wilkinson: 1-5-2-5-4-[6]-4-2-2-5-5-6-4-3- ; 48

Pedro Tomás Pascual has maintained a three point lead over Raul Lopez (Miami, Fla.) after three more races today in the RS:X windsurfing event.

Top 3
1. Pedro Tomás Pascual: 1-1-2-[3]-1-2-2-1-1- ; 11
2. Raul Lopez: 2-2-1-[4]-3-1-3-2-2- ; 16
3. Maximo Nores: 3-4-4-2-2-4-1-3-[8/DNF]- ; 23

Visit the U.S. Youth Championship event website throughout the event for daily recaps, video highlights, real-time Twitter updates from Corpus Christi, full rosters and standings, photos, and more. Parents and spectators will be able to watch a live feed of the racing and race replays all week, courtesy of live tracking by Kattack. Check the event website during racing days for more details.

The U.S. Youth Championships is a US Sailing National Championship regatta and sponsored by Sperry Top-Sider, Gill North America, Hobie Polarized and Zim Sailing. The championship is a Sailors for the Sea – Clean Regattas certification event.

Jake Fish
Communication Manager
US Sailing
JakeFish@ussailing.org