Baird, Swanson, Barton Win Chubb U.S. Junior Championships

LaPorte, TX (August 9 2013) -The single- and doublehanded fleets tallied one more race each at the final day of racing for the Chubb U.S. Junior Championships. Thursday proved to be the last day of action for the triplehanded fleet.

Nic Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won his third consecutive race in today’s race and won the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship in the Byte CII fleet for the Smythe Trophy. He won five of 10 races this week and won by a 24-point margin over Christopher Weiss (El Segundo, Calif.).

Kristopher Swanson (Kentfield, Calif.) and Alexander Ron (Belvedere, Calif.) maintained their lead with a seventh place result today to win the U.S. Doublehanded Championship in Club 420s for the Bemis Trophy by 11 points over Alexander Stewart (Duxbury, Mass.) and Alex Palfrey (Duxbury, Mass.), who finished fifth today.

With their come from behind win yesterday, the team of Jack Barton (San Anselmo, Calif.), Sammy Shea (Kentfield, Calif.), Sam Barton (San Anselmo, Calif.) and Alex Moody (Tiburon, Calif.) captured the U.S. Triplehanded Championship in Sonars for the Sears Cup. They won by four points over Liam McCarthy (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Nevin Avila (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Emily Wright (Tampa, Fla.), and Noah Blacker.

Teams raced in lighter breezes today on Galveston Bay.

This 2013 US Sailing National Championship was hosted by the Houston Yacht Club (HYC) and Texas Corinthian Yacht Club (TCYC). First sailed in 1921, this is US Sailing’s oldest Championship. Each Area is eligible to send at least one sailor/team to compete in each of the fleets. Sailors race in boats provided at the event site to ensure the quality of the equipment and a level playing field.

A one day racing clinic led by US Sailing’s Junior National Coach Rich Feeny was held prior to the start of the championship at HYC and TCYC. The clinics included U.S. Senior Olympic Coach Luther Carpenter and College of Charleston’s Ward Cromwell. As part of the 2013 Olympic Sailing Night Series, Carpenter educated the participating young sailors about the many pathways to Olympic sailing success on Monday night, August 5.

Competing sailors participated in a Gill College Night seminar Thursday night. The opportunity provided young sailors a chance to learn and interact with college sailing coaches and athletes to discuss the recruiting process, competition at the collegiate level, and other expectations and challenges that comes with being a collegiate sailor.

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