US Sailing Youth Champs Finals

San Diego, CA (August 9, 2016) – An inspired group of talented young sailors embarked on Southern California to engage in four days of racing on San Diego Bay at the 2016 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships, hosted by Coronado Yacht Club with support from the San Diego Yacht Club. The premiere event for youth sailors under 20 came to an exciting finish on Tuesday, as many of this week’s winners qualified for the US Sailing Youth World Team and will compete at the 2016 Youth Sailing World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand in December.

Laser Radial (singlehanded dinghy)
Carrson Pearce won seven of 14 races to win the 42-boat Laser Radial fleet. He bounced back after an OCS in Race 1 on Saturday.

“I just kept focusing the next race and do the best I could,” said Pearce. “Leo Boucher and I sailed a lot together in New Jersey, so it was really fun for both us to compete against each other. We’re good friends. We both sailed well and I’m proud of both of us.”

Sophia Reineke came from behind on Tuesday to catch Talia Toland to win the Radial girls fleet by four. Reineke finished fourth overall and Toland was fifth. Toland had a 15-point lead over Reineke entering today’s racing.

“It was up and down and really shifty today,” said Reineke. “The key to having good races today was the starts and playing the pressure off of that. Talia had a great regatta and is really tough competitor.”

Top 5 – Final Standings
1. Carrson Pearce [Radial – Boy], Surf City Yacht Club, [43/OCS]-1-12-1-1-1-1-3-2-1-35-11-1-6- ; 76
2. Leo Boucher [Radial – Boy], Severn Sailing Association, 13-11-3-5-3-2-7-8-[32]-6-1-22-4-18- ; 103
3. Chase Burwell [Radial – Boy], Lauderdale Yacht Club – Carlouel, 8-8-15-13-7-3-8-13-1-17-6-[20]-17-3- ; 119
4. Sophia Reineke [Radial – Girl], Lauderdale Yacht Club, 6-28-17-7-13-14-9-12-13-2-[29]-3-9-2- ; 135
5. Talia Toland [Radial – Girl], Seattle Yacht Club/Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, 7-13-4-8-[36]-19-5-10-4-21-13-5-22-8- ; 139

International 420 (doublehanded dinghy)
Wiley Rogers and Jack Parkin won six of first seven races of the championship to win the 32-boat I420 fleet. Placing second overall and top girls I420 team, Kathryn Hall and Ashton Borcherding defeated third place team Carmen Cowles and Emma Cowles by seven.

Top 5 – Standings
1. Wiley Rogers/Jack Parkin[I420 – Boy], Texas Corinthian Yacht Club/Lakewood Yacht Club, 1-1-1-1-2-1-1-[16]-4-2-1-1-14-2- ; 32
2. Kathryn Hall/Ashton Borcherding[I420 – Girl], LISOT, 10-5-[11]-10-3-4-10-3-10-7-2-7-1-11- ; 83
3. Carmen Cowles/Emma Cowles[I420 – Girl], LISOT/Larchmont Yacht Club, 5-17-2-2-11-[20]-6-4-2-19-9-2-4-7- ; 90
4. Eduardo Mintzias/Declan McGranahan[I420 – Boy], Long Island Mid Atlantic Sailing Team/Coral Reef Yacht Club, 3-9-4-9-7-5-11-5-14-8-10-[33/OCS]-10-12- ; 107
5. Emma Kaneti/Catherine Beatrix E. Lindsay[I420 – Girl], Larchmont Yacht Club, 22-18-5-4-[23]-8-12-7-12-11-3-3-3-1- ; 109

Laser (singlehanded dinghy)
Ford McCann put the finishing touches on a great week today to win the 18-boat Laser fleet competition by 24 points through 12 races. He won Races 6-11 to take a commanding lead after trailing Marshall McCann by two points after Saturday’s racing. Maximilian Guerriero had a strong finish Tuesday posting 2-3 race results to finish second.

Top 5 – Final Standings
1. Ford McCann, Texas Corinthian Yacht Club, 3-4-1-3-7-3-1-1-1-1-1-3-4-[19/RET-AF]- ; 33
2. Maximilian Guerriero, Texas Corinthian Yacht Club, 4-6-3-9-2-4-2-7-5-6-[14]-4-2-3- ; 57
3. Marshall McCann, Texas Corinthian Yacht Club, 1-3-2-1-3-8-3-4-4-5-6-10-8-[19/RET-AF]- ; 58
4. Jack Gower, Edison Sailing Center, 2-1-5-2-[19/OCS]-6-7-5-3-9-3-5-10-2- ; 60
5. Brandon Lee Kirby, C-vane, 5-2-[19/UFD]-11-1-1-4-12-2-2-13-6-3-4- ; 66

29er (doublehanded dinghy)
The team of Ryan Ratliffe and Sam Merson edged Neil Marcellini and Ian Brill in a great back and forth battle by two points in the 18-point 29er fleet. Ratliffe and Merson took the lead for good on Monday. Louisa Nordstrom and Catherine Mollerus finished third overall and won the girls 29er fleet.

Ratliffe on sailing in his home waters – “I think the winds were a little more shifty than normal, so it wasn’t as much as an advantage as it could have been. We usually have much steadier winds or you just bang left.”

“We’ve been training for the past four months together and put a years worth of work within that four months,” said Nordstrom.

“It’s been a long time coming and we wanted it really bad,” said Mollerus.

Top 5 – Final Standings
1. Ryan Ratliffe/Sam Merson[29er – Boy], Mission Bay Yacht Club, 2-1-2-2-2-1-2-1-2-1-3-1-[6]-5- ; 25
2. Neil Marcellini/Ian Brill[29er – Boy], Richmond Yacht Club, 1-2-1-1-1-[19/DNF]-1-2-4-3-4-2-2-3- ; 27
3. Louisa Nordstrom/Catherine Mollerus[29er – Girl], Sarasota Youth Sailing Program, [9]-5-5-4-8-4-3-3-1-2-2-3-3-4- ; 47
4. David Eastwood/Wells Drayton[29er – Boy], Santa Barbara Yacht Club/Newport Harbor Yacht Club, 3-3-3-6-5-3-[8]-4-3-7-5-4-8-6- ; 60
5. Lucy Wilmot/Sally Wilmot[29er – Girl], San Francisco YC / Richmond YC, 12-8-4-5-6-5-[19/DSQ]-5-6-13-1-5-7-2- ; 79

Techno 293 (windsurfer)
http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=12612
Steven Cramer won Races 4 through 11 to win the championship over Geronimo Nores by just five points. Nores won the first three races of the event on Saturday.

Top 3 – Final Standings
1. Steven Cramer, Miami Yacht Club, [2]-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2- ; 14
2. Geronimo Nores, Miami Yacht Club, 1-1-1-[3]-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-1- ; 19
3. Michael Cramer, Miami Yacht Club, 3-5-4-6-[8/DNF]-8/DNF-2-3-3-3-3-3- ; 43

* The winning boys and girls in the Laser Radial, International 420, and 29er fleets qualify for the US Sailing Youth World Team.

US Sailing Youth Director, John Pearce was on site this week interacting with the sailors and coaches, while observing the racing. “The racing has been tight and fair, and the vibe is very focused and professional, just as you would expect at America’s premier youth regatta,” said Pearce. “Our sailors have taken a leap forward in ability over the last few years, particularly in the high performance classes. Finishing well in your fleet here requires excellence in boathandling, tuning, speed and execution on the racecourse, and the sailors are pushing each other to new levels all the time.”

Added Pearce: “It’s really exciting to be tracking the progress of our Olympic sailors in Rio while watching the next generation hone their skills at this regatta. There is a groundswell of potential here and I’m sure many of these young sailors will be pursuing their Olympic dreams in a few years.”

Like all US Sailing Junior Championships, there is much more to this event than racing. This regatta is run by a team of top judges, coaches and race officers that provide high quality racing and support. Since the genesis of this championship in 1973, this event has served as a motivational force for young sailors to enjoy sailing for a lifetime, while making strong friendships along the way.

U.S. Youth Championship graduates have become the stalwarts of successful college sailing programs and routinely fill out the ranks of All-Americans. Many former and current US Sailing Team Sperry and Development Team members have competed at this championship. The event continues to align with the U.S. Olympic Sailing Program and youth high performance sailing.

US Sailing Coaches on site

Richard Feeny (US Sailing Junior National Coach) – 29er
Jon Rogers (Head Coach at Coronado Yacht Club) – International 420
Phil Muller (Professional Sailing Coach) – Techno 293
Mike Pinckney (Head Coach at Balboa Yacht Club) – Laser
Charles Higgins (Assistant Coach at Old Dominion University) – Radial
Morgan Wilson (Assistant Coach at SUNY Maritime Academy) – Radial

Event Website

Report by US Sailing