Southern California team wins U.S. Youth Match Racing Champs

The 2017 U.S. Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup was held June 16 to 18 on Eagle Mountain Lake in Ft Worth, Texas.

Winning this invitational event for 16 to 20 year olds was David Wood (Corona del Mar, Calif.) and his Southern California based team comprised of Max Brennan (Newport Beach, Calif.), Catherine Reynolds (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Jeffery Petersen (Santa Ana, Calif.).

Despite placing in the middle of the standings following stage one’s round robin, Wood and crew picked up momentum through the to win the championship.

Wood and his team was ranked fifth out of 10 teams following the round robin but picked up momentum in the Knock-out rounds, beginning with their defeat of fourth ranked Jack Reiter (San Diego, Calif.), 3-0.

They went on to up-end number one ranked Porter Killan (Newport Beach, Calif.) in the semifinals, 3-1, after dropping the first race of the series, and then went on to blank Jack Parkin (Greenwich, Conn.), 3-0, in the final series.

Parkin’s second place team includes crewmates Robbie Nicholls (Houston, Texas), Christina Sakellaris (Milton, Mass.) and Wiley Rogers (Houston, Texas).

Wood receives an invitation to the 2017 Governor’s Cup on July 17-22 at the Balboa Yacht Club in Corona del Mar, Calif. and qualifies for the 2017 Oakcliff Halloween Invitational on October 28-29 at Oakcliff Sailing in Oyster Bay, N.Y.

The Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Award was awarded to the team of Porter Killian, John Horton (Newport Beach, Calf.), Robert Garrett (Newport Coast, Calf.) and Victoria Thompson (Newport Beach, Calf.), after receiving the most votes from their fellow competitors.

In the round robin, each team conducted six or seven races on Friday and completed the stage on Saturday. Killian took control of the number one ranking with eight points through nine races. The top eight teams advanced to the quarterfinals.

Teams raced in 10 mph winds from the South/Southwest for most of Friday, with diminishing breeze in the afternoon on Eagle Mountain Lake. On Saturday, winds were in the 10-12 mph range with gusts exceeding 25. Conditions on Sunday morning were in the 4-6 mph range with gusts reaching 15 early in the afternoon.

Event details – Entry list – Results – Photos

Update: The report initially had Alex Reiter getting defeated in the Quarterfinals. It was Jack Reiter. Also, details regarding the Nick Scandone Sportsmanship Award have been added.

Source: US Sailing