USA on top at Lightning Youth Worlds

Published on July 5th, 2018

Voula, Greece (July 5, 2018) – The 2018 Lightning Youth World Championship opened in light breeze with an eventual build and shift, and the fleet completed three races to begin the series. The American team of Tanner Probst, Maya Weber, and Jenna Probst hit their stride early and jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a scoreline of 2,4,4.

In race one, Gen 5 Sailing (Jeff Hayden, Brian Hayes Jr., and Meredith Ryan), were strong tactically in 5-7 knots of breeze. Team Probst, the eventual regatta leaders, would take second place. The finish, however, was not close, with Hayden building a huge lead in the lighter breeze as the race was shortened to 3 legs with an upwind finish.

As race 2 came around, the breeze built to 10-16 knots from the East/Southeast. The eventual race winners started at the pin end of the line and chose the proper side of the course for the first beat. After rounding the windward mark in 3rd place, the Brazilian team skippered by Jose Hackerott dropped to fifth by the first leward mark, but used the second beat to climb back to the front of the race. They would not relinquish this lead for the rest of the race. Race 1 winners Hayden, Hayes, and Ryan found themselves swimming near the finish of this race, and after this slip up, left teams Probst and Hackerott tied for the regatta lead. This set the stage for the final rotation, and with it, the final race of the day.

The third race of the day was won by Athanasopoulos of Greece. After a strong start, Athanasopoulos found himself 3rd at the first windward mark. On the next leg, the Greek team made quick work passing Americans Colantuono and Hayden to take the lead by the leward gate. The American team skippered by Jeff Hayden took second.