California leads J/70 US Youth Champs

St. Petersburg, FL (November 16, 2018) – The seven youth teams from across America that are attending the second annual U.S. J/70 Youth Championship were blessed with extraordinary fall sailing conditions on Tampa Bay.

While the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast regions were getting blasted with their first winter storm of the season, the youth teams from clubs in California, the Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast enjoyed postcard perfect sailing conditions all day long.

The St. Petersburg YC welcomed the teams at the 8:30am Captain’s meeting and, facing winds gusting to 25 kts at 7:00am, Regatta Chairman and PRO Todd Fedyszyn wisely postponed for one hour. With a forecast of NNE winds of 15-20 kts diminishing to 6-15 kts by day’s end, the teams were blessed with a perfectly sunny, cool day, with not a cloud in the sky. As a result, the teams sailed a fast-paced series of ten races of about 20 minutes each, finishing by 4:00pm.

Starting off with a 2-1-1-1, there was no question the team from King Harbor YC (Kyle Collins/ Brock Paquin/ River Paquin/ Justin Zmina) in Los Angeles, CA were determined to set a high bar for the rest of the top youth keelboat teams from across the country. A few lapses in concentration in races 5 and 7 were their only blemish on a record that closed with three bullets to lead the fleet with 16 pts total.

Their arch nemesis all day long was the Chicago YC teams headed by Ray Groble and crew of Bridgette Groble, Remmington King, and Jack Hemmelgarn. While emphatically winning the first race, they accumulated six more 2nds in the ten races to hold on to second place.

Sitting in third is Little Traverse YC skippered by the top woman skipper Merideth Moran and her team of Ellie Wagner, Molly Matthews, Luke Baker, Jack Miller.

The forecast for tomorrow’s racing calls for NE winds of 6-13 kts in the morning, diminishing all day, and sunny, with no clouds in the sky. Racing is expected to start on time by 10:00am ET.

Day One Results (10 races)
1. King Harbor YC, Kyle Collins/ Brock Paquin/ River Paquin/ Justin Zmina; 16
2. Chicago YC, Bridgette Groble/ Remmington King/ Jack Hemmelgarn/ Ray Groble; 25
3. Little Traverse YC, Merideth Moran/ Ellie Wagner/ Molly Matthews/ Luke Baker/ Jack Miller; 29
4. Mudratz Sailing Team, Lily Flack/ Peter Cronin/ Lucy Rath/ Eli Gleason/ Tanner Kelly; 44
5. St. Petersburg YC, Heather Kerns/ Emma Shakespeare/ Heidi Hicks/ Emily Allen/ Cameron Delgado; 46
6. American YC, Maddy Saffer/ Lise Powers/ Grace Flannagan/ Felix Nusbaum/ Burke Avenari; 57
7. South Carolina YC, Matthew Monts/ Bradlee Anderson/ Colin Meidler/ James Thurlow/ Bobby Soares; 63

Event details – Results – Facebook

Source: Stu Johnstone