Shortened series for US Junior Champs

The 104 young sailors representing their home yacht clubs and local sailing organizations from around the nation came together at the 2021 Chubb U.S. Junior Sailing Championships for racing on August 11-13 in Marblehead, MA.

As US Sailing’s oldest and most historic National Championship, the Sears Cup, Bemis Trophy, and Smythe Trophy completed two days of racing just outside of Marblehead Harbor under challenging conditions. However, the wind did not cooperate on day three.

All three events completed four races on day one in light, patchy breeze, less than 10 knots, and a building southerly wind for most of day. Four races were completed on day two in similar conditions.

U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship for the Smythe Trophy – ILCA 6

Final Standings (8 races): Top 3 out of 20
1. Hamilton Barclay – 23 points
2. Drew Mastovsky – 26 points
3. Zoey Ziskind – 28 points

Hamilton Barclay (La Porte, Texas) of the Houston Yacht Club captured the Smythe Trophy, placing in the top five in seven of the eight races. Barclay finished second overall in 2018 for the Bemis with Ella Beauregard.

“I was able to limit making mistakes, cue my boat speed up, and be as consistent as possible this week,” explained Barclay. “I learned a lot this week from the coaches and the competitors, which is what I really like about this event. The event organizers were great with so many volunteers supporting the regatta.”

The top three eligible athletes in the singlehanded fleet receive early acceptance to the 2021 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships coming up this October in Arapahoe, North Carolina.

U.S. Junior Doublehanded Championship for the Bemis Trophy – Club 420

Final Standings: Top 3 out of 20
1. Morgan Pinckney – 25 points
2. Jacob Posner – 34 points
3. Blake Behrens – 36 points

Morgan Pinckney (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Kennedy Leehealey (Newport Coast, Calif.) of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club took first place in the Bemis Trophy by nine points over Jacob Posner (Seattle, Wash.) and Peter Schnell (Portland, Ore.) of the Seattle Yacht Club.

Pinckney and Leehealey finished in the top four in five of the eight races. Blake Behrens (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Richard Rychlik, Jr. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club / NB4T finished third.

The win for Pinckney marks his second Chubb U.S. Junior Sailing Championship. He won the Bemis in 2019 with Nathan Sih.

“We have a lot of experience in this boat, having competed in this boat for four years, and Kennedy and I have been sailing together in high school for the last year and a half,” said Pinckney. “Some of these teams are new to the circuit, so it seems like we had more experience than most teams.”

“It’s important to know when to play it conservative and when to take your gains,” added Kennedy. “Everyone here had good races this week. It was our consistency that helped us most.”

U.S. Junior Quadruplehanded Championship for the Sears Cup – RS21

Final Standings: Top 3 out of 11
1. Kyle Pfrang – 16
2. Eden Nykamp – 17
3. Peter Busch – 24

Kyle Pfrang (Suffolk, Va.), Parker Moore (Hampton, Va.), Pierce Brindley (Smithfield, Va.), and Dingkun Li (Chesapeake, Va.) of the Hampton Yacht Club edged Eden Nykamp (West Olive, Mich.), Lucas Nykamp (West Olive, Mich.), Alden Gort (Holland, Mich.), and Noah Robitshek (Traverse City, Mich.) of the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club / Traverse Area Community Sailing for the Sears Cup.

Peter Busch (San Diego, Calif.), Cam Spriggs (San Diego, Calif.), Peter Joslin (La Jolla, Calif.), and Kole Kammerer (San Diego, Calif.) of the San Diego Yacht Club finished the regatta in third place.

“Boat speed was the key to success for us this week,” said Pfrang. “We focused on our trim and making sure we were powered up through the chop and transitioning between the light air stages and wavy stages. We were aiming to be at full speed at the start of each race.”

For complete results, click here.

Sportsmanship Awards:

Singlehanded – Faye Bennet Sportsmanship Award: Jack Carroll (Seattle, Wash.) of the Seattle Yacht Club
Doublehanded – Bemis Sportsmanship Award: Jacob Posner (Seattle, Wash.) and Peter Schnell (Portland, Ore.) of the Seattle Yacht Club
Quadruplehanded – Cox Sportsmanship Award: Chase Englehart (Lafayette, Calif.), Wesley Seifers (El Cerrito, Calif.), Elsa Simenstad (San Anselmo, Calif.), Charlotte Versavel (Palo Alto, Calif.) of the Richmond Yacht Club

Seamanship/Ship Shape Awards:

Singlehanded: Patrick Wahlig (Falmouth, Maine) of the Pleon Yacht Club
Doublehanded: Julius Heitkoetter (Austin, Texas) of the Austin Yacht Club
Quadruplehanded: Makani Andrews (Kanehe, Hawaii), Jaxon Hottinger (Kailua, Hawaii), Bryce Huntoon (Honolulu, Hawaii), Noe Velasco (Ewa Beach, Fla.) of the Hawaii Kai Boat Club / Kanehoe Yacht Club

Race organizers and the sailors came prepared for the heat and humidity this week. Sailors brought their own reusable water bottles and coach boats were stocked with water jugs with pump tops to help keep the sailors hydrated throughout the day.

The Eastern Yacht Club (EYC) played host to the 100th Anniversary of the Sears Cup this week, which was launched in 1921 and hosted by EYC 100 years ago.

Sailors took part in onshore and on-water clinics with a collection of top coaches from around the country on August 10. The following coaches were on site working with the sailors throughout the championship:

• Richard Feeny – US Sailing Youth National Coach
• Cappy Capper – US Sailing Master Coach Trainer
• Matt Lindblad – Head Sailing Coach at MIT
• Cori Radtke – Assistant Sailing Coach at Bowdoin College
• John Pearce – Director of Sport Development at US Sailing

Event information – Previous winners

Source: US Sailing