GYA wins 2021 US Adult Sailing Champs

After four days of racing on Gavelston Bay, Max Albert (Pontchartrain YC) and his crew representing the Gulf Yachting Association won the U.S. Adult Sailing Championship on October 21-24 in Kemah, TX. Albert sailed with Andrew Brennan, Matthew Dupuy, and Eddie Adams.

Ten teams, with nine representing a regional sailing association from around the country plus the club’s home team, sailed ten races in Sonars. Albert, despite having only one first-place finish, their consistent top-of-fleet performance was the winning formula.

Paul Wilson (Vineyard Haven YC) and his crew, Brett Davis, Christina Persson, and Nicholas Watts, representing the Southern Massachusetts Sailing Association, was tied for second, winning on countback over the Northeast Sailing Association team skippered by Brian Doyle (Lake Sunapee CF) and crewed by Shane Wells, Steve Kirkpatrick, and Dale Harper.

“This championship is great, it brings together people of all ages, and from all over the country, so it’s top-level racers from around the nation, which is really fun,” remarked Doyle.

The race committee battled shifting conditions, rapidly changing weather, and inconsistent breeze.

“The weather over the past three days has been quite a challenge,” said PRO Shannon Bush. “These were not typical October weather patterns, more like a summer pattern. Dodging thunderstorms and lightning, watching the radar constantly yesterday sneaking in the races before a whiteout hit, was something unexpected.

“Today the conditions were against every single forecast I looked at. We started an hour earlier today, thinking I would be done by noon, but mother nature had other plans. The breeze was supposed to already be locked in, but we saw a huge swing to the right in the magnitude of 60° shift, causing me to abandon and restart race number 10 four times.”

Event information – Entry list – Previous winners

Final Results (10 races)


Source: US Sailing