Elite Sailors Earn Top Honors at U.S. Youth Sailing Championships

August 4, 2010

 

SAN PEDRO, Calif. (August 4, 2010) – The best-of-the-best were on display at the 2010 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships, hosted by the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club. This year’s championship showcased top-level junior sailors from around the country in four highly competitive fleets, including C420s, Lasers, Radials, and 29ers. Three of the four fleets were won by US Sailing Development Team (USSDT) members.

Mateo Vargas (St. Petersburg Yacht Club) overcame a narrow two-point deficit to USSDT teammate Michell Kiss (Macatawa Bay Yacht Club) to win the Radial fleet. “I actually prefer to come from behind,” said Vargas. “I like to be in that position.” Consistency paid off for Vargas. He pulled away from the Radial contenders and won by 10 points. Kiss finished second, and fellow USSDT member and defending champion, Christopher Stocke (Sarasota Youth Sailing Program) finished third. Earlier this summer, Vargas finished second at the Radial North American Championships in Texas.

The team of Graham Landy (Norfolk Yacht Country Club) and Colin Murphy (Shelter Island Yacht Club) broke away from the pack on Wednesday and won by a healthy 18-point margin in the C420 fleet. They notched a pair of second place finishes today on their way to victory. Landy explained how they were able to take advantage of the light air, “Being a light team in the light air definitely helped us in the first race. We needed to go fast before the start.” Landy and Murphy finished second out of 109 at the C420 North American Championships in New Jersey.


John Wallace (St. Petersburg Yacht Club), another USSDT member, led from start to finish. He won seven of the 10 races, including the first six of the regatta. Wallace won the Laser fleet by 18 points. “I was able to take advantage of the wind,” he said. “We had to tack right at this venue, and I was usually able to get good enough starts.” He has been extremely busy as of late. Last weekend he finished third at the U.S. Singlehanded Championships (Lasers) in Pensacola, Fla. He also competed at the Laser Radial World Championships in Scotland last month.

In the 29er fleet, Antoine Screve and James Moody (San Francisco Yacht Club) successfully defended their title from a year ago. “It’s good to know we are still at the top,” said Screve. “We got caught up in some kelp in that first race.” They won the final two races of the regatta to seal a 12 point win over Sterling and Hans Henken (Coronado Yacht Club). After the seventh place finish they posted in the first race of the championship, they never crossed the line worse than third over the next 13 races. “We continued to get stronger throughout the event.” In July, while representing the USSDT, Screve and Moody scored a bronze medal at the 2010 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships

The championship was raced in diverse wind conditions today for the first time this week. Wind speed ranged from 6 to 16 knots, with fair currents. The following sailors received the Dave Perry Sportsmanship Trophy for each fleet:

Laser - Drake Jensen (Richmond Yacht Club)
Radial - Brooke Lyon (Bayview Yacht Club)
Club 420 - Alex Curtiss and Connor Adams (Chicago Yacht Club)
29er - Julia Paxton and Patrick Tara (Richmond Yacht Club)