Four Fleets to Race on Narragansett Bay at 2011 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Jake Fish
US SAILING Communications Manager
401.683.0800 x614
jakefish@ussailing.org

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (August 12, 2011) – Top young sailors from around the country come to Newport, R.I. next week to compete in US SAILING’s prestigious 2011 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships. Two singlehanded fleets in Lasers and Laser Radials and two doublehanded fleets in Club 420s and 29ers will race on Narragansett Bay, beginning on Monday, August 15 through Thursday, August 18. A total of 133 invited competitors are lined up to race. The 2011 U.S. Youth Sailing Championships are hosted by Sail Newport, Ida Lewis Yacht Club and New York Yacht Club.

Club 420 Fleet Preview
A total of 36 C420 teams have their sights set on the Manton D. Scott Memorial Trophy, awarded to the winning duo. This week’s U.S. Junior Doublehanded Champions Pearson Potts (Newport, R.I.) and crew Tristan Sess (Center Moriches, N.Y.) will try and ride their momentum into next week’s Championship. Also, competing is Stewart Draheim (Heath, Texas) and crew Allison Aughtry (Oklahoma City, Okla.) who placed second overall at the U.S. Junior Doublehanded Championship. Several top finishers from the 2011 U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship in July will be on hand, including winners Sarah Williams (Summit, N.J.) and Ali Blumenthal (Bellport, N.Y.). Allyson Donahue (Brigantine, N.J.) and Maddie Widmeier (Brant Beach, N.J.) were second and Megan Grapengeter-Rudnick (Darien, Conn.) and Caroline Atwood (Killingworth, Conn.) placed third out of 40 teams. Skipper Alex Curtiss (Lake Bluff, Ill.) finished third out of 20 at the 2010 Chubb U.S. Junior Championships. He will be sailing with new crew member Rose Edwards (Chicago, Ill.). Reinier Eenkema van Dijk (Mamaroneck, N.Y.), a member of the 2011 Youth World Team, will also be in competition. Spencer McDonough (Greenwich, Conn.) will be his crew. The 2009 U.S. Multihull Champion Korbin Kirk (Long Beach, Calif.) will take his shot in the C420 division with crew Ryan Davidson (Costa Mesa, Calif.). He also won the 2008 Chubb U.S. Junior Doublehanded Championship.

Laser Radial Fleet Preview
A strong fleet of 23 skippers will race for the Robert and Ann Conner Trophy, awarded to the winning sailor. Erika Reineke (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), a member of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, and Mitchell Kiss (Holland, Mich.) from the 2011 Youth World Team will compete next week. Reineke won first place in the girl’s division at the 2011 Laser Radial Youth World Championships and Kiss finished fourth in the boy’s division. Kiss a member of the US Sailing Development Team. Nick Valente (Oakdale, N.Y.) won this week’s U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship, and he’ll be racing next week in the Laser Radial fleet. Also competing next week is Gary Prieto (Southold, N.Y.) who finished third at the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship. The winning skipper from this week’s U.S. Junior Triplehanded Championship O.J. O’Connell will make the switch back to singlehanded competition next week in the Laser Radial fleet. A number of top competitors from the 2011 U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship in June are coming including Christina Frost (Nokomis, Fla.) who finished second out of 57 and Kaitlyn Baab (Saratoga, Calif.) who was third.

Laser Fleet Preview
The Laser fleet consists of 18 skippers, including several who finished at the top end of the fleet in last year’s Championship. Trey Hartman (Bellaire, Texas) was second out of 14 in the Laser division last year. He also finished fourth out of 20 at the 2010 Chubb U.S. Junior Championships. Olin Paine (San Diego, Calif.) was fifth last year. Nevin Snow (San Diego, Calif.) the 2010 Chubb U.S. Junior Singlehanded Champion also hopes to be a factor this year.

29er Fleet Preview
Ten doublehanded teams will represent the 29er class next week. As crew, James Moody (Tiburon, Calif.) won last year’s Championship in the 13 team 29er fleet. This year he’ll be crewing for Scott Buckstaff (Belvidere, Calif.). Sterling Henken (Coronado, Calif.) is the top returning skipper from last year’s event. He finished second last year, and he’ll be sailing with crew J.P. Barnes. Sterling’s sister Paris is also returning to compete in the 29er fleet. The 2010 U.S. Junior Doublehanded Champion Jack Jorgenson (Pasadena, Calif.) will be sailing with crew A. Tucker Atterbury (Santa Barbara, Calif.) next week. Sterling and Paris Henken, along with James Moody are members of the US Sailing Development Team.

Visit the event website at http://championships.ussailing.org/Youth/US_Youth_Champs.htm for daily recaps, standings, videos, photo galleries and more. To get up-to-the-minute updates from the championship, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

US SAILING’s U.S. Youth Sailing Championships is sponsored by Sperry Top-Sider, LaserPerformance, Gill North America and SWITLIK Survival Products. The Championship is a Sailors for the Sea - Clean Regattas certification event. 

Championship Notes
• Fifteen of the competing sailors at this week’s Championship are members of the 2011 US Development Team.
• Racing begins on Monday, August 15 at 12:00 p.m. ET and ends Thursday, August 18. Racing starts at 10:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday through Thursday.
• Three races are required to be completed to constitute a series. When fewer than six races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores. When six or more races have been completed, a boat’s series score will be the total of her race scores excluding her worst score.
• The winners of the Laser, Laser Radial and 29er fleets qualify for the US Development Team.
• The top placing male in the Laser and the top placing female in the Laser Radial fleet qualify for the U.S. Singlehanded Sailing Championships for the Men’s and Women’s divisions, respectively.
• US SAILING Championship medals will be awarded to competitors who finish first through fifth in the Laser Radial and C420 fleets. Medals for competitors who finish first through third will be awarded in the 29er and Laser Full Rig fleets.
• The David M. Perry Perpetual Sportsmanship Trophy will be awarded, as well as sportsmanship keepers, in each discipline.
• The National Youth Championships Committee Chair is Shannon Bush. The Event Chair is Wendy Lotz.