This year’s US Youth Championship was hosted by San Francisco Yacht Club. This was my sixth and final youth championship. The regatta was sailed on the infamous Berkley Circle in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The conditions were what everyone had expected, windy. The wind blew a steady 15-20k with occasional 25-knot puffs. The strong winds blew against the ebbing tide which made for some very wavy/choppy conditions. I teamed up with one of my life long teammates Briana Provancha who was on the sailing team with me at Point Loma High School and is currently on my sailing team at Boston College. Briana and I were ready for the big breeze and rough sea’s and had the practice days to get all of our mistakes out of the way before the regatta started.
On the first day of racing, Briana and I were lucky enough to put up two first place finishes and one second, which would set the tone for the rest of the event. The following day of racing we sailed extremely consistent, not finishing out of the top four. As the regatta wore on we began to feel more comfortable in the boat which allowed us to sail much more conservatively avoiding high risk maneuvers. Going into the final day of racing we were leading the regatta by only one point. On the first race of the last day we were able to pull off a 4th place finish and put 5 points between us and the boat in second. Soon after finishing Briana and I waited anxiously running the numbers trying to determine if we had locked up the 2008 Youth Championship. After reviewing the simple addition multiple times, and learning there would be just one more race, we hugged each other, and congratulated one another on being 2008 Youth Champs!
It was a great feeling for both of us to come back from the previous year and defend our titles. In 2007, Briana crewed for Emily Dellenbaugh in the 29er and won her class, while I was lucky to team up with SDYC’s Morgane Renoir to capture the 420 class title. It was neat to team up with Briana – both in our final year of eligibility for this event – and have a good result. Out of the six times I have sailed the US SAILING Youth Championships this was my favorite. San Francisco Yacht Club did a great job running a great regatta with such challenging (windy!) conditions. A rock solid finish was the goal for Briana and I in our last regatta as ‘youth’ sailors – to finish on top was very exciting.
It was awesome to see the next generation of SDYC youth sailors sailing at this prestigious regatta. SDYC’s Jake La Dow was voted by his fellow competitors in the 420 fleet for the Dave Perry Sportsmanship Award. I think this is Jake’s first ‘Youth Champs’ and earning the respect of his fellow competitors speaks volumes about the quality of youth sailors coming from our Club’s Junior Program. Congratulations Jake! SDYC’s Shone Bowman and Jake Reynolds sailed their 420s really well in some very challenging conditions. The future is so bright for these talented sailors.
A big THANK YOU to the SDYC membership, the Competition Committee, the Board, and the staff for all your support. None of this would be possible for so many young sailors at our Club without your continued involvement in Junior Sailing at SDYC. Thanks again!
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