Club News


Peter and Jack Joslin Represent SDYC at Us Sailing Youth Championships

By Jack Joslin | July 20, 2017
US Sailing Youth Champs Results Photo Gallery

Recently, my brother Peter and I competed at the US Youth Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas.  We had earned an automatic acceptance, to this application only event, having finished 2nd in the 29er at the Open Orange Bowl Regatta last December.

John Pearce, US Sailing’s Youth Director was quoted “Youth Champs is the place to be. We have the top sailors in the country here, as well as US Sailing provided coaches who provide excellent instruction, tips and mentorship for these young sailors. This is a great place for sailors to up their skill level, challenge themselves and be exposed to a high level environment...”  

Peter and I were pleased to be the only SDYC representatives at this prestigious event, if we do not count all-star PRO Jeff Johnson. It was great to have him running things and he did an amazing job in difficult conditions, always setting a fair race track.

We drove through the blazing deserts of Arizona and New Mexico with our boat on top of the car to arrive there in three days. Upon arrival in Texas we found warm water and big breeze was expected, it was setting up to be a great event.

Unfortunately, the classic “It’s never like this here...” prevailed throughout the regatta with a few thunderstorms rolling through, a tornado warning and quite a lot of postponements. The back end of these storms left lighter conditions than usual.  Despite this we still had lots of tight racing in the 29er fleet on Corpus Christi Bay. Most of the event was sailed in a six to twelve knot oscillating breeze and big chop making for very difficult conditions. We did not achieve our goal of qualifying for Youth Worlds, placing 7th overall, but we learned a ton about sailing in those sort of conditions.  We now look forward to sailing in the steady California breeze.

Congratulations to fellow San Diegan Ian Brill and his skipper Neil Marcellini for winning the event and qualifying for the Youth World Championships in China later this year.

The competition in the 29er fleet was amazing and I look forward to helping many of our up and coming juniors get into the fun, fast, and tactical class to sail this event in the near future. Thanks to San Diego Yacht Club Competition Fund for their continued support for my brother and I to represent the club at the premier youth events around the nation.