West Coast Teams Travel to Youth Regattas

J/70 US Youth Championships

Two teams from the West Coast shone brightly at the third annual J/70 US Youth Championships. St. Petersburg Yacht Club hosted the 11-boat regatta on November 22-24. A team of young people from San Francisco and Annapolis YCs and a team from Cal Maritime Academy dominated the competition. The two were tied on points heading into the 11th and final race. Skipper James Golden and Luke Koerschner of Annapolis YC and Hannah Sellers and Caleb Yoslov from SFYC finished the regatta with 23 points to Cal Maritime’s 27. Kyle Collins skippered the Vallejo-based Cal Maritime team; Justin Zmina and brothers Brock and River Paquin crewed. All the sailors had to be age 20 or younger as of December 31, and each crew could include up to five on board.

The club provided the J/70s. The boats carried class sails and were identically rigged and tuned. Teams were able to get in some practice on Thursday. Light winds interfered with racing on Friday the 22nd, so all 11 scheduled races squeezed into Saturday and Sunday.

Musto International Youth Match Racing Regatta

Three young West Coast teams traveled much farther for the Musto International Youth Match Racing Regatta, a World Sailing Grade 2 event, on November 26-29. The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Youth Academy hosted the regatta in Sydney. Making the long trek from Southern California were defending champion Frankie Dair from California YC, and skippers David Wood and Jeffrey Petersen from Balboa Yacht Club, sailing the regatta for the second time. Racing was held in 23-ft Elliott 7 Class keelboats.

Sailing with Dair were James Jennings, Matthew Leydon and Ash Edwards. Petersen’s crew were Will Birch Tomlinson, Max Brennan and Jasper Freedman. Celia Willison, Isabella Bergqvist, Daniel Pegg and Cameron Wood sailed with David Wood. Out of 12 teams, Dair finished sixth, Petersen seventh, and Wood 10th. See complete results here.