Entering the third and final day on Sunday, November 18 of the 2018 J/70 U.S. Youth Championship with a 21-point lead, the King Harbor YC Youth Team (Kyle Collins/ Brock Paquin/ River Paquin/ Justin Zmina) posted a 1-4-3 to take the title. Merideth Moran led the Little Traverse YC to second, with Bridgette Groble and Chicago YC in third.
Day 1 recap: The seven youth teams from across America attending the second annual U.S. J/70 Youth Championship were blessed with extraordinary fall sailing conditions on Tampa Bay. While the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast regions were getting blasted with their first winter storm of the season, the youth teams from clubs in California, the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast enjoyed postcard perfect sailing conditions all day long. The St. Petersburg YC welcomed the teams at the 8:30am Captain’s meeting and, facing winds gusting to 25 knots at 7:00am, Regatta Chairman and PRO Todd Fedyszyn wisely postponed for one hour. With a forecast of NNE winds of 15-20 knots diminishing to 6-15 knots by day’s end, the teams were blessed with a perfectly sunny, cool day, with not a cloud in the sky. As a result, the teams sailed a fast-paced series of 10 races of about 20 minutes each, finishing by 4:00pm. Starting off with a 2-1-1-1, there was no question the team from King Harbor YC in Los Angeles, CA were determined to set a high bar. A few lapses in concentration in races 5 and 7 were their only blemish on a record that closed with three bullets to lead the fleet with 16 points total. Their nemesis all day long was the Chicago YC teams headed by Ray Groble and crew of Bridgette Groble, Remmington King and Jack Hemmelgarn. While emphatically winning the first race, they accumulated six more seconds in the 10 races to hold on to second place. Sitting in third was Little Traverse YC skippered by the top woman skipper Merideth Moran and her team of Ellie Wagner, Molly Matthews, Luke Baker and Jack Miller.
Day 2 recap: The second day continued to see beautiful sailing conditions. The seven teams saw winds oscillating from 20 to 65 degrees (N-NE) and velocities ranging from 5-10 knots of wind. PRO Fedyszyn immediately sent the teams out to start promptly at 10:00am with a goal of getting at least seven races in for the day. In the end, Fedyszyn’s team managed to pump out eight races before the wind diminished to below the 4-5 knots threshold at 3:00pm. Starting where they left off the first day, the King Harbor YC team won the first race in convincing fashion. Thereafter, they accumulated five more firsts in the eight races to extend their lead by 21 points. Jumping into second place with an amazingly consistent day was the Little Traverse YC team after posting five seconds for a total of 50 points. The Chicago YC team dropped to third place.
Final Results (21 races):
- King Harbor YC, Kyle Collins/ Brock Paquin/ River Paquin/ Justin Zmina; 37
- Little Traverse YC, Merideth Moran/ Ellie Wagner/ Molly Matthews/ Luke Baker/ Jack Miller; 54
- Chicago YC, Bridgette Groble/ Remmington King/ Jack Hemmelgarn/ Ray Groble; 79
- St. Petersburg YC, Heather Kerns/ Emma Shakespeare/ Heidi Hicks/ Emily Allen/ Cameron Delgado; 90
- Mudratz Sailing Team, Lily Flack/ Peter Cronin/ Lucy Rath/ Eli Gleason/ Tanner Kelly; 97
- South Carolina YC, Matthew Monts/ Bradlee Anderson/ Colin Meidler/ James Thurlow/ Bobby Soares; 108
- American YC, Maddy Saffer/ Lise Powers/ Grace Flannagan/ Felix Nusbaum/ Burke Avenari; 123
Complete event details can be found at https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=6108.